I'm new to this board and to posting : ) I would look at the nutri ninja if you are interested in one of these. YouTube is a great place for reviews and there is a guy on there who does comparisons between the bullet and ninja. I bought the ninja auto intelligence and it is a great sturdy machine, higher watt than the bullet and cheaper than the higher watt version of the bullet.
I only use it to replace breakfast as I don't want to overdo the fruit and I do a lovely thick smoothie using raw porridge oats, fruit, low fat Greek yoghurt and water. This keeps both me and my husband feeling full for ages.
I have never attempted this sort of thing in a blender though so maybe a blender would be perfectly fine for this.
The ninja does pulverise anything we have put in there, chopped raw carrot being the toughest thing we have tried.
Thanks for the advice. Last night I bought the Nutri Ninja Pro, as it was a lot cheaper and seeems to be well made
I made the following smoothy for my evening meal as I am following the 5:2 diet.
1 x Carrot
1/4 x Cucumber
1 handful Kale
1 x Banana
few Blueberries
1 Tablespoon Greek Yoghurt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
Water
I whizzed all this up in the Nutri Ninja and was impressed how quickly it all turned into a tasty smoothy, including the carrots. One glass of this smoothy kept me full all evening and I didn't feel hungry this morning.
I think we will probably use this gadget quite a lot as a quick and easy way to add fruit/veg to our diet.
I'm glad you are pleased with the ninja. I think we will also use ours a lot in summer as light meal replacements if the the weather is hot.
I've been looking at the 5-2diet and am tempted to give it a try, only problem I can see is my working day is long, I'm up at six and it's a long time to stick to 500cals but I won't know if I don't try : ) I'll try your recipe if I do have a go. I just costed my oat smoothie up in cals and it's defo not suitable for a fast day.
Yes I understand that the 5:2 diet maybe challenging for you with a long day, but I guess it is a case of how you can plan your day. The latest version of this diet from Michael Mosley maybe more suitable for you. He is suggesting that instead of limiting yourself to 500 Calories, you could consider just cutting out carbs from your diet on the two fast days.
Since you already have a Ninja you could plan your breakfast and evening meals to be smoothies/soups and maybe a high protein meal at lunch time on your two fast days.
After using the Ninja for several days, I am finding that I am having thicker smoothies than those I made using my old blender. This is mainly because I am adding new ingredients such apples, carrots and nuts, which seem to add fibre/bulk. However, the drink is still smooth without any lumps. With my old blender the nuts would not blend well and would make the drink lumpy
Good luck with whatever diet/lifestyle you do end up choosing. I personally would recommend for you to give the 5:2 diet a trial. You would need to motivate yourself to at least try it for 2 weeks as the first two weeks are hardest.....
Have been thinking about this a lot and have decided to try it at weekends. I get up really late because of my earlies in the week and nearly always have soup for my dinner.
I think I could manage this.
One soup I really love is Baxters chicken broth, it has a lovely peppery taste and is about 130 cals a tin. I've thought about putting it in the ninja before warming as Michael Moseley recommended liquidised soup for keeping you full.
I also like sugar free jellies and find them quite filling and virtually cal free.
I've bought the 5-2 book off amazon and am fired up to try this.
My personal view on these products is that they're a waste of money. I have a normal blender and it does just fine when I'm mixing smoothies. I'm not sure how true this is but a personal trainer on a TV health show said that it doesn't matter how much you put in or how many of them you have, smoothies only counts for 2 of your five a day... but at least the raw fruit and veg is high in nutrients. It would possibly be better to eat fruits and [some] vegetables raw and whole, as having to chew will convince your brain that you have eaten more and that you're full, and this may help stave off the cravings (at least a little).
It's your decision. Good luck with whatever you choose.
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