RTD Protein Shakes without artificial sweetener or Stevia?

nita618
nita618 Posts: 2 Member
I’m looking for something easy, quick, and healthy but I hate the taste of artificial sweetener and stevia. Any suggestions?

Replies

  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    I have the same problem (hate stevia, hate artificial sweeteners). Alas, my usual solution is to drink stuff made with cane sugar.... They can usually be diluted with water, except cola doesn't work so well that way. But fruity drinks can often be heavily diluted and it seems to just bring out the taste. Spicy drinks can also be diluted a bit.

    But I have found that if a sweetener I do like is combined with stevia, it drowns out the stevia taste. So I can drink things made with cane sugar and stevia, corn syrup and stevia, fruit juice and stevia.

    I have no trouble with the hardly metabolized sugar alcohols like xylitol and erythritol, so those can be mixed with stevia also. The Bai line mixes erythritol and stevia and they taste okay to me, although I need to dilute them because they taste pretty strong to me.

    Some energy drinks combine fruit juice and stevia and that works for me. I can manage with the Starbucks and Mountain Dew energy-type drinks that do that, at least. Crystal Light Pure combines cane sugar and stevia and that works for me also. (The regular Crystal Light is still yuck.)

    I'm trying to figure out if monk fruit extract by itself or mixed with stevia is okay for me. I might just buy some monk fruit sweetener by itself for experimenting before trying it mixed with the yucky stevia. I've heard it doesn't have that aftertaste that is part of the problem with stevia.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I can't tolerate sweeteners so I look for plain unflavored whey. I'm not sure what RTD is though
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    Forgot to give protein shake ideas rather than just what to look for on labels including stevia....

    I like Lifetime' Life's Basics Plant Protein line, in particular the unsweetened vanilla Plant Protein (rice protein, pea protein, hemp seed, chia seed the amino acid profile is equivalent to egg). No sweetener added although the chia makes it seem a little sweet when it is mixed with just water.

    The Shaklee soy-based protein powder line (they keep changing the name, they categorize it in their weight management section) is fine for me. So if it has any stevia, it is overpowered by the rest. I like the vanilla, cafè latte, and pumpkin spice ones (all nondairy). They have a Plant Protein non-soy version but I haven't tried it. They also now have whey-based versions but I don't know anything about those.

    If I try other protein powder lines, I just check to make sure stevia is not the only sweetener if it's sweetened. It's still a gamble, though. My experience with sodas and energy drinks suggests it's worth a try only if there is another real sweetener to overpower the stevia.
  • jwoolman5
    jwoolman5 Posts: 191 Member
    If you want something already mixed in a bottle, Vega (sweetened with coconut sugar and stevia) and Orgain (sweetened with erythritol and stevia) both have options for protein drinks. Haven't tried them yet but did buy some to try. So I have high hopes....