My Two Year Old Smoothie

I started a new breakfast regimen two years ago - after I convinced myself that having a bowl of Multigrain Cheerios for breakfast every morning was likely killing me.

So I started experimenting with smoothies. After several variations - with eggs and yogurt and cocoa and tomatoes and other stuff - I settled on a mixture that I've grown to like very much.

My brother Rob makes a great smoothie too - tastes similar but with different ingredients. Maybe I'll get him to write it down one day.

But here's the one I've been having most mornings for the past 700 days. And I'm still not tired of it (about once a week we'll have bacon and eggs just to mix thing up).

• 1 x 400ml can Coconut Milk (Aroy-D is the brand I use - high in fat)
• 1 cup Frozen Berries (Costco Rader Farms Nature's Three Berries)
• 1 medium banana (120g)
• 1 scoop (40g) Protein Powder (Kaizen Whey Isolate - Vanilla)
• 2 small Avocados (or 1 large Avocado - about 400g)
• 2 cups (60g) spinach
• 1 cup water

I blend it in a Blendtec blender (like a Vitamax), but used an old Oster blender up until recently - the Blendtec makes it really smooth.

You can turn this smoothie into a red one by increasing the amount of berries (I add a half cup of blueberries) or you can make it green by adding more spinach. Any way you make it, it tastes fantastic.

And it's good for you as well. Here's the nutritional breakdown of an entire batch and for a single serving - which is about 1/3 of a batch:

It's a bit high in sugar, but all of it comes from fruit - so it's wrapped in fiber and is slow to metabolize (so no insulin spikes). High in carbs too, but it's the fruit as well. I don't care.

The fat content freaks people out, but we're all learning now that fat isn't bad for you - you need it to live. And coconut/avocado fat is excellent. I have lots in here.

A glass of this shake takes me through lunchtime easily - there is no mid-morning craving for donuts. Mind you, there is always room for another cup of coffee.....