# Protein shakes... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 15, 2010, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267 "2010-06-15T06:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/21 "2010-06-16T12:25:45Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > [Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey.](http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-whey-gold-standard-p-201.html) > > The chocolate and strawberry flavors are both good. I second the chocolate flavor. I mix it with my high fiber oatmeal and it tastes like cake batter… Good stuff… ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/22 "2010-06-16T12:27:24Z")
> [@MegaBee](#): > > If you’re a Costco or Sam’s Club member, check out the EAS protein powder they have there. 27g of protein per serving, and it’s $30 for a six-pound bag. It comes in chocolate and vanilla. I swear by the stuff. That’s another good one. I think it’s higher in cholesterol though. I know that consumer affairs did a piece on protein shakes and EAS and Optimal nutrition’s protein both came up with high levels of arsenic, lead, and some other metals. I’m not sure about the protein bags though - but I know that EAS premade shakes had high levels. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@The\_Real\_Regency\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Real_Regency_Elf)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/23 "2010-06-16T13:06:01Z")
Agree with the whey protein suggestions. The 100% Gold Standard powder sold in GNC stores tastes awesome with 1% milk and fresh fruit. At about $1 per drink, it’s way cheaper than anything sold premixed in the grocery stores plus there’s less garbage generated (no cardboard boxes/packaging to dispose of). We use one of those mini blenders (magic bullet I think) and cleanup is easy. If you want super-chocolate taste, mix it with a bottle of the Nesquik 100 calorie milk drink. So good! ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/24 "2010-06-16T14:53:53Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > I second the chocolate flavor. I mix it with my high fiber oatmeal and it tastes like cake batter… Good stuff… Thirded. And if you get adventurous, their other flavors are pretty good too. ON seems to be amongst the cheaper whey proteins out there, too. If you buy it, look online. It’s almost always cheaper (what isn’t these days?) that way. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/25 "2010-06-16T14:55:09Z")
Also, if you mix a scoop of it with a 2 tbl of natural peanut butter, a tiny splash of water, and a handful of frozen blueberries, it makes an awesome pudding-like snack. Be sure to drink with plenty of water. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/26 "2010-06-16T15:27:16Z")
> [@Carmady](#): > > I really like chocolate Muscle Milk, but I recently heard that it is chock full of lead. > > I’m going to hold back on protein shakes altogether until I figure out which ones don’t have poisonous levels of lead/cadmium/arsenic. You _heard_? :rolleyes: Have you read the label? I was posting to say I’m a fan of the Muscle Milk lite, but now I have to go investigate this lead claim. Can you give me an idea of the source of this rumor? Did some chick say that in the gym or something? Or did you see some lab test results? It’s not very Doper-like to make decisions based on unsubstantiated hearsay, so I’d be very interested to learn where you got this information and how far you’ve looked into it. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/27 "2010-06-16T15:53:59Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > You _heard_? :rolleyes: > > Have you read the label? > > I was posting to say I’m a fan of the Muscle Milk lite, but now I have to go investigate this lead claim. Can you give me an idea of the source of this rumor? Did some chick say that in the gym or something? Or did you see some lab test results? > > It’s not very Doper-like to make decisions based on unsubstantiated hearsay, so I’d be very interested to learn where you got this information and how far you’ve looked into it. Consumer Reports just did an article about various supplements and found high incidence of heