Strawberries are in season right now even though it’s almost winter so this is a perfect time for a strawberry milkshake.
If done right, with fresh strawberries, dairy milk, and maybe some raw honey to sweeten it, a strawberry milkshake is actually amazingly healthy.
But what are the benefits of strawberry milkshake?
Say you make yourself a small milkshake with just 100 grams of fresh or frozen strawberries and 1 cup (250 milliliters) of dairy milk, 1% or 1.5% fat, or even 2%.
Maybe you add a tablespoon of raw honey to sweeten it, but if your strawberries are all nice and ripe, they’ll be sweet enough by themselves. Use a basic food processor to smoothie everything. What benefits will you get from a milkshake like this?
1) A clean treat
If your strawberries are organic, and your honey is raw, then a strawberry milkshake is really a genuinely clean treat.
The strawberries are as natural as they get – they’re picked off the bush. And you can grow them yourself easily, and freeze for the off-season.
The milk is only pasteurized, but otherwise a clean food. You can even get lactose-free milk if you’re lactose intolerant.
And raw honey is filtered tops, which doesn’t use damaging heat that destroys the bioactive components in it. How much clean can something get?
2) You get balanced nutrition
For balanced nutrition you need to get your carbs, fiber too, fat and protein in sufficient amounts from what you eat.
The least processed your food and the more diverse your diet, the more likely you are to get balanced nutrition. And a simple home-made strawberry milkshake can be a sweet, tasty treat that provides all of the macronutrients you need.
The strawberries will get you carbs, half of which are natural sugars (fructose and glucose) and about a quarter dietary fiber. In fact, the 2.1 grams of fiber you can get in fresh or frozen strawberries represents about 7.5% of the fiber requirements for an adult person for a day.
The milk will get you carbs too (about 12-13 grams of carbs per cup), but also over 8 grams of protein which is a great amount to take in from a mere snack. A cup of 1% or 2% cow milk also gets you about 2.4 to 4.7 grams of fat which is great for macronutrient balance. The raw honey is optional, but if you add it, you’ll be getting an extra 8 to 9 grams of carbs for every 10 grams of honey.
3) It curbs sugar cravings
Even without adding any honey to it, a strawberry milkshake can give you your sugar fix, but in a healthy way. Sugar is sugar, whether it comes from strawberries or honey or from a sugar packet. But the fact that you are also getting actual nutrition from a strawberry milkshake makes it the better choice.
A strawberry milkshake will get you good amounts of dietary fiber, vitamins such as vitamin C for immunity and good-looking skin, minerals and pigmented antioxidants from strawberries, various bioactive healthful components from honey, and good amounts of protein, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium and zinc from milk.
4) It’s satiating
One of the benefits of a home-made strawberry milkshake is that it’s quite satiating. The dietary fiber from the strawberries together with the 8 grams of protein from the cup of milk and the 2-4 grams of fat are quite satiating and help curb hunger.
5) It has under 200 calories
How many calories in a strawberry milkshake made with 100 grams of fresh strawberries, one cup of 1% or 2% cow milk and 10 grams of raw honey? You’ll be getting just 33 kilocalories from the strawberries, 105 to 122 kilocalories from the cup of milk (1% vs 2%) and about 30 kilocalories from the 10 grams of raw honey.
This adds up a total energetic value of 168 kilocalories (for a cup of 1% milk) and 185 kilocalories (for a cup of 2% milk). This is not high at all for a snack as sweet as a strawberry and honey milkshake.
6) You get lots of vitamin C
If you’re looking to get more vitamin C in your diet this season, then you can consider a serving of home-made strawberry milkshake made with fresh strawberries.
Just 100 grams of strawberries will get you about 58.8 grams of vitamin C which is over 65% of all the vitamin C the average adult should absolutely get in a day.
To make sure you get as much of the vitamin C as possible from the strawberries, use them as fresh as possible and drink the milkshake as soon as you make it. Air and light oxidize vitamin C.
7) It’s good for the heart
What makes a strawberry milkshake good for the heart? For one, the vitamin C content in strawberries contributes to collagen production and collagen is what helps keep blood vessel walls elastic and healthy.
Two, the strawberries are anti-inflammatory which contributes to lower risks of cardiovascular disease.
The good content of vitamin C in strawberries paired with a high content of bioactive compounds such as ‘phenolic acids, flavonoids, such as anthocyanins and flavonols, and tannins’, ‘either individually or combined, are responsible for various health benefits of berries, such as prevention of inflammation disorders, cardiovascular diseases’ (source).
Milk helps too. The cup of milk provides important amounts of electrolytes: calcium, magnesium and potassium. Calcium potassium and magnesium have blood pressure lowering effects and make the milkshake a good treat for anyone with hypertension. Together, the strawberries and milk account for about 11% of all the potassium an adult should get in a day, 10% of magnesium values and 25% of calcium values.
Moreover, ‘antioxidants in strawberries also help to lessen the risk of cardiovascular incidents by inhibition of LDL-cholesterol oxidation, or improved vascular endothelial function. This could reduce the risk of incidence of thrombosis’ (source 1, source 2, source 3).
8) Energizing action
A strawberry milkshake made with just basic ingredients (strawberries, milk and some honey) is quite energizing.
You get an average of 25 grams of sugar (fructose, glucose, lactose, sucrose, galactose) from 100 grams of strawberries, one cup of 1% or 2% milk at 245 milliliters and 10 grams of raw honey.
It’s not excessive and does not count towards daily added sugar values, but it will boost energy levels considerably.
9) Has anti-aging properties
A freshly-made strawberry milkshake can be a source of antiaging benefits.
For one, the vitamin C in strawberries boosts collagen production in the skin, contributing to improved elasticity and fewer wrinkles.
The high water content of over 90% further promotes strawberries as a good food to eat for skin health.
Antioxidants such as copper and manganese in the strawberries come with free radical-scavenging benefits and benefits for hair and eyes pigmentation, while B vitamins from both the strawberries and milk help maintain skin integrity and contribute to skin healing.
10) Good for bones and teeth
Sugar content aside, a strawberry milkshake provides good nutrition to bones and teeth. Vitamin C from strawberries stimulates the production of collagen types 1 and 3, resulting in functional benefits related to the development and maintenance of bone tissue, as well as stimulates the production of new bone cells. See more vitamins for bones and teeth health.
Calcium is the most abundant mineral in bones and teeth, but phosphorus, potassium and magnesium contribute to bone tissue too, and so does iodine. And milk is a great source for all of them.
Calcium makes up most of actual bones, and tooth enamel and dentin, and maintains bone mineral density, bone rigidity and bone strength.
Phosphorus, potassium and magnesium both build bone tissue and stimulate the production of new bone, being essential for normal bone metabolism and proper bone and teeth mineralization.
Iodine supports the production of thyroid hormones and prevents calcium from leaching from bones and teeth which can compromise bone density. See what are other minerals good for bones and teeth.
Together, the strawberries and milk account for over 65% of all the vitamin C an adult person should get in a day, 60 to 65% of iodine daily values, 25% calcium, 20% phosphorus, over 11% potassium and 10% magnesium.
