This is one of my favorite things to blog about. Real HACKS and solutions that you can use every day.
This is going to save you money. This may even relieve your acid reflux and digestive issues!
Please read this. It will give you some good insight into protein shakes. It will give you some power as a consumer to make some good, healthy decisions for YOUR health. We need to be a BOSS and take control of all the imagines that the MEDIA feeds us and try to sell to us.
Take a few moments to learn about protein shakes. Do yourself this favor, please.
Why oh Why are we all so addicted to these cans and buckets of protein powders that the food manufacturers are trying to sell us? It’s got a lot to do with advertising. They would love for you to believe that it is impossible to get the protein that you require from only REAL food. They want to convince you that you will suffer from protein deficiency unless you opt to purchase THEIR products.
Let’s BUST this MYTH wide open.
My clients suffer numerous issues due to these shakes so today is the day that we bust free from lab-produced protein and we make the switch to real food! YEAH!!
As a nutritionist, it is almost easier to just go along with the labs that make this “food-like stuff” and tell my clients to buy them and drink them. Nobody will question me. They will all rush out to the local health food shop, or Walmart and purchase what they need to get the results that they want to achieve.
I have been recommending that my clients drink these shakes for two weeks before their surgery and for a few weeks post-surgery. I have been giving this recommendation for over a decade now.
Today is the day that I jump off the nutritionist “hamster wheel” and say “loud and proud” – – –
WE DON’T NEED THESE PRODUCTS!!
Question … have you ever looked at the back label of your protein powder? I mean, not just the protein and carb counts. I mean, have you ever looked at the ingredients added to your white, brown, pink or yellow powder? Have you ever flipped over the can of your favorite shake and tried to pronounce the long list of “items” in your canned protein shake? Hmmm,,,
Please do me a favor and go and get the protein products that you purchased and flip over the can or bucket. I want you to take a good long look at the labels, please. You will see some of the following items:
Casein plus WPC, Gluten, Dextrin/ Glucose, Artificial sweeteners, Skim milk powders/ Milk Solids, Soy protein, Vegetable oils and fats, Thickeners and gums, Fillers. Almost all of the protein shakes on the market contain these ingredients.
Casein plus WPC are also known as protein concentrate. These are extremely high in lactose. They are not well absorbed and guess what that means? Gastrointestinal distress, gas and bloating. Nobody wants to deal with these issues.
Gluten is not something we need in our shakes. In some people, it causes fatigue, migraines, skin issues, and hormonal imbalances.
Artificial sweeteners include things like sucralose, Splenda and aspartame. There are a lot of other names but I am using these three as an example. Many people experience terrible side effects when consuming these artificial sweeteners. Some of the main issues are headaches, ACID REFLUX, and gastric distress.
Skim milk powders and milk solids sound like something healthy right? Guess again, they are used as a means of bulking up the lower quality powders.
Soy proteins are notorious for containing a lot of pesticides plus they contain chemical compounds which in some cases can cause hormonal disturbances.
Shall I continue? …..
Vegetable oils and fats are added to shakes and powders to make the mouth-feel better and to add richness and creaminess. These can be derived from hydrogenated sources that contain TRANS FATS. This is not something we want to be consuming. These trans fats RAISE our levels of BAD cholesterol and at the same time, they lower our levels of the good type of cholesterol. No. No. No.
Thickeners and gums are made from corn or soy and can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. What does that mean? Do you want to have bloating, gas and constipation?
Fillers are added to save money for the manufacturer as they bulk up the protein. That saves money for them.
So if our shakes are filled with things that we don’t want to be consuming, what are we to do as informed consumers?
EAT. REAL. FOOD.
and you won’t have to worry about the protein content of your shakes.
Eating real food means that we need to stay away from packaged and processed foods. The foods which we choose to consume should not come with a long list of ingredients. For example. What’s in chicken? Chicken is in chicken. What’s in lettuce? Lettuce is in lettuce. What’s in lentils? Lentils are made of lentils. See where I am going with this.
Now, if you are concerned that you are not getting sufficient protein in your diet and you are very recent post-op (1 to 4 months) – I have a very simple solution. Let’s make a protein shake that tastes GREAT and has NO protein powder in it. It is going to be delicious AND it’s not going to have any of the “badies” added to it. And guess what,,, it’s also HIGH in protein.
What What What? A protein shake that is high in protein with NO added protein powder? YEAH! Let’s make a quality protein shake made from WHOLE food ingredients.
I am going to build you a protein shake that has no weird things in it and it will satisfy your protein requirements.
Here Goes!
Sheri’s Strawberry/ Peanut Butter Delight
I cup of milk – 8 grams
I cup of ice
I cup greek yogurt, plain, whole milk – 22 grams of protein
OR 1 cup cottage cheese, breakstone 2% – 20 grams of protein
1/2 cup of frozen strawberries
1 tbsp peanut butter – 3.5 grams of protein
stevia / optional
The Protein Breakdown:
Trader Joe’s Nonfat Plain Greek Yogurt 1 cup
Protein 22g
Trader Joe’s Whole Milk 1 cup
Protein 8 grams
Trader Joe’s Creamy Unsalted Peanut Butter 1 tbsp
Protein 3.5
Guys! This shake totals 33.5 grams of protein with NO protein powder added!
That’s a punch of protein in one shake right? It may even be higher than the protein powder that you are currently consuming AND it has no added “badies”. It is made out of whole, live, REAL food which means that your body automatically KNOWS what to do with it.
Let’s say that you cannot drink milk and you want to use one of the plant-based options. You still get one to two grams of protein from a serving so the total protein count in your shake will be lower than if you used real milk BUT you are still getting a shake that has 27.5 grams of protein!!
You don’t need to drink more than one of these shakes per day. If you have 15 to 20 grams of protein in your shake, you are “good to go”.
You can switch out the regular milk for a plant-based one or even for water. You can leave out the peanut butter or use an almond butter.
You can use any type of berry or you can leave the berries out.
You can add some cocoa for added antioxidants and flavor.
You can add some coffee for a caffeine boost.
You can add a handful of sesame seeds or sunflower seeds or almonds (to raise the protein content)
You can make this shake YOUR OWN. You don’t need to use my recipe.
What you do need to do is to find the very best cottage cheese or greek yogurt with no added sweeteners and with a high protein count. You need to hit your supermarket and read, read, read, the labels. Once you find the right ingredients. You can build a delicious shake that fits your needs without any added “badies”.
If we eat a diet that contains eggs, fish, beef, chicken, nuts, seeds, yogurt, and other high protein foods, then we do not have to worry about not getting sufficient protein in our diets.
Remember, your personal protein goal can be calculated by using the following equation:
Your ideal weight multiplied by .03 = your daily “high” protein requirement.
Here’s my personal example: 150 lbs x .36 = 54 grams of protein (that’s my high number)
If I am getting anywhere from 1/2 that and up, then I am meeting my daily protein requirements.
Now, if you choose to continue using your protein powders and products after reading this blog, that’s fine. I am not going to “protein-shake shame you”. You do You Boo. I just wanted to be sure that you know that you don’t NEED to buy these products and you consume them only if you WANT to.
See you for my FB live to discuss this exact topic and to give away free bariatric vitamins and programs on Friday, December 20th, 2019 at 3 pm EST!!
