I love smoothies, or shakes as some may call them, because they are easy to consume and they can taste really good if you do them right. Lately, there are many juice bars popping up, offering healthy smoothies and shakes. However, commercially-available smoothies may not be as healthy as portrayed as they can be overloaded with sugar (and calories), thus hampering your weight loss or healthy living efforts.
The best way to be honest about the shakes is to make them yourself, or at least be able to see how the shakes are being made. One such place is Ritual‘s Fuel Bar, where the ingredients are displayed openly and the shakes are made in front of you so you know exactly what goes into it. Another plus point – all ingredients are organic.
These are not your typical fruit-laden shakes; they are blended protein shakes which serve as good post-workout refuel. I know, protein shakes can taste really bad, but the ones at Ritual are honest-to-goodness tasty. Why is protein good again? Well, it keeps you fuller for longer, burns more calories to be digested and promotes muscle mass which is needed to burn fat.
Here’s an example of one of their most popular shakes, the Cookie Monster: it’s made of (brown rice) protein, cinnamon, figs, oats, raisins and almonds. Another favourite is the Fire Bunny: protein, strawberry, peanut butter, banana and spinach. You can enhance your shakes with additional portions of protein, berries, almonds, raisins, dates, oats, figs, banana, peanut butter, coffee or greens powder.
I usually take these shakes as post-workout refuel and not as a meal replacement, but they are filling and nutritious enough to be meal-worthy. Each shake has protein, carbohydrates, fat (good kind of coures), micronutrients and trace minerals. If you still feel hungry, you can add on an order of their protein balls, called Amazeballs, which are made of organic peanut butter, chocolate protein, unsweetened cocoa powder, organic oats, dates and organic maple syrup. They also have nut sacks and coconut water if you prefer a snack.
What I like about Ritual’s shakes are its nutritious content (protein is good for you!), great taste (who says protein shakes must taste like chalk?) and convenience. You can pop by to grab a shake any time and sometimes I do that when I’m running around and have no time to sit down for a meal or do not feel like having anything heavy. I would recommend the Earth Goat if you want something super healthy, Cookie Monster if you have a sweet tooth and love crunchy bits in your drinks, or the Vanilla Gorilla for a boost (it’s the only shake with coconut water).
Although these are legit meal replacement shakes, please do not replace all your meals with them – just one will do. The trend of cleansing detox liquid diets is picking up, but be careful that you might send your metabolism crashing due to the insufficient calories or suffer from lack of energy. It may also just be psychological because of the ‘feel good’ factor derived from solid food abstinence! Love your body, treat it right and feed it well ok?
Ritual’s shakes go at S$7 for Brave (16oz) and S$10 for Heroic (22oz).
