in By Chris Newport, Head Coach & Nutritionist

I recently had an athlete share his morning, post-workout recovery shake with me (thanks, JW!), which he called his Blueberry Spinach Superpower Smoothie. All the ingredients were healthy, including blueberries, spinach, peaches and almond butter. His goal was to shed body fat, but he was struggling to figure out why it wasn’t coming off very easily. As it turns out, his smoothie contained 1200 calories. Yep…you read that right.

What was the main culprit? Almond butter. Over 600 calories worth of it (4+ servings). Yikes. Now don’t get me wrong, almond butter is packed with healthy fats and excellent nutrients, but there was no need to have that much in his recovery smoothie.

With some simple tweaks, we were able to get his smoothie down to the right energy level (~500 calories) for his post workout needs and goals. Not only is it packed with micronutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc), but the macronutrient (carbs, protein, fat) amounts work much better for him (and saved him a ton of money!).

Try this Blueberry Spinach Superpower Smoothie for as a meal replacement or as a post workout recovery shake, which satisfies our guidelines for Recovery Nutrition for a Fueling Edge.