Cold Brew, Oat & Protein Smoothie

Why it works

This is built around the two things a training day actually needs early: enough protein to start the day at a level that supports muscle, and slow carbohydrate that does not fall out from under you an hour later. Around 30 g of protein in a sitting is roughly where the muscle-building response plateaus in most adults, and spreading that across meals beats loading it all at dinner. Raw rolled oats blend down smoothly and bring beta-glucan, the soluble fiber that slows gastric emptying and blunts the glucose curve. The caffeine is a genuine performance aid, one of the few supplements with strong evidence for strength and endurance, at roughly 3 to 6 mg per kilogram taken about an hour beforehand.

Ingredients

• 240 ml cold brew coffee, unsweetened
• 120 ml milk or unsweetened soy milk
• 40 g (1/2 cup) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 frozen banana (about 110 g)
• 25 g vanilla whey protein powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Pour the liquid into the blender first, then add the soft ingredients, then anything frozen or hard on top. Blending in that order keeps the blades in liquid instead of spinning against a frozen block.
2. Blend the oats with the liquid for thirty seconds before anything else goes in. Given that head start they disappear completely; added at the end they stay gritty.
3. Add the protein powder last and blend only briefly. Long blending whips air into whey and turns the top of the glass to foam.
4. Blend on low until it breaks up, then on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until no flecks remain and the texture is even.
5. Taste and adjust: a splash more liquid if it is too thick to pour, a squeeze of citrus if it tastes flat, a few more ice cubes if you want it colder.
6. Drink it soon after blending. The texture separates within about ten minutes, and the colour dulls as the cut surfaces oxidise.