Foodie Submission: Lois's Banana Butterscotch Protein Blizzard

So last week I promised reader submissions! This one came in from Lois. We actually ended up having a really good and productive email conversation stemming from her emailed recipe and she has given me permission to share that conversation with you.

I've said it a few times and I will say it again: be CAREFUL of protein shake additives. It's fine to add some stuff to your shake to make it more enjoyable but pay attention to the stats! Protein shakes should always be mostly protein. If what you are adding changes that, then it should probably be in the "extreme moderation" category. If you're ever unsure if your additions are helping or hurting your shake, my Protein Shake Check-Up tool is a great place to start to find out!

Such was the case with Lois' Blizzard. She reports she only has this every once in a while (cuz, as a Foodie, she is learning moderation!) so it's all good on her end. In this post I will show you her recipe and then a few modifications I made to it in order to get it more toward being an everyday shake.

Here is Lois' original recipe from her blog, Thoughts Along Life's Highway:

Banana Butterscotch Protein Blizzard (Original version)

1 ripe or overripe banana
10 oz milk
1 Tbsp Sugar Free Butterscotch Instant Pudding mix
2 scoops vanilla protein powder
1 cup ice
8-10 vanilla wafers
1 Tbsp Sugar Free caramel syrup (Torani or DaVinci)

Mix all ingredients in a blender.

Makes 2 servings

Now if you've read this blog for a while, you know I don't post stats (nutrition information) on my recipes for a variety of reasons (click here to read them all!) but what you may not know is that I do RUN stats on the recipes I post so that I can know where they are on the protein:carb:fat spectrum. From eyeballing this recipe, I thought it might be in order to run some stats and I did. The basic stats for the recipe above (for each serving) are:

342 calories, 44g carbs, 31.5g protein (which differs from the 28g or so she quotes on her blog).

When I told Lois she was a bit surprised, but since she only has this every now and again as a treat she said she'd play around with it to see what could be done. It makes me very happy when Foodies take food information and use it to their advantage!

So here's my suggested recipe for making the same sort of shake with a few less calories.

Banana Butterscotch Protein Blizzard (Every Day version)
(I say "every day" version as this is a more sensible treat version but if you want an "every day" every day version, you might just make the shake and skip the chunky additives)
8 oz milk
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 tbsp (or two pumps) Davinci sugar-free Butterscotch syrup
1 tbsp sugar-free, fat-free banana cream pudding powder
1 low-sugar graham cracker, smashed into large-ish pieces
1 cup ice
No-cal sweetener, to taste

Optional: Since there are already a lot of flavors going on here, you can choose if you want to add caramel to the mix. If so, use Davinci or Torani sugar-free caramel syrup.

Ok...so here are the "why's." If you read the Protein Shake Check-Up tool, you'll see that I hardly ever advocate for whole bananas in protein shakes. Half? Yes. Whole? Not so much. Read the Check-Up to find out why! By replacing with a tablespoon of pudding, we've come down about 75 calories and 20+ grams of carbs.

Lois' original recipe calls for Butterscotch pudding. Well, since I added banana, I didn't want to use two different kinds of puddings. Pudding mix doesn't have bad stats, but every gram of carbs counts and if you can avoid adding them to a protein shake, you should!

Lastly, I replaced the Nilla wafers. Even if you get the sugar-free kind, they're still pretty carb heavy. Instead, I went with a graham cracker, which gives you a nice, lightly sweet chunky additive for a fraction of the calories and carbs. So it still feels like a treat!

Also, try using the Triple X method to blend a smooth, thick, creamy shake. Just remember that you don't add your graham cracker until the end and then only whiz a second or two to keep it chunky!

This shake clocks in at 260 calories, about 23g arbs (12 of which coming from the milk) which is pretty darn decent if you do this as a meal replacement.

If you want to cut that down even further and are willing to gather a few extra ingredients, here's another version:

1/2 c. unflavored Greek yogurt
1/2 c. water
1 scoop vanilla whey
1 tbsp banana pudding mix
1 tbsp sugar-free Butterscotch syrup
1 cup ice
1 low-sugar graham cracker crushed

Same directions as above.

