Protein drinks for non-diehards

My husband and I are mostly vegetarians (I say we’re flexitarians; we mostly don’t eat meat because a) we don’t like a lot of it and b) it’s not as convenient as pasta ). One of the unintended results, though, is that we don’t get much protein on a regular basis (we don’t really do the whole tofu thing, either).

Since protein is often mentioned in connection with weight loss, I’ve decided to start eating a bit more. Lately I’ve been drinking a glass of chocolate milk for breakfast (since it’s reasonably high on both nutrition and “fullness factor” even with all that sugar). I really enjoy it, taste-wise, and it keeps me surprisingly full for hours.

Eventually it occurred to me that maybe I could do basically the same thing with a kind of “hybrid” protein drink. I am not committed enough to this protein quest to drink anything gross (and I’m a very picky eater, really, so I think many things are gross, actually…). I want a drink that basically tastes like chocolate (or strawberry) milk, but is a little better nutritionally that Nesquick.

Does such a thing exist? I’m not sure yet, but I’m looking. I don’t care if it’s low carb, exactly, I just want a little more protein. I want it to be easy to use (I have a great blender but don’t necessarily want to clean it every day just for a quick shake). And it has to taste good.

Daniel and I went to the local health-food-and-nutritional-supplements store and picked out a couple of single-serving packets of protein drink mix in order to try them with minimal commitment if they’re nasty. Several of them look really good, but we’ll see.

This morning I tried the first one: Nature’s Way Metabolic Reset Weight Loss Shake Mix in Strawberry (yeah, say that five times fast…). 21 grams of protein and little else, with a yummy strawberry flavor; sounds great!

I followed their directions on the back and mixed it with 8 oz. of water (though I’m wondering if water is really the ideal mix, or if they just say that to keep the calories minimal at 130). I was mixing with a spoon, and it took a lot of mixing before it seemed moderately smooth; it became apparent at that point that it wasn’t going to be getting any better with a spoon, so I drank it.

Wow. (Not to be confused in any way with “Wow!”) This stuff tastes awful. Well, in all fairness, it wasn’t so much a really bad taste as a complete absence of anything that actually tasted good. It really just tasted like something that you would drink “because it’s healthy” but not because it is in any way appealing on its own merit. Basically, if you could guarantee to me that drinking this thing daily would absolutely produce the results I’m after, I’d probably do it (mentally thinking of it as medicine or something similarly gross but obligatory). However, it’s unpleasant enough that I’m not willing to drink it without such a guarantee.

I have a feeling that it’s not the Metabolic Reset’s fault; I’d guess this is probably just how most protein shakes are. If that’s the case, though, I’m probably not going to become a devotee.

I’m an optimist, though, so hope springs eternal! I have three more brands to try. I’ll report back on them as I try them; in the meantime, if you know of something that’s actually yummy, please leave a comment and enlighten me. My taste buds will be most grateful.

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