Fueling America’s Greats: Helen's Peanut Better Smoothie

Recovery is crucial to every athlete whether it’s a star soccer player or a legendary wrestler like Helen Maroulis.

Maroulis is one of the greatest wrestlers in United States’ history with a litany of triumphs, accolades and her iconic first place finish in Brazil in 2016. Part of what comes with being the most dominant wrestlers on the planet is the right fuel.

Smoothies and athletics can go hand-and-hand as they’re quick to make and extremely healthy depending on the ingredients used. One ingredient that athletes can always rely on for recovery is peanuts.

“Peanut butter for me is like twofold. It's a really complimentary part of nutrition because you have your protein, and I feel like that's on every nutritionist and dietician's list of things to have, but also it tastes good,” Maroulis says. “When you start cutting weight, it's like, OK, you can have a banana, but you can also have a banana and put some peanut butter on it and then it starts to feel like a treat even though it's still nutritious. I like it for that reason.”

Here's how to recreate Helen’s smoothie.