So there you have it...THREE different variations of the same shake! It really goes to show how a few ingredient swaps can change everything!
Thanks, Lois, for sharing your shake, your blog and for allowing me to make over your shake! I have another Protein Blizzard recipe here on the blog along with my general thoughts about Blizzard additives. Check it out!

And check back for more reader submissions this week!

Veggie Tales (part 5): A day in the life of a post-op vegetarian

So now that we've gone over what a vegetarian is, whether post-ops can even be vegetarians, how to make the transition and how to make good food choices, I figured I'd give you a day in the life of a post-op vegetarian.

Let's start in the pantry.

Here are some of the staples you’ll always find in my kitchen:

• Greek yogurt (usually homemade; vegans could substitute soy yogurt)
• Soy milk and/or raw milk (regular skim milk from the grocery store would work, too)
• Shredded cheese (vegans can buy soy cheese)
• Canned beans (dried beans are cheaper but I like the convenience of canned beans)
• Canned garbanzo beans (chickpeas) for roasting for snacks
• Nuts and/or nut butters
• Tofurky Italian sausages (I use them in dishes like jambalaya but also eat half of one sliced up with spaghetti sauce on it for a quick and easy  meal)
• Morningstar Farms fake meat products, like fake ground beef, fake chicken and fake bacon
• Protein powder and protein bars (the ones I usually use contain whey isolate but there are soy isolate options available for vegans)

With these staples, I can throw together a quick meal like black beans with a little salsa and shredded cheese on top or a stir fry make with Morningstar Farms fake chicken and whatever veggies I happen to have in the house.

A couple other items you might want to keep on hand are cottage cheese and tofu; I just don’t care for either of those things myself.

Sample Menus

Here are a couple days’ worth of sample menus, which are pretty typical for what I eat.  These menus give me plenty of protein as well as other nutrients.

Day One

Breakfast – protein shake with soy milk and protein powder

Lunch – pumpkin spice Greek yogurt (plain Greek yogurt mixed with sugar free cheesecake pudding mix, pumpkin puree, a little Splenda and a splash of sugar free caramel syrup, topped with Cool Whip Free and sprinkled with cinnamon and nutmeg; vegans can use soy yogurt)

Snack – roasted chickpeas (see recipe to follow)

Dinner – sausage and beans (see recipe to follow)

Snack – protein bar

Day Two

Breakfast – protein bar

Lunch – Island Red Beans (see recipe to follow)

Snack – almonds

Dinner – scrambled egg with cheese (scramble tofu with vegan cheese if preferred), Morningstar Farms breakfast strips, apple cinnamon muffin

Snack – Greek yogurt (or soy yogurt) with sugar free banana pudding mix and Splenda, topped with half sliced banana

Recipes

Roasted Chickpeas

Drain and rinse a can of chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans).

Put a towel on a baking sheet, spread the beans on the towel and pat dry.  Remove the towel, drizzle with olive oil (or just spray with cooking spray), stir, and spread out in a single layer.

Bake for about 50 minutes at 400 degrees.  Yeah, they take a while.  Stir three or four times during baking.

Take out of the oven, season however you like, stir and eat. 

Sausage and Beans

4 Tofurky Italian sausages, sliced
2 cans kidney beans
1 onion, diced
1 can diced tomatoes
minced garlic (I use about a tablespoon)
Franks’s sweet chili sauce (by the hot sauce in the grocery store; I use about ¼ cup)
tomato sauce (a couple tablespoons)

Sauté the diced onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a big pot until slightly soft.  Add the beans, sausage and diced tomatoes.  Stir and add tomato sauce and sweet chili sauce (a little of the chili sauce goes a long way).  Simmer for about 20 minutes.  You can cut this recipe in half if you don’t want to eat leftovers all week.

Island Red Beans

4 cans kidney beans
1 onion, diced
minced garlic (I use about a tablespoon)
2 habanera peppers, diced (this makes it really spicy; use just one pepper if you want it less spicy; these peppers are small but a little goes a long way)
1 cup tomato sauce
1 or 2 cups water (depends on how saucy you like your beans)
½ teaspoon dried cilantro
½ teaspoon dried oregano
salt and black pepper to taste

Sauté the diced onion and garlic in a little olive oil in a big pot until slightly soft.  Add the diced habanera peppers and cook for a couple minutes.  Add beans, tomato sauce, water and seasonings. 

