It was a wondrous morning on January, 1/3/14- not just my fun day Friday, but a snow day off! I slept in luxuriously and made no gym plans - all humdrum could be left to Monday. By then, it would be over one week since I abandoned my fitness/nutrition goals.
However, my first meal of the day was nutritionally sound, produced using the Nutribullet. Initially, despite rave reviews from coworkers, I was skeptical, not necessarily of the purported benefits of consuming pulverized fruits and vegetables, but of my ability to use the contraption regularly enough to justify the purchase (wow, that was a long sentence). I recognized an almost total deficit in my daily veggie/fruit intake but wasn't positive this machine would change that.
The infomercial for the Nutribullet strikes me as gimmicky - overacting host, staged audience with scripted "Aaaahs" and applause, and the use of the term cyclonic nutrition "extraction" to describe high-powered blending. The used car-style sales pitch aside, I've had a very favorable experience with the product.
The Nutribullet is very easy to use and to clean. Blending was easy and even fun using this powerful little gadget, and I liked experimenting with various combinations of fruits, veggies and boosts (i.e. nuts or seeds recommended as additives to slow down digestion/add protein).
While blending was fun, consuming the byproducts was another story. Frankly, I prefer to chew solid food rather than subject myself to a self-imposed liquid diet. Drinking food just wasn't as enjoyable for me and, on some occasions, was just weird. For this reason, I decided against blending higher calorie items I'd rather eat than drink (like bananas - a regularly featured ingredient in many Nutribullet recipes because the sugar helps mask the veggies) or blending shakes that would replace succulent meals.
However, drinking vegetables, such as spinach, was a lot easier than forking my way through a salad. Also, I figured I wouldn't be too deprived by replacing my usually sugary breakfast cereal with a healthy shake that I could quickly force myself to ingest.
As a warning for new users, many of the recipes I tried, including those online/YouTube and from the recipe book included with the Nutribullet, just didn't taste very good. One problem is that many of these recipes feature fresh fruit; however, aside from bananas, I found most fresh fruit, especially when off-season, lacked enough sweetness to not be overpowered by the bitterness/blandness of blended veggies. Also, room temperature mushy mush is not very appetizing.
Rather than abandoning the Nutribullet, I uncharacteristically worked through varying combinations and eventually discovered the perfect ingredient:
These frozen blueberries are much sweeter, naturally with no sugar added, than their fresh counterparts. The nutrition is preserved, this brand is pesticide-free and blending frozen fruit results in a cold, refreshing smoothie. Frozen strawberries (a rejected experimental item) did not taste as sweet but these frozen blueberries complement blended veggies nicely.
My veggie additions were:
Spinach:
And Baby Carrots (also sweet):
I blend these items first, adding water.
In this demonstration below, I went way past the marked midway point (recommended limit to prevent leaking) but still didn't experience problems.
Experimenting with water is another personalized journey - too little water, your shake will be thicker and harder to get through quickly - which could be preferable for those who prefer to savor their preparations. However, I wanted something I could suck down and be on my way. Too much water, and you dilute the flavors and possibly make way more than you can drink in one sitting. By the way, it's best to blend only in consumable amounts - the shakes don't keep well and will taste vile well after they're made, even after refrigeration. It seems "extracted" veggies and fruit rot more quickly, so definitely drink them fresh.
Screw on the top, containing the blade and circular rubber gasket which prevents leaking.
Then, flip the container to fit it into the base.
Online, some reviewers complain of leaking but I haven't experienced issues with this. Once, I did need to have the blade and gasket replaced when my Dad attempted to use the regular blade to grind standalone nuts, not realizing he should have used the separate "milling" blade provided. I had a good experience with the warranty protection and customer service to replace the damaged parts for free, not including a minimal shipping cost (from what I recall, a couple of dollars). It did take some time to formally register my Nutribullet, which included emailing my receipt, which had to be done before I could benefit from the warranty. After that, reporting the issue was relatively painless to a very friendly customer service rep by phone and then I waited about 2 weeks to receive the replacement parts.
A click and a turn commences speedy blending action!
My final ingredient, aka the Boost!
Special note- There is a healthy distinction between raw and roasted almonds, the latter actually being fried in oil and salted (see Dr. Oz article).
Most grocery stores offer an abundance of roasted nuts, with raw varieties being harder to find, hopefully just tucked away in the health food section of your regular grocery store.
I like to blend the almonds separately for less than 2 seconds because I prefer to crunch/chew my way through them when drinking the shake.
I would love to add almonds generously! However, since I'm not looking to create a high caloried protein shake, I limit myself to about 13 almonds. Just 10 almonds have about 70 calories and 6 grams of (good) fat - I used to add more than double that amount until I realized the calorie count on myfitnesspal.
This is the finished product (purple power drink!)
I'm lazy to make this drink every morning -even though it doesn't take very long, I like to immediately clean the Nutribullet parts rather than leave in the sink to have to scrub off dried goop later. Also, I have to keep up with having fresh spinach/other ingredients on hand- I was not previously familiar with how quickly spinach expires (in about a week!) having no familiarity with spinach itself. Once, I tried to push my luck with some expired spinach from the fridge. I learned disgustedly that the shake will taste exactly like the quality of the ingredients you blend - so if you wouldn't want to eat "just starting to slime" spinach, you wouldn't want to drink it- duh.
I have now phased out sugary cereal as breakfast (with an occasional bowl usually on weekends), and feel better-healthier and more energized (is that psychosomatic?). I feel really great when I have this shake as breakfast, along with a glass of lowfat milk and a multivitamin. On mornings I'm more rushed or lacking ingredients, I'll microwave a bowl of oatmeal, previously made by my parents in bulk in the fridge.
A dear friend once debated that meals in the afternoon are no longer breakfast. I maintained that the first meal upon waking breaks your sleeping fast and hence must be breakfast, even when it's leftover pizza. Versus the weekend "breakfasts" comprised of leftovers of yesterdays' takeout, a Nutribullet shake has inspired in me more conscious and therefore healthier daytime eating (before the beast awakens at sundown).
Unfortunately, the healthy start of that afternoon (I slept in, recall chapter 1 of this saga) was followed by:
The mini-er they are, the more you can eat!? See here, along with extra helpings of ketchup (I prefer all natural ketchup but all we had in the house was this ketchup staple). Thanks Brother Numsey for being my hand model:
Pour some sugar on me (tater tots)!
p.s. I started this post on Friday, 1/3 and finally finished writing it on this hump day, Wednesday, 1/8. Deterred by impatience, returning to work with a heavy heart after the holidays, the extremely cold climate, and my period (in no particular order, except period does beat Polar Vortex), tonight marks 11 days with no exercise.
Sadly, just about as long as I had accumulated in fitness, (last year - ?@!#) has now passed and I'm hoping not the little progress I had made, along with it. I'll only know the full extent of the damage/regression when I hit the gym again- hopefully this weekend. Why does time off from the gym fly by, when time in felt like forever?!
