The Breakfast shake
This post outlines how to make a high-protein and nutritious breakfast shake that will leave you feeling full for hours.
This shake contains ingredients such as blueberries, cocoa powder, chia seeds, and flaxseed, which offer specific nutritional benefits lacking in many diets.
Let’s take a look at the nutritional information for this shake:
| Name | Grams | Calories | Protein (g) | Carbs (g) | Fats (g) | Fiber (g) | Soluble Fiber (g) |
| 1 banana | 104 | 93 | 1 | 27 | 0.3 | 3 | 1 |
| Frozen blueberries | 75 | 43 | 0.5 | 11 | 0.3 | 2 | 0.5 |
| Cocoa powder | 30 | 72 | 6 | 18 | 3.6 | 8 | 1 |
| Chia seeds | 20 | 98 | 3 | 9 | 6.2 | 7 | 5 |
| Flaxseed (ground) | 15 | 80 | 3 | 4 | 6.3 | 4 | 1.5 |
| Protein powder | 30 | 120 | 24 | 3 | 1.5 | 0 | 0 |
| Oatmeal | 30 | 107 | 4 | 20 | 2 | 3 | 1.5 |
| TOTAL | 613 | 41.5 | 92 | 20.2 | 27 | 10.5 |
Some key takeaways:
- The protein powder adds the majority of the protein, but the cocoa powder, chia seeds, and flaxseed make a significant contribution
- The cocoa powder, chia seeds, and flaxseed add 7.5 grams of soluble fiber!
- Blueberries and bananas add a natural sweet flavor and are also quite nutritious
Soluble fiber
Most Americans only eat around 3-4 grams of soluble fiber per day. This shake contains three times as much soluble fiber as an American eats in a day.
Take a look at common components of the American diet and the corresponding soluble fiber amount:
| Food | Serving Size (what people actually eat) | Soluble Fiber (g) |
| White bread | 2 slices | 0.5 |
| Whole wheat bread | 2 slices | 1 |
| White rice (cooked) | 1 cup (195g) | 0.2 |
| Brown rice (cooked) | 1 cup (195g) | 0.4 |
| White pasta (cooked) | 1.5 cups (210g) | 0.8 |
| Whole wheat pasta (cooked) | 1.5 cups (210g) | 2 |
| French fries | Medium order (117g) | 0.3 |
| Baked potato with skin | 1 medium (173g) | 1.5 |
| Breakfast cereal (Cheerios) | 1 cup (28g) | 1 |
| Breakfast cereal (Frosted Flakes) | 1 cup (41g) | 0.1 |
| Bagel (white) | 1 whole | 0.5 |
| Tortilla (flour) | 1 large (49g) | 0.3 |
| Pizza (2 slices) | 2 slices (200g) | 0.5 |
| Pancakes | 3 medium (114g) | 0.4 |
| Corn (cooked) | 1 cup (164g) | 1.2 |
| Beans (black, pinto, kidney) | 1/2 cup (86g) | 2.5 |
| Oatmeal (cooked) | 1 cup (234g) | 2 |
| Apple with skin | 1 medium (182g) | 1 |
| Orange | 1 medium (131g) | 1.8 |
| Banana | 1 medium (118g) | 0.6 |
Breakfast cereals, bagels, pancakes, and pasta have low levels of soluble fiber.
It’s no wonder the American diet is low in soluble fiber. Take a look at an example day of eating:
- Pancakes for breakfast with 0.4 grams of soluble fiber
- Pizza for lunch with 0.5 grams of soluble fiber
- Pasta for dinner with 0.8 grams of soluble fiber
That’s only 1.7 grams of soluble fiber, way below the recommended intake. Good to note that eating fruit is a great way to get soluble fiber if you’re lacking it.
Total fiber
You should eat around 25-30 grams of fiber every day.
