In an effort to loose weight, I am taking one of those bland flavorless shakes for two meels a day. I am loosing a little (when I behave) but I don’t love the shake. I am trying to find a way to add flavor to the shake without calories. I have tried:
Fruits (of all kinds)
Sugar-free Jello
Surgar-free Kool-Aid
Low Fat yogurt (this worked to some extent, I enjoyed the outcome but wasn’t convinced that I was keeping the calories down.)
Except for the yogurt, I wasn’t all that pleased with the results. I would enjoy hearing suggestions from others.
What type of bland, flavorless shake? You can always try flavor extracts available in the herbs/spices aisles of the grocery stores. They come in a variety of flavors from vanilla and almond to pineapple, coconut, chocolate, and orange. They aren’t exactly cheap, but a little goes a long way – trust me. These can really enhance flavor without adding calories or fat. The thing to remember is that while a little is a good thing, too much (like more than a teaspoon) is awful.
I used to make marvelous shakes using 1/2 cup of silken tofu, approx 1 cup of ice, 1 banana, 1/2 cup of orange juice, 1 tbsp of honey and 1 tsp of vanilla, pineapple or coconut extract. Like a healthy tropical drink. Tofu provides the smooth creaminess of a non-fat yogurt (or in the high cal version ice cream) while being low cal, high protein while the extracts completely mask that soy flavor that not everyone enjoys.
So, maybe flavor extracts can help your bland shake as well. Chocolate coconut combo might be a yummy start.
You can try one of the sugar-free DaVinci syrups…they’re available in a wide array of flavors (everything from fruit flavors to stuff like hazlenut, caramel, etc.). You can buy them at lots of places other than this place I linked, just do a search on Davinci syrups. If you don’t want to do mail order, I’ve sometimes found them for sale in TJ Maxx stores (in the gourmet/housewares area) or in Super Wal-Mart (the ones that have the supermarket attached, not the regular Wal-Mart) in the coffee section.
What the hell is it with those shake diets anyway? You drink a shake for breakfast, another for lunch and then eat a sensible meal for dinner. Hell, if I could eat a sensible meal I wouldn’t need the shake!
Sugar-free Torani syrups are pretty tasty as well. There are recipes on the website: www.torani.com.
You could also use the sugar-free, fat-free Jello pudding mix and add those for a change of texture.
