Food- My Favorite Sugar-Free Shake

by Kaitlyn Fikaris

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) approximately 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes and 84% of those don’t know it. Over the summer, I found out I was a prediabetic while getting blood drawn for something else. Although diabetes runs on both sides of my family, I didn’t worry much about it before. Ever since I found out of my now increased high-risk to develop diabetes, I’ve tried to cut off sugar from my diet as much as possible. I began meal-prepping, shopping for my own groceries, cooking, and actually looking at every ingredient I used. In a weird way it became therapeutic. Within my first two weeks of cutting sugar, I lost a few pounds as well. My goal wasn’t to lose weight but to simply cut out sugar. I have a huge problem with society’s perception of body image and weight loss programs, but that’s a different blog post. Moral of the story: I refuse to do anything to intentionally “lose weight” but to be healthier, for myself and no one else. I am in no way supporting or encouraging weight loss or anything that can contribute negatively towards one’s self-esteem in this post.

One of my favorite things are home-made shakes. I trust what’s in them, since I washed and prepped everything that’s put into it. Here’s what I throw into the blender, all from Trader Joe’s:

🍓Fresh Strawberries (not frozen or in packages as they might contain sugar)

🍌Bananas (keep in mind bananas are naturally sweet, don’t use too many if you’re focused on being sugar-free, I recommend only using 1)

🥜Organic Peanut Butter No Salt (includes 1g of total sugars, not a necessary step but I use for flavor and thickness)

🥛Organic Unsweetened Soy Milk (or Almond Milk)

🥣 Old Fashioned Organic Oats (great for breakfast, fills you up)

🧊Ice to chill