Quarantine 2020 got your St. Patrick’s Day down in the dumps? No problem. I’ve got your back! The quarantine for the Coronavirus is keeping us all closer to home this St. Patrick’s Day, which may prevent you from getting your seasonal shamrock shake from McDonald’s.
Guess what? This is a blessing in disguise! While yes, McDonald’s Shamrock Shake is delicious and yes, every once in a while, treat yo self! BUT, I researched the nutritional breakdown of these shakes and I’m SHOOK. I can’t go back. These nutrition facts and ingredients cannot be unseen.
Let me give you a few highlights. For a small size shake, calories 460, saturated fat 8 grams, and sugars 63 grams…you heard correctly 63 grams! God help us. Just for a little reference, our recommended added sugar allowance per day is 25 grams for women (36 for men). Yikes! The only upside is it does offer 10 grams of protein for the small shake. The ingredients in the shake however are chalk full of simple sugars like corn syrup or high fructose corn syrup and artificial coloring/additives like sodium benzoate, yellow 5, and blue 1.
These types of simple sugars and artificial ingredients wreak havoc on our hormones. While we are all cooped up, why not try making my PCOS and hormone-friendly shamrock smoothie (or shake) recipe? It provides a good source of protein, healthy fats, and vitamins/minerals to help keep your blood sugar balanced, hormones happy, and taste buds doing the jig this St. Patrick’s Day! Enjoy!
PCOS-Friendly Shamrock Smoothie
Ingredients
- ½ frozen banana
- ½ avocado
- Small handful fresh spinach (or frozen)
- ¼ tsp mint extract (more as needed or if you don't have any fresh mint leaves)
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 8 fresh mint leaves (ok to eliminate if not available)
- 1 scoop unflavored collagen peptides
- 1-3 drops stevia/monkfruit sweetener
- 4 ice cubes
- ⅔ cup full fat DF milk (regular milk also works here- I used unsweetened soy milk)
- pinch pink sea salt
Instructions
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Combine and blend in a blender until smooth. Top with cocoa nibs, chocolate chips, fresh mint leaves, or whipped topping. Serve immediately.
Recipe Notes
If you want to make this recipe into more of a dessert shake option, eliminate the ice cubes and stevia/monkfruit, add 1 scoop DF mint chocolate chip or vanilla ice cream and decrease milk to 1/3 cup.