The YogiVal smoothie is the smoothie I have been drinking as a meal replacement the last few years 5 days a week. I love this smoothie because it is packed with nutrition, energizing greens, flax seed oil for my brain and joints, cashews for good fat (and they add body to the smoothie), protein powder for great protein, and berries to sweeten the smoothie and add anti-oxidants to my daily diet.
I have listed the sugar, protein,fat and calorie count as I am not trying to hide the fact that this smoothie has a lot of calories and is full of good fat. I feel this is the best nutrition I give myself all day and allows me to stay productive at work most of the afternoon and replenish any electrolytes I sweat out in yoga or my workouts. It also has such a good balance of fat and minimal sugar that I don’t have sugar crashes or food cravings for 3 to 4 hours. It also helps keep my blood sugar so stable, I am ready to eat a meal of greens and protein instead of craving carbs later in the day. I also find it saves time and money from ordering in or going out.
Feel free to tweak this smoothie to your taste. When I started drinking these smoothies I used vanilla almond milk, then regular before I went to unsweetened. I also started with less green powder and increased it over time. I also use to use other fruits like pineapple and mango, but just found the sugar too high and not the same health benefits as cherries, blueberries or raspberries. I also eliminated bananas for the same reason, but feel free to add them when you get started as bananas add great sweetness and consistency when you are just starting out.
I make my smoothie in my VitaMix blender in the morning and put it in a big mason jar and carry it in a refrigerated lunch bag to keep it cold until I can put it in my fridge at work. I encourage you to use this as a guide to make a smoothie that you like, that gives you plenty of nutrition, good fat, protein and calories to keep you going for a few hours. Feel free to check in with me and let me know how it works for you or what tweaks you made that increased the nutrition content.