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook about 25 minutes.  You can cut this recipe in half if you don’t want to eat leftovers all week.

Well...that about wraps up this BF Basics series. Thanks for allowing me to share a bit about my life as a vegetarian with all of you. Nik has assured me that there will be a version of this series for download within the next few days, so look for that soon!

Until then...play with your food!

<< Making good vegetarian food choices

Veggie Tales Home

Veggie Tales (part 4): Making Good Vegetarian Food Choices

BF Basics: Veggie Tales was composed by four-year post-op and 25-year vegetarian, Kelly, better known as Poet Kelly on Obesity Help. This series is written in her voice with the full endorsement of Bariatric Foodie. If you have any questions for Kelly about any of the information provided, please leave them in the comments and she'll gladly respond.

Basically, you want to look for the same kinds of things on the nutrition label of vegetarian foods that you’d look for on non-vegetarian foods.  Look at how much protein it has, how many calories, how much sugar, how many grams of fat and carbs if you count those things.  There are a few things to keep in mind when reading labels, though.

• Don’t assume “vegetarian” or “vegan” mean healthy.  There is lots of vegan junk food out there and vegan or not, it’s still junk food.  Vegetarian food products can be high in sugar, high in fat and full of all kinds of chemicals you wouldn’t want to put in your body.
• Don’t assume the word “vegetable” means vegetarian.  For instance, canned vegetable soup often contains beef or chicken stock.  Once I bought some frozen vegetable fried rice only to find out it actually contained chicken fat!
• Don’t assume prepackaged foods are vegetarian just because you would not put meat in them if you made them yourself.  A friend of mine once found a packaged cake mix that contained beef fat!  I’ve never seen a cake recipe that calls for beef fat, but they put all kinds of wacky stuff in packaged foods.
• Don’t assume fake meat products, like veggie burgers, have as much protein as real meat.  Some brands will have more protein than others.  Read the label.

Animal Ingredients to Watch Out For

It would be easier to avoid animal products if companies always labeled things clearly, but they don’t.  For instance, the label on a package of cheese will not list “calf stomach” as an ingredient but it might list rennet, which just happens to be another word for part of the stomach of a calf.  Here are some ingredients to watch out for if you want to avoid animal products:

• Albumen – usually comes from egg whites.
• Carmine, carminic acid, cochineal – red dye made from crushed beetles.
• Casein, caseinate, sodium caseinate – milk protein.  Often found in soy cheese (which means they aren’t vegan).
• Gelatin – yes, like in Jello.  Made from boiling the skin and hooves of horses, cows and pigs.
• Glycerides, monoglycerides – animal fat.
• Lactic acid – found in blood and muscle tissue.  Use in fermented foods like beer and sauerkraut.
• Lard – fat from pigs or cows.
• Natural coloring – can mean anything, including animal ingredients.
• Natural flavor – can mean anything, including animal ingredients.
• Pepsin –from the stomach of pigs, used in some cheeses.
• Rennet, rennin – from the stomach of calves, used in some cheeses.
• Stearic acid – animal fat, sometimes used in chewing gum.
• Vitamin D – when foods are fortified with vitamin D, the way milk often is, the vitamin D usually comes from animals, often from fish liver oil.
• Whey – a milk product.

In summary, what you need to remember is:

• Don’t make assumptions.  Read labels, including the list of ingredients.
• Animal ingredients go by many names and can be found in foods you might not expect to find them in.  If you want to make sure something is vegetarian or vegan, read the ingredients.

<< Making the Transition
>> A Day in the Life of a Post-Op Vegetarian

Veggie Tales Home

Veggie Tales (part 3): Making the Transition

BF Basics: Veggie Tales was composed by four-year post-op and 25-year vegetarian, Kelly, better known as Poet Kelly on Obesity Help. This series is written in her voice with the full endorsement of Bariatric Foodie. If you have any questions for Kelly about any of the information provided, please leave them in the comments and she'll gladly respond.

