When I was playing soccer back in high school, I’d sometimes wake up with really bad leg cramps during the night, most likely thanks to a rigorous training schedule that included two-hour practices each day after class and a bike ride home because I didn’t have a car. Upon asking around, I was surprised to find out just how many of my friends (both athletes and non-athletes) had also experienced these nighttime leg cramps at some point in their lives.
Everyone wanted to give advice, which ranged from the commonplace: Drink Gatorade to replace electrolytes. Eat extra bananas for potassium… to the really weird: Sleep with a bar of soap at the bottom of the bed. I adopted the peanut butter and banana sandwich as my new favorite lunch and made different flavors of banana milkshakes each night.
The leg cramps did go away, but I’m not sure if I can thank all the extra bananas…
It might have been the soap! 🙂
This cookies & cream Oreo milkshake is full of potassium, as well as calcium, Vitamin C, and fiber. It’s also easy to make. (I figured it’d be good to post an easy recipe after the complicated ice cream recipe of a few days ago.)
Healthy Oreo Milkshake
- 2/3 cup milk of choice
- 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 Oreos or Healthy Oreos
- 1 medium frozen banana (140g) (See instructions below for a banana-free version)
- optional: sweetener of choice, to taste
- optional: 1 scoop protein powder
Blend all ingredients, except cookies, until completely smooth. Add the cookies, and pulse quickly until broken up. Pour into a glass, top with Vegan Cool Whip if desired, and serve. (Banana-free version: omit banana and use 1/2 cup Mori-Nu tofu or Thai coconut meat. Also add 1/8 tsp salt and 1-2 tbsp sweetener of choice. Increase vanilla to 1/2 tsp.)
View Oreo Milkshake Nutrition Facts
Question of the Day: Have you ever gotten nighttime leg cramps?
Do you have any tricks on how to get rid of them? If you ever do get them, you really should try the soap thing. I swear, it works! Another thing that works is standing on a cold floor until the pain goes away. And banana milkshakes… milkshakes make everything better.
Link of the Day: Starbucks-Inspired Cookie Dough Lattes
It’s been a while since I’ve checked out your website and I’m wondering what the heck happened. How can you call a milkshake with oreos healthy? And, technically, once you add the oreos, it’s not just 4 ingredients. You’re not counting the first ingredient in oreos (SUGAR), or the soybean oil and canola oil (which are GMO), or the high fructose corn syrup, or the artificial color, etc. You offer a healthy version of the oreo – why not just go with that and don’t even mention regular oreos. No one should be eating that trash.
It’s from being dehydrated, so yes sports drinks like Gatorade will help replace electrolytes, and bananas contain potassium (an electrolyte) so that will help also. When you lack electrolytes your muscles contact but can’t relax, hence the cramps. I used to get them after a night of *ahem* consuming alcohol and not drinking enough water… Avocado also contains a lot of potassium, and if you lightly salt them you get sodium too (another electrolyte)! Yummy solutions!
The funny thing is potatoes (regular or sweet) have three times as much potassium as bananas, and there are other wonderful fruits and vegetables that will beat bananas in the potassium realm any day. I suppose it’s easier to unpeel a banana than it is to cook a potato/swiss chard/kohlrabi/etc. (unless you are familiar with the kitchen).
A great technique I’ve found to thicken milkshakes is to add 1/2 tsp xantham gum before blending.
Oh yes, i wkoe up screaming. I started to take magnesium pills, and it went away
Okay was that soap thing sarcastic because i cannot tell! 🙂
Ooooh, this sounds awesome! I don’t play soccer, but from what my sister says they’re not fun at all!
I use Tonic Water and it takes about a min. or two for the cramps to go away. It also puts to rest, “Restless Legs!” I swear by it! I buy the bottle of tonic water you use in the new soda machines (I don’t make soda out of it, I use it right out of the bottle it comes in) and just pour a teaspoon of it and take it right out of the spoon. Some times I need to go get more but most of the time, just that one teaspoon is enough. While visiting my sister in law one day, I had some very hard leg cramps and asked her if she had any tonic water. She told me she didn’t have any, but she said pickle juice took her’s away in seconds. She poured me about two tablespoons of it and I drank it and the cramps were gone as I put the cup in the sink! I swear by it too.
Ohhhhh… Oreo milkshake! I love OREO!!! I’ll make it right now!!! Thanks for the article.
I loved how simple this was! I used generic store brand “Oreos” and added a packet of Truvia to the smoothie. It was delicious, especially with chunks of unblended Oreo! I might just add a tiny bit more sweetener next time.
Wow very creative.And to think that I thought bananas and Oreos taste horrible together.This is now my go to healthy snack