Day 36, February 5: Protein Powder

Me and my food processor, full of the ingredients for protein powder.

I love my Crossfit coaches, even though they sometimes give me a hard time about being a vegetarian. My oldest, most-favorite coach, Jason, the owner of Albany Crossfit, recently looked at this blog and commented that my protein intake looked low. Some days this is true, especially when I go out to eat too often (quality vegetarian proteins are harder to come by in most conventional restaurants). But I did want to highlight that at least on most days, I get some quality protein in my smoothies.

For the past few months, I have been making my own protein powder. I do this (rather than buying a pre-mixed powder like Progenex or Vega) for two reasons: 1. I absolutely detest the flavor of stevia, which seems to be in nearly every protein powder, and 2. I'm saving money.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite websites, Daily Garnish. Its a blog by a vegetarian athlete, Emily Malone, and she posts lots of great recipes that make me happy. Emily and her husband reverse-engineered the Vega protein powder recipe, and posted it here. If you're interested in knowing more about the ingredients included in her protein powder, and the nutritional breakdown, look at the original post.

The recipe calls for hemp protein powder, which is a solidly balanced vegetarian protein (though it does need to be imported from Canada!), but also includes ground flaxseed and PB2--powdered peanut butter--for additional protein sources. It also includes spirulina, chlorella, and maca, which are superfoods that have many nutritional benefits. I can source everything except the PB2 from my local natural foods co-op store, and I can buy it by the pound, so I never need to buy more than I actually need to make the recipe.

I pretty much follow her recipe, except that I sub almond flour for the PB2 powder (I love peanut butter, and eat it sometimes, but I am trying to cut down.) I compared the nutritional profiles of the almond flour to PB2, and they're about the same. I also leave the stevia out entirely. I find that once I blend the powder with some frozen fruit, the smoothie is plenty sweet enough for me.

So what do I put in my smoothies?

• 1/3 c Daily Garnish protein powder (contains about 14 grams protein)
• 1/2 frozen banana and 1/2 cup frozen berries
• about a cup of homemade almond milk  OR a cup of water +1/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 big handfuls of raw baby spinach
• optional: flax oil, ice, greek yogurt (to boost the protein content)

I blend all this stuff together in my blender-ball bottle using my hand blender. (don't put the blender ball in until you're done blending!) I take it with me to Crossfit so I can drink it and boost my recovery immediately following my workouts. I then try to have a high-protein meal an hour or two later. 

Now for the boring stuff. This post covers two days of eating, since I didn't have enough time to post yesterday.

Sunday February 5

I'm never able to crossfit on Sundays, since they are only open in the mornings, and I kind of have to work, like EVERY Sunday morning.

What I ate:

• 7:30 AM: 2 fried eggs and a small apple
• 1 PM: Larabar
• 2:30 PM: went to Honest Weight Co-op to do some shopping. Bought 1/2 c curry cashew tofu salad and 1/2 c quinoa salad and ate them in the car.
• 4:30 PM: homemade paleo granola bar
• 6:30 PM: 1 oz cheddar and a few crackers
• 8:30 PM: 1 c cooked quinoa with 2 tbsp raisins and 2 tbsp toasted flax seeds, and 2 cups raw kale, cabbage and tofu salad. Recipe also from the Daily Garnish, found here. It was okay, though I am just not a fan of the raw kale. Maybe it'll improve the way coleslaw does after it sits a day in the fridge.

Saturday February 4

Another very busy day with my family, my band practicing, and then my band performing. AND getting ready for church the next day. So no time for ACF :(

What I ate:

• 8:30 AM: protein shake (recipe as above, with the optional 1/2 c greek yogurt added)
• 12:30 PM: lunch with family. 1/4 lb tofu, panfried in olive oil with garlic and tamari, 1/4 c cooked quinoa, 1/4 c eda mame, big salad with lots of broccoli sprouts
• 4 PM: paleo granola bar
• 6:30 PM: at the church party at which my band played, ate: 3 devilled eggs, 1/2 c seven layer dip (you know, with the cheese and beans and guacamole and salsa, etc), about a dozen corn chips, 2 c green salad, and a cup of veggie noodle soup
• 9 PM: another granola bar

How am I feeling? Definitely better than a couple weeks ago, though the back is STILL stiff and tired. I am noticing that my posture is just sucky. When I sit for too long (either in the car while I am driving or in my office desk chair, or even propped up in bed on pillows), when I get up I am still feeling pain. I have got to work on developing some better postural habits.