Super-sizing my smoothie!

[river]

Hi all,

I'm looking to add some quality calories to my smoothies (which I have twice a day), they currently consist of:

Frozen mixed berries
1 x banana
1 x apple
1 TSP honey
handful of Cacoa nibs
handful of goji berries
handful of cashews
1 x tsp of Maca
handful of sunflower seeds
3 handfuls of spinnach
1 handful of kale
filtered water

I'm underweight, and need to pack in more weight building foods. Can anyone advise on what to add? My bodyfat is 5.5%!?!?

Thanks, River.

[joyfulmama]

more bananas.. lots more.. I make myself about 6 qts a day every morning. I use 2 lbs of greens, 6 or more bananas (more than likely more), 1-2 cups of strawberries and 1cup of mangos. If you add more bananas and some nuts you will add more calories for sure.

[raweater]

To add calories to my smoothies, I use:
-Macadamia nuts (healthier than cashews)
-Coconut oil
-Hemp seeds

Oh, I just noticed you're asking this to gain weight, I've been raw for 2-3 years and have struggled to [re] gain weight ever since. The only thing I tried that worked was to start working out again lifting heavy weights doing sets of 4-6 reps, the best weight gaining exercises are bench press, squat and deadlift.

Eating more will not make you gain weight on raw, in fact you'll find it's impossible to eat more *unless* you start working out, which by increasing your energy demand will increase your hunger (I eat 4000-6000 calories/day when I'm active) and if the exercises you are doing are heavy weight/low reps, you will gain weight (light exercises will not cause weight gain, and in fact cause weight loss, so you must do the right exercises for your goal).

I tried "simply eating more" before but found that without working out, I simply could not pack more food into myself, only exercise allowed me to eat as much as I do now (plus eating more without exercise will cause the weight gain, if any, to be fat rather than muscle).

Hope this helps.

[river]

Thanks all for the replies.

I do add raw help seed powder to the shakes as well, which gives about 25g protein.

I'll include more bananas, and coconut oil as suggested. Macadamia nuts are a bit difficult to get hold of at the minute here (don't know why!), so will look into that.

I do low rep exercise using weights, and also have found the magic formula of squat, bench press and deadlift.

I'd love to hear more of your experiences adding raw weight- raweater, as we seem to be on similar paths.

If anyone else can think of anything else to chuck into this weight gain smoothie let me know!

River.

[Conscious Midwife]

DARK SPOTTED BANANAS

AVOCADO and CACAO POWDER

MANGOS and more cashews

Sweet potatoes