Easy Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie- PCOS and Insulin Friendly
Jump to RecipeLooking for a super strawberry flavored smoothie? You’ll love this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie that’s both PCOS and Insulin Resistance friendly!
It’s that time of year where I want everything strawberry flavored (and especially milkshakes) but with PCOS, I avoid indulging that craving very frequently because I just don’t feel good after.
So the other morning when I was craving a very strawberry flavored milkshake, I set out to make this smoothie dupe. I hope you love this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie as much as I do!! The next few paragraphs will give you some interesting information on health benefits of this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie as well as some tips on where I like to get my pcos friendly protein powders. But if you’d like to just skip to the recipe, feel free! Jump to Recipe
Health Properties of Strawberries for PCOS | Easy Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie
Strawberries are really good for you, full of fiber, antioxidants and polyphenols. They are great for gut health, blood pressure and more. They are also low glycemic which means you can eat more of them without worrying about spiking your sugars too high.
In PCOS, we need to stick to a lower glycemic diet. This means that the foods we eat need to avoid spiking our blood sugar too much or too quickly. This is because in PCOS, we usually have something called insulin resistance. You can learn more about pcos insulin resistance and strategies to manage it here.
But with PCOS insulin resistance, fruit can often be a trigger for our blood sugar issues. Yes, even though fruit is healthy, it’s also often full of natural sugars that the PCOS body struggles to handle!
The exception to this rule are berries. Berries like blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries (like the ones in this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie!) are lower in natural sugars and spike our insulin levels less.
I added some freeze dried strawberries to help increase the flavor even more and I recommend organic strawberries for that reason too, they’re just better.
Protein Powders for PCOS friendly Smoothies | Easy Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie
You want to add a protein powder to this smoothie to help balance out the insulin spike from the fruit. This is what helps make it more PCOS and Insulin friendly.
The protein powder you use in a smoothie can really make or break the flavor. In my opinion, flavors from vegan protein powders can be the most hit or miss, sometimes they are chalky, sometimes bitter.
Whey protein can be a good option if you tolerate whey and most people seem to like the flavor. If you do tolerate whey, adding a strawberry flavored protein powder can be another great way to bump up the strawberry flavor!
Personally, my favorite protein is the Be Well by Kelly Grass-fed protein. It’s made from beef but is non-dairy so it’s perfect if you are trying to avoid dairy or be lactose free. I used the vanilla flavor in this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie recipe! You can use my discount code AMBER10 if you’d like to try it here.
Resistant Starch for Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie
I added a resistant starch powder to this smoothie for two reasons- first, it helps to add more fiber which slows down the release of sugars into the blood stream. Strawberries are low glycemic already, but it doesn’t hurt to add more support for our blood sugar whenever we can.
Second, resistant starch is a great pre-biotic. Prebiotics are food for beneficial gut bacteria, they keep our microbiome balanced and that can make us healthier and more resilient. It can also help a lot with PCOS symptoms too! More about that here Functional Nutrition for PCOS
Instead of a resistant starch powder, you could add an extra fiber source like chia seeds or psyllium husk for many of the same benefits. Fiber is one of my top PCOS Superfoods and including some is always a good idea whenever you can. 9 Superfoods for PCOS
You can find my recommended protein powders and resistant starch powder in my amazon shop here😊
I hope you try this easy strawberry milkshake smoothie recipe and love it! Let me know if you do!
Video of Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie Recipe
Here’s a video of me making this strawberry milkshake smoothie so you can see how it turns out! I prefer my smoothies thinner so they go through a straw more easily but you could definitely make this thicker by taking away some of the milk or even adding more ice.
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Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie Ingredients:
1 handful (about 3/4 cups) organic strawberries
2 teaspoons freeze dried strawberries
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (this is the one I used)
1 serving resistant starch powder (helps feed your gut bacteria, you could sub for 1 teaspoon fiber like chia seeds- this is the resistant starch powder I use)
1 handful ice
8 oz milk of choice- I use a non-dairy milk for this and prefer my smoothies a little more liquid so they can go through a straw better, try less water at first if you want a thicker smoothie
Blend and enjoy!
Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie
Ingredients
Method
- Blend and Enjoy!
Notes