Making the transition to a vegetarian or vegan diet may seem overwhelming but it doesn’t have to be.  You can jump right in the deep end if you want, but it might be easier (and less scary) to take baby steps.

Here are some tips:

• Start having Meatless Mondays.  Serve your family a tasty vegetarian meal for dinner once a week.  As you, and your family, become more comfortable with meatless meals, start having other meatless days.
• Start having Meatless Mornings.  Have a meat-free breakfast.  Make that egg- and dairy-free if you are transitioning to a vegan diet.  Later, you can start having meatless lunches, too.
• Start trying some meat-free substitutes for your favorite dishes.  If you love chili, prepare it with soy crumbles or TVP instead of ground beef. 
• If you normally use chicken stock in your homemade soup, use vegetable stock instead. 
• If you are transitioning to a vegan diet, try vegan soy slices instead of cheese or a tofu scramble in place of scrambled eggs.
• Designate one day a week as “Try a New Vegetarian/Vegan Recipe” day.  Explore beyond vegetarian versions of your old favorites.
• Visit a local vegetarian or vegan restaurant to enjoy some really good vegetarian cuisine and to get a feel for some of the possibilities.
• Find some vegetarian friends.  Maybe you can all get together for a monthly potluck.  You can trade recipes and share stories.

What about the family?

If you have children, you can choose to continue serving them meat or you can choose to transition them to a vegetarian or vegan diet with you.  Children of all ages can get plenty of protein and other nutrients on a vegetarian or vegan diet.  If you live with other adults, of course they will make their own choices about whether or not to continue eating meat or to make the transition with you.

Here are some ways to manage your family menu as a vegetarian:

• Serve your family meatless meals some days, even if they are not planning to adopt a vegetarian diet.  A lot of families that eat meat still have Meatless Mondays.
• Allow adult family members to prepare their own meat if you don’t like cooking it or just don’t want to prepare two meals every day.  That’s what I do in my house.  Teenage children can also prepare their own food if they don’t like what you’re serving.
• Prepare meals that will work for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike.  For instance, have Build Your Own Taco night and put out seasoned ground beef, seasoned soy crumbles, shredded cheese, veggies and refried beans and let everyone assembled their own tacos.  Or stir fry veggies in one pan, chicken in another and tofu in a third.  Family members can all take some veggies and then choose whether to take chicken, tofu or some of each.

What about going out to eat?

I eat out a lot.  Most restaurants have vegetarian options these days.  Even if there are no vegetarian entrees on the menu, you can order a main dish and ask them to leave the meat off.  I often order a chicken salad without the chicken!

If I’m going to be dining at someone else’s house, I usually ask in advance what they will be serving.  Often I will be able to eat at least part of the meal but if not, I just bring something with me, just like I do if I’m going somewhere that I don’t expect to find weight loss surgery-friendly food.

In summary, what you need to know is:

• You can take baby steps as you make the transition to a vegetarian diet; you don’t have to jump in the deep end all at once.
• You can find a solution that works with your family if other family members don’t want to become vegetarians.
• You can enjoy eating out as a vegetarian.

<< CAN post-ops be vegetarians?
>> Making Good Vegetarian Food Choices

Veggie Tales Home

Veggie Tales (part 2): CAN post-ops be vegetarians?

BF Basics: Veggie Tales was composed by four-year post-op and 25-year vegetarian, Kelly, better known as Poet Kelly on Obesity Help. This series is written in her voice with the full endorsement of Bariatric Foodie. If you have any questions for Kelly about any of the information provided, please leave them in the comments and she'll gladly respond.

Sometimes people ask me if it’s possible for post-ops to be vegetarians.  Can they get enough protein without eating meat?  Sure they can.  Absolutely.  I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 14 years old and was not about to start eating meat when I had weight loss surgery.  I get at least 70 grams of protein daily without any trouble, usually more, and later on in this series I’ll tell you how I do it. 

Is it hard to get enough protein post-op without eating meat?

Well, I don’t think it’s too hard.  Since non-meat foods usually have less protein per ounce than meat, it does mean I have less room in my pouch for non-protein foods.  For instance, three ounces of meat has about 21 grams of protein but a half cup of black beans only has about seven grams of protein.  That makes it even more important for me to focus on protein first.

