I've written enough about Five Guys burgers on this blog so here's Equal Time for something healthy. After my Gastric Bypass Surgery, I had to subsist for a time on protein drinks, which was a problem for me. Most are loaded with artificial sweeteners. I'm agnostic on the question of whether things like Aspartame or Sucralose are harmful to most people but I am of the belief that my body doesn't like them…my body and my taste buds. The times I've had them, they reminded me of something gross like animal urine or swamp water or cole slaw.
Anyway, avoiding artificial sweeteners took about 75% of all available protein drinks out of consideration. Avoiding high sugar content eliminated another 20% or so. I only found two brands that worked for me, both of which are flavored with Stevia, which is not an artificial sweetener but is sometimes employed in the same way. The Healthy N Fit line was rather decent but I finally decided I had a slight preference for the Jay Robb brand, which I gather is an industry leader. It deserves to be. They fib a little to make it sound like their product is utterly delicious but most of their protein powders, when mixed with some liquid, are highly drinkable. Some folks add milk or fruit juice but I go commando with plain ice water.
Jay Robb has protein powders made with egg whites, protein powders made from whey and protein powders made from brown rice. I tried all of them and immediately scratched the rice ones from my shopping list. One sip and I did a spit-take so grand, I think I owe royalties to the Danny Thomas Estate. The ones made with egg whites or whey are pretty similar in taste but I have a tiny preference for the whey, which is also lower in Sodium.
All three kinds come in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, plus you can also get the whey in pina colada and tropical dreamsicle, and the egg white protein in an unflavored version. I haven't tried the pina colada flavor because I never had a real pina colada, and I have no use for the unflavored. The tropical dreamsicle, which is kind of a creamy orange, was okay mixed with water and would probably be grand if swirled into orange juice, which I no longer drink. Much better are the vanilla and chocolate flavors, which I think are a lot better than the strawberry. You may, of course, feel otherwise. Mostly, I alternate vanilla and chocolate.
You can buy Jay Robb protein powders online and there's lots of info at the Jay Robb website plus, as you might imagine, prices that are buck or three higher than other sites. I found my best price by going to an outlet of The Vitamin Shoppe but wherever you buy, don't start with a whole cannister of the stuff; not until you decide what you like. For around $2.50 each in many stores, you can buy one-serving packets of each variety.
Some tips. If you mix with water, the colder the better. A blender also helps. I use the Magic Bullet, the same product you're sick of seeing on every third infomercial and it's perfect for this. I also use a little less water than the Jay Robb folks suggest. It makes for a more flavorful shake and you can drink it faster. The longer it sits, the less wonderful it tastes.
And that's about all I have to say on the topic except this. In the last few years since my surgery, my sweet tooth has gone away. My doctors can't explain quite why it happened but one day, I suddenly had no craving for cake, candy, ice cream, etc. Naturally, one can't help but get some sugar in one's diet but I'm no longer interested in the dessert category or anything that's supposed to be sweet so I get a lot less than I once did, like maybe 5% of my previous consumption. This has somehow reconfigured my taste buds such that the Jay Robb protein drinks now taste better to me than they used to. (Conversely, most fast foods taste worse. One of the reasons I gush so much over Five Guys is that it's a puzzling exception.) I don't know if any of you reading this feels the need for a protein drink in your life but if you do, these have been my recent experiences. L'chaim.