Here’s the average fiber intake across different countries around the world:
| Country | Fiber (g/day) | Reason |
| Ghana | 24.9 | Plant-based diet with high legume consumption (beans, lentils), whole grains, root vegetables; minimal processed foods |
| Germany | 24 | Highest in Western countries; strong tradition of whole grain breads (rye, pumpernickel), sauerkraut, and vegetable-heavy meals |
| Mediterranean | 22 | The Mediterranean diet emphasizes fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, and nuts |
| Vietnam | 27 | Very high legume intake (mung beans, black beans in desserts and breakfast); rice-based diet with vegetables; minimal processed foods |
| Brasil | 13-24 | The poor, rural areas eat much more fiber than the high-income, urban areas |
| USA | 14.2 | Heavy reliance on refined grains (white bread, pasta, rice); high processed food consumption; low legume intake; meat-centric diet |
| Canada | 15 | Similar to the U.S. - Western diet with refined grains, processed foods, and low legume consumption |
| UK | 16 | White bread/pasta dominant; low legume consumption; processed foods; "meat and potatoes" culture |
The shake with 27 grams of total fiber is a cheat code. It gives you your required fiber intake in a single meal.
Fiber helps you manage your cholesterol, keep a healthy gut, and reduce colon cancer risks. It also helps with weight management by keeping you full. It gets processed in your digestive system over 12-24 hours, so there isn’t any issue with eating it in one meal.
It’s hard to eat too much fiber in a day, so you can feel free to continue eating fiber-rich foods for lunch and dinner.
Increasing breakfast protein
You can eat a bowl of zero-fat Greek yogurt with oatmeal before drinking the shake to further boost protein and calories.
| Ingredient | Grams | Calories | Protein |
| Bluberries | 42 | 24 | 0.4 |
| Oatmeal | 30 | 107 | 4 |
| Yogurt | 200 | 144 | 18 |
| Total | 275 | 22.4 |
The yogurt portion of the meal gets the total protein to 63.9 grams (41.5 grams from the shake and 22.4 grams from the yogurt).
This is a great way to make your already filling shake even more satiating.
Tweaking for your macros
You can easily cut the banana or oatmeal if you want to remove calories and/or carbs.
That will make the shake + yogurt around 600 calories, instead of 900.
It’s good to keep the cocoa powder, flaxseed, and chia seeds in the shake. Those are harder to eat in other meals. They’re a great source of fats and soluble fibers and are part of what makes this meal so nutritious.
Conclusion
This meal also combines well with two-meal-a-day intermittent fasting. You can have the shake + yogurt at noon and then eat a large 1,100-calorie dinner if you’re on a 2,000-calorie diet.
The shake + yogurt is high volume, the food expands in your stomach, and the fiber also slows gastric emptying to keep you full for longer.
Here are the total macros for the shake + yogurt:
- Calories 888 (44% of 2,000 daily)
- Fat 21.7g (33% of 65g daily)
- Protein 67.9g (38% of 180g daily)
- Carbs 123.4g (65% of 190g daily)
And here are the fiber stats:
- Fiber 27.4g (91% of 30g daily)
- Soluble Fiber 13.5g (100% of recommended intake)
Here is an example dinner that fills the rest of the calorie and macro requirements:
- 300g chicken breast: 330 cal, 69g protein, 0g carbs, 6g fat
- 2 whole eggs: 140 cal, 12g protein, 1g carbs, 10g fat
- Large salad (200g mixed leaves + tomato + cucumber): 50 cal, 3g protein, 8g carbs, 0g fat
- 15g olive oil (dressing): 133 cal, 0g protein, 0g carbs, 15g fat
- 1 cup black beans: 220 cal, 15g protein, 40g carbs, 1g fat
- 70g sourdough bread: 185 cal, 6g protein, 36g carbs, 1g fat
We will talk about more dinner options in more detail in a separate post.
This eating methodology also saves you a lot of mental energy from choosing what to eat every day. You can eat the same shake + yogurt combo every day and will know the exact macros. Then you only need to think about dinner.
You won’t feel hungry throughout the day either. The food volume and satiety indices of these meals is high.