ADVERTISEMENT
Learning how to make diet shakes on your own can be a great way to have better control of your health. When you constantly rely on the pre-mixed drinks or powders for your nutrition, you are missing out on the benefits of having a shake or smoothie that is perfect for your own individual style and taste preferences. When you control the ingredients and the flavors, you will know exactly what is inside your shake and be able to monitor your weight loss plan more effectively.
To get started, it helps to first learn a little bit about nutrition if you haven’t done so already. Nutrition plays a very big part in your ability to lose weight and see the progress you are hoping for. As we’ve mentioned previously on the site, it’s not so much about how much or how little you eat – it’s all about what you eat. Different foods have different nutrients and components in them that can help you boost your metabolism, burn fat, and give you the energy that you need to make it through the day. The healthier you eat, the better your success will be. Making sure you have a well balanced meal plan will ensure the best results.
Our list of sample plans is a good place to start to learn the basics of the food groups and the daily recommended servings of what nutrients your body needs. Having a general idea of what good nutrition consists of will be a huge help in making it easier for you to determine what foods and ingredients you should use in your recipes.
Step 1: Choose Your Ingredients
The ingredients you choose will be one of the most important factors in what types of drinks you will make and how they will be prepared. If you’ve done a little research on nutrition, then you know that you need to get the right amount of protein and vegetables in your diet. Protein is usually not too difficult since it is abundant in meat and dairy products as well as whole grains. Vegetables however can be a little more tricky for some people to eat, especially if you’ve never been the type to like eating those veggies. This is why diet shakes are so great – you can throw a lot of veggies into them and probably not even know they are there!
In addition to thinking about what you should be putting into your shakes, you should also pay special attention to what you should NOT put in your shakes. For example, adding sugar is a terrible idea. Any benefit that you might get from your veggies or other foods would be negated by the added calories and the effect on blood sugar that adding sugar might have.
To get you started in choosing your ingredients, you’ll want to check out our list of protein shake recipes to get you started.
Step 2: Choose Your Blend Method
Now that you know what you’ll be putting into your drink, your next consideration will be to choose the method you will use to blend all of the ingredients together. There are all sorts of different types of products out there. Some are very convenient and easy to use, such as a portable hand held blender that will quickly mix the ingredients together without complication. There are also more advanced models of blenders that give you so many options to choose from you will likely never even use them all or find them necessary.
While it may not seem like a big deal to think about what kind of blender or fork or spoon you will be using for mixing your drinks up with, after time it does make a big difference. If you have a hunky blender that is a pain in the neck to clean and move and store, guess what? You’re not going to be motivated to use it at all. I used to keep my blender on the bottom shelf of a cabinet – it was hidden behind a lot of other things back there. It was your standard blender that has a blade and a couple of rings and a lid and a few other tiny little pieces. The canister was made out of glass which always made me nervous about washing it. How motivated do you think I was to pull and drag it out, mix up something, and then clean up all those little tiny parts and pieces? If your answer is “not at all” then you are correct.
What works for me might not be the best solution for you. I’ve tried a number of different products and tend to like hand blenders the most, though they can be somewhat limiting. I am intrinsically lazy though when it comes to cooking and cleaning, so that’s why I love it. No messes, no millions of pieces, no rings or gaskets or any of that stuff. Whatever you use and enjoy using is up to you. They key is – you have to enjoy using it. Otherwise, you probably won’t.
Step 3: Enjoy It!
Now that you have decided on your ingredients and mixed them together with your blender of choice, you are ready to enjoy your shake. Congratulations, you now know how to make diet shakes!