Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Calcium, Iron, and Broccoli Blender Drinks

Alright, got up and trained early today because I am off to Cleveland this afternoon.

Does Cleveland "rock" like Drew Carey says? I guess we'll find out. I know Columbus is a pretty good party town, but what about Cleveland?

Before training I had a blender drink:

  • 1c almond milk
  • 1 banana
  • strawberries
  • blueberries
  • almond butter
  • almonds
  • spinach

I also had another oz of almonds and an apple. Good stuff. Now here's something you probably didn't know...If you are worried about getting enough calcium on a vegetarian diet, you need to know that a cup of almond milk contains 20% of your daily requirement (about 200 mg).

PLUS...a cup of almond milk only has 40 calories.

In comparison, a cup of milk has at least 86 calories and 300mg of calcium. So almond milk is a good deal. The only knock against it is that almond milk has only 1g of protein, but there are plenty of ways to get protein on a veggie diet.

Alright, so then the workout...

1) Jumps - 3x6

2A) Squat - 3x6
2B) Pullups - 3x10

3A) Bench - 1x8
3B) BB Lunge - 2x8

Then home for another blender drink (to use up all the produce before I head out of town for a few day)...and I tried broccoli in the blender in place of spinach - and you do NOT notice it. Great way to add veggies to your diet or kid's diet if needed.

  • 2c almond milk
  • mango
  • 1 banana
  • blueberries
  • 1 small bunch of broccoli
  • almonds
  • oatmeal
  • flax meal

And then 1 peach and a cashew butter sandwich on whole-grain bread.

Now getting enough iron is another concern of vegetarians, but each slice of whole-grain bread had 25% of my daily needs...so I'm at 50% for the day right there...plus, all the vitamin C from my food helps increase iron absorption.

So what did we learn here...

1) You can add broccoli and spinach to blender drinks and you won't notice either

2) You can get easily get calcium and iron on a veggie diet.

3) Everytime I go outside today it starts to rain. Forgot to mention that.

Off to the airport,

craig

PS - You can also eat...

=> amazing vegan burger and fries

on a veggie diet.

5 comments:

jwanywhere said...

Hey Craig, you post so many recipes (and I stash links to those I find interesting) I'll never need to buy a cookbook again

Appreciate it very much, have a good trip

Justin

Craig Ballantyne, CTT, Certified Turbulence Trainer said...

Thanks Justin!

Wazzup said...

Blendering broccoli is how I make my broccoli soup.. very little needs to be added (a wee bit of salt (or salty peccorino if you're decadent like me))

Just cook the broccoli slightly ... 3 minutes for stems, 2 minutes for heads (depending on size)

Anonymous said...

Hi Craig,
Just curious. Are you back to eating animal protein in addition to your veggie meals? If so, how much and when do you eat it?

Thanks!

Stephen Evens said...

Popeye would've liked this shake!

Steve