Just can't drink the shakes!

Anastasia~ Just a thought You might wanna check it out with your nutritionist, but mine said that the whey protein is what we need, it is absorbed the best by us with our new plumming~~But like I said, please check with your DR/Nut....... Hope you find one that works for you, remember we only absorb half of what we consume for the first couple of years or so, so if you take in 100 grams of protein, you are only actually getting 50 absorbed..... Hope that helps!! Dianna

Anastasia- Have you tried the AchievOne protein drinks? They taste just like the Starbucks bottled coffee drinks, and are great in my opinion...You can order them from bariatriceating.com .They have 20 grams of protein and I start each day with one-I'd be hurting without it!! Debbie

Some folks can do shakes and some can't. Initially I 'learned' to 'like' the shakes, like chocolate and such, but post op they were just plain nasty. But I knew I needed to get my protein in...and I developed an alternative system to thick, creamy shakes. I tried a lot of different ones, even the Iso-pure and they seemed a little thick to me. What I discovered is Whey-Fruity and IDS, two brand names of powder based shakes that come in fruit flavors and cappucinno flavored mixes. Even then, they were a little rough to take...but being as I have a tendency to be a little anal about alternatives I eventually came up with a why and a wherefore I didn't like shakes and a way to change the method of presentation. Generally, protein powder shakes do not 'dissolve', they stay 'in suspension' for the most part, and hence, that is why you have to have very thick, very creamy consistency. Therefore, they have to be 2 degress above freezing in order to be palatable or they taste like dreck! Even the fruit flavores shakes tended to clump and float to the top of the drink mix...no matter how much I blended, stirred and such. Enter the stick blender...and the shaved ice kitchen devices! It is actually all rather simple when broken down to its basic components. Now, my favorite flavors, myself, are the Hawaiin Punch and Grape flavores from whey-fruity (sometimes roadside lemonade also) and the cappucinno from IDS...now comes the fun part. I didn't like the thick consistency, and the plain old mix with water didn't do much for me either...I'm an old fashion slurpy/smoothy type of guy..sooo...I mix up a double strength batch of cappucinno powder to a single strength batch of water with the stick blender...I know...it's thick...but wait...then I shave up a tall frosty glass of ice cubes..wonderful, powdery shaved ice...not cracked...not cubed...shaved.....and then add the drink mix, slowly stirring it in to get the right consistency. At some point of adding container a to container b you end up with a perfectly mixed 'frozen' drink mix...this partucular one tastes and 'feels' like a frozen cappucinno! While the powder is somewhat dissolved and the rest is in suspension, the suspended particles are so minute and adhereing to the individual ice crystals, you never get that 'clumping' or rising to the top problem that occurs in other ways of mixing them. And they stay cold for a long long time, so you can take your protein in at a nice pace, and not feel like you're trying to quaff Crater Lake in 15 minutes! The beauty of this process is thast the shaved ice machine is maybe $15-$20 from target and the stick blender I got from the thrift store for about $3. It has changed the way I have my protein shakes. But the true beauty comes from the consistency. Want a dessert...with protein?...then use something like Roadside Lemonade or Strawberry...use more ice, gradually till it is too thick to drink, and pack it well into a coffee cup and put in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes..and voila...an 'Italian Ice' type protein dessert! very refreshing in the summer time, a great alternative to other desserts and you still get your protein in! Give it a try...I think you'll be pleasently suprised!