Protein shakes?

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shaweetie
shaweetie Posts: 33 Member
in Food and Nutrition
This is my 2nd time around on here, and i've been loving it, except for this Christmas break where i ate anything and everything in sight!
But, back on track now. Just wondering about protein shakes? Are they a great thing to have? Do you use them as a meal replacement? Or post workout snack? Is there a specific kind i should get. Costco here has their massive jugs of it on sale this week, so thought i should ask around a bit before i buy it, or is it really something i even need?!?! Or just a lot of hype?!?! Thanks so much!!!

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  • jaytrain40
    jaytrain40 Posts: 1
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    I take a special K Protein Shake for breakfast every morning. I've read where some people agree with this and others say that you should consume the MOST calories at breakfast. After strength training workouts, I usually grab a protein bar, but I've switched that to whey protein this year. I'm by far not in the shape I want to be in, but the higher consumption of protein helps to more quickly repair muscles you've used during your workout and I also read that studies showed about 25% of protein you take in is burned up in repairing muscle so it's probably the healthiest calories you can consume!
  • markdonnelly
    markdonnelly Posts: 4 Member
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    I have used them post workout as a recovery, I did however consider them part of my daily calorie count. They can make you a little windy.
  • pinkprincessness
    pinkprincessness Posts: 36 Member
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    I did NOT like any of the protein powder at GNC that is for sure!!! The EAS chocolate is good and you can get it at Target. The stuff by Beachbody is also very good. If you are doing weight/strength training you will want some thing after your work out that is a 4:1 carb to protein ratio. There are many powder mixes for that as well. Again, Beachbody's is good,.....tastes like Orange Julius and tnation.com has a good raspberry one.
  • gold27701
    gold27701 Posts: 15 Member
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    I just started using protein shakes within the past couple of weeks. The protein shakes help curb my appetitie, but I do not use it as a meal substitute, so I compensate the calories. I typically have two shakes a day, once after workout for muscle recovery the other after lunch or afternoon snack. I have seen suggestions of using some protein for every meal, at least 7g, this is for a 6 meal day.

    As for what to look for, I use to drink the Mix 1, which I can find at Kroger. But I have switched to the powder form from ON, look for a couple of items on the label. Whey Protein Isolate, is the higher quality protein this item will make the Protein more expensive though. The other items I look for are Amino Acid, low sugar and of course low calories.

    There is a lot of information on the web about this, I found the information can be very confusing, so you will definetly need to do some research. I had to do about a month of research to determine which would be best for me. I hope this helps and good luck.
  • shreddingit
    shreddingit Posts: 1,133 Member
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    I love the eas vanilla and the body fortress from walmart, use them after workout.
    soon ill be trying the one from jill michaels..
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
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    I have all sorts of protein powders in my home. It is a quick and easy way to get extra protein in your diet without cooking more chicken, for example.

    I like to have vanilla protein powder around to use as a sweetener. It saves me from having sugar or sugar substitutes in my oatmeal, and it gives me that protein, too.

    I have a chocolate peanut butter flavor sitting around for a quick and easy breakfast on the days that I perhaps slept in too late or don't feel like cooking.

    I use an orange flavor for post-workout because it tastes great with water. The other flavors that I have taste better with milk, and post-workout I prefer something lighter...i.e. water instead of milk.

    I buy mine from Max Muscle or Beachbody. Both are great, and both taste amazing. I can't stand the taste of the ones that I have bought from Wal-Mart. I know someone else mentioned Body Fortress, but I think that stuff tastes kinda chalky. But, that's just my opinion.
  • lafournier2
    lafournier2 Posts: 20 Member
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    Some protein shakes are safer than others... check out this Consumer's Report. EAS has a scary amount of arsenic in it... I'm not sure what dose is require to cause acute problems, but I can't imagine repeatedly putting arsenic in your body day after day wouldn't cause cancer in the long term. Any heavy metal is carcinogenic with repeated exposure.

    http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2010/july/food/protein-drinks/whats-in-your-protein-drink/index.htm

    A great home-made shake can be made with a blender using fat free greek yogurt, whatever fruit you like, and maybe add some peanut butter. :)

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