Looking for a high protein post-workout snack and stuck for ideas?

Mixed Berry, Protein, and Peanut Butter Smoothie

Quite often, I'll come home from the gym and it isn't quite lunch time, but I know that I need to get some good quality protein and good energy into my system ASAP! Smoothies are an excellent strategy for this because you can put in as much or as little as you want! I personally always love making smoothies with bananas, as you can never go wrong as they bring so much flavour, and tastiness.

In terms of the protein, there are many ways to up the protein content: greek yoghurt is naturally high in protein, so are peanuts, and cows milk. However, when it comes to adequately fuelling your muscles after a heavy session (whether that be a resistance or endurance session), we need to really prioritise quality, quantity, and timing of protein.

Quality - High quality proteins are those with a high "biological value". "Biological value" of proteins refers to the ease of which the amino acids are broken down and directly utilised for our body's physiological requirements. Eggs have the highest biological value as the amino acid profile best matches our body's requirements for protein synthesis. However, other protein sources such as whey protein are also excellent, and have occasionally been reported in the literature to have even higher biological values than egg!

Quantity - For women, it is preferable to aim for around 20-25g of protein per snack/meal, and for men around 25-30g of protein. Consuming this amount of protein helps to maximally optimise how much protein we absorb, however, consuming beyond these recommendations within a single 3-4 hour window will not necessarily translate into any greater muscle protein synthesis and muscle repair. This is because these recommendations typically highlight the upper limit of what can be absorbed by the body every 3-4 hours.

Timing of protein - The timing of the protein intake is often speculated in the literature. The general recommendation is that it is sensible to have a decent amount of protein following a workout 30 mins - 1 hour following (20-30g); followed by a whole meal in the 2-3 hour window following the training session.

This smoothie recipe I have posted below achieves all these key protein targets that you want to satisfy in post-workout snack 🙌🙌🙌.

The best smoothie I've had in years. Thank you! – Eden Murphy

Mixed Berry, Protein and Peanut Butter Smoothie

Nutrition Information

• Energy - 414 calories

• Protein - 44 g

• Carbohydrate - 17 g

• Sugars - 15 g

• Fat - 18 g

• Sat Fat - 7 g

• Sodium - 164 mg

• Calcium - 592 mg

• Dietary Fibre - 4 g

Ingredients

• 2 scoops of genetix vanilla protein powder

• 1/4 mixed berries

• 200 mL Lite Milk (you can swap this to an alternative milk if you prefer)

• 3 heaped spoons of greek yoghurt (coconut yoghurt is also delicious)

• 3 heaped spoons of Mayver's Crunchy Peanut Butter

• 1 large banana

Method

1. Place all five ingredients into the blender

2. Blend on low for 1 minute, and on medium for 20 seconds

3. Gently pour into your favourite glass and enjoy!

Let me know how you chose to make this smoothie!! and if you enjoyed!!