Here is a list of foods and how much protein they contain.  You might be surprised to learn that even broccoli has protein in it!

Food….Grams of Protein

Black beans, 1 cup…15
Kidney beans, 1 cup…13
Veggie burger (varies somewhat by brand)…13
Tofu, 4 oz…11
Peanut butter, 2 tbsp…8
Almonds, ¼ cup…8
Soy milk, 1 cup…7
Soy yogurt, 6 oz…6
Spinach, cooked, 1 cup…5
Broccoli, cooked, 1 cup…4

Don’t beans have a lot of carbs…and don’t they give you a lot of gas?

Yep, they do.  They are complex carbs, though, and high in fiber.  But depending on what they’re made of, beans and pasta are digested differently.  Vegetarian post-ops will probably take in more carbs altogether than post-ops that eat meat, though.

Beans do give some people a lot of gas, and some post-ops have uncomfortable gas anyway.  I’ll tell you a secret about how to make less gassy beans, though.  If you buy dried beans instead of canned beans, and soak them in cold water with some baking soda for about four hours, then drain and rinse the beans, and finally soak them in cold water for another four hours, they will not make you fart as much.  Dried beans are cheaper, too.

What about the first few weeks post op?

Your surgeon or dietician will probably give you a meal plan and it will probably include lots of meat, eggs and dairy products.  Your surgeon and dietician may or may not be very familiar with a vegetarian or vegan diet.  Your best bet is to find a dietician that is familiar with both weight loss surgery and a vegetarian or vegan diet, though it might be hard to do that, depending on where you live.  You may end up having to educate your doctor or dietician!

You can substitute vegetarian or vegan options for the items on your standard post-op meal plan.  Here are some options:

Clear Liquids

• Substitute veggie broth for chicken broth. You can even add unflavored protein powder to your broth (if your plan allows it) to boost the protein. See below for guidance on protein powders.
• Skip the Jell-O – it’s made from the hooves of horses and cows!

Full Liquids

• Use soy milk instead of skim milk in protein shakes.
• Use a soy protein powder instead of one made with whey, which is a milk product.
• Substitute soy yogurt for regular yogurt.

Pureed Foods

• Puree things like beans, tofu and vegetarian chili.

Protein Supplements

You may have noticed that protein supplements contain different types of protein.

• Whey isolate and whey concentrate are both types of milk protein.  Whey isolate is what is most often recommended for weight loss surgery patients, but there are other good choices, too.
• Soy isolate is not found in as many protein supplements, but it’s a good choice for vegetarians and vegans.  Make sure you read all the ingredients because even if a supplement contains soy isolate, it might also contain some animal ingredients.
• Rice protein, pea protein and hemp protein powders are likely to be labeled as vegetarian or vegan protein supplements.  These are not as good a choice as whey or soy isolate because they don’t have all the amino acids we need.  If you use one of these, I suggest mixing it with soy milk instead of water because then you get more amino acids.
• Collagen is a form of protein found in those little “protein shots” or “bullets” that promise large amounts of protein in just a few ounces of liquid.  The collagen comes from boiling the skin and hooves of horses, cows and pigs, so it’s not a vegetarian form of protein.  It’s also missing some important amino acids so it’s not absorbed well at all.

What about vitamins?

All post-ops should be taking vitamins.  What kind of vitamins you  need depends on what kind of weight loss surgery you had and on your labs (which you should be getting done regularly).  Vegans can look for vegan forms of vitamins; many supplements contain animal ingredients.  All vegans should take a B12 supplement, regardless of what type of surgery you had; even vegans that have not had weight loss surgery need a B12 supplement because plant foods contain very little B12.

In summary, what you need to know is:

• You can get enough protein as a post-op without eating meat.
• Because non-meat food sources have less protein per ounce than meat food sources, you have to be careful to put protein first in every meal. There isn’t a lot of room for non-protein foods, especially at first.
• Many foods including beans, tofu and even vegetables like broccoli contain protein.
• You might have to educate your surgeon or dietician about a vegetarian or vegan diet.
• There are many vegetarian alternatives to suit each post-op eating stage (clear liquids, full liquids, purees, etc.)

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>> Making the Transition

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