Here’s a great recipe to make the night before for an easy grab-n-go breakfast straight out of the fridge. It’s packed with protein, vitamins and minerals for sustained energy all morning long. And it tastes great too.
Servings: 1
Here’s what you need…
- 1/4 cup Greek Yogurt, plain, fat free
- 1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese
- 1 scoop high quality strawberry or vanilla protein powder
- 1/4 cup fresh berries
- 1 Tablespoon pecan pieces, toasted
- In a small bowl use a whisk to combine the yogurt, cottage cheese and protein powder. Mix until well incorporated.
- Place half of the yogurt mixture into a clear cup, top with the berries and then the remaining yogurt mixture. Top with pecans.
Nutritional Analysis: One serving equals: 260 calories, 6g fat, 307mg sodium, 11g carbohydrate, 4g fiber, and 38g protein.
What do you recommend as a high quality protein powder?
Hi Lisa,
If you are familiar with the FRESH! approach to Nutrition, we take a Holistic WHOLE foods approach. That means we encourage people to eat REAL, whole foods as much as possible. Additionally, we encourage people to understand their own unique metabolic type and response to the foods they eat. For many people this means dramatically limiting wheat and dairy (especially store-bought commercial options).
While this approach definitely doesn’t fit with the posted recipe…it doesn’t mean you can NEVER eat these things. It’s all about knowing your OWN response to the food you eat, and understanding the consequences that having certain foods has on your body, mind, and ultimately, your results.
So, to answer your question about Protein Powder, I would say to use it only as a last resort, or emergency. You are WAY better off eating a high quality source of real protein (i.e. an organic chicken breast, grass fed beef, etc.). However, if you find yourself in the situation where you want or choose to have protein powder, then here are a few guidelines…
When purchasing a Whey protein powder read the ingredients. It should not have any artificial flavors, sweeteners, fillers, binders, no fat or sugar added, or anything else. There are many types of protein powder…
Whey – See below (Stick to Hydrolized or Isolate)
Casein – Absorbed slower
Egg – From egg whites. Non-dairy. Less allergenic
Soy – Avoid it…especially for men. Isoflavines raise estrogen levels. Also mostly Genetically Modified and has high allergy concerns
Hemp – Complete protein. High in Essential Fatty Acids (EFA)
Rice – Lower in Lysine, often combined with Pea Protein to create a better Amino Acid proile
Pea – Hypoallergenic and lighter texture.
Concentrates: The cheapest form of most proteins. It contains higher amounts of fat and carbohydrate than more pure versions and can be clumpy and hard to mix by hand. In the case of casein, it’s referred to as “caseinate. Avoid concentrate proteins. They are a waste of money and the quality varies dramatically between brands.
Isolate: More pure than concentrate. Contains lower amounts of fat and carbohydrate. Is also easier to mix. Generally around 80-90% protein.
Hydrosylate, or hydrolyzed protein. Protein that’s been broken down into smaller fractions (enzymatically pre-digested), allowing it to be absorbed into your bloodstream more quickly. However, when it comes to casein hydrosylate, this defeats the purpose, since the benefit of casein is that it absorbs slower than whey protein.
Micellar casein, or isolated casein peptides: An expensive but easy-to-mix proteincomposed almost entirely of pure casein, ensuring slow and steady absorption.
I hope this helps. Please call or email us with any questions, or if you would like to dive deeper into any of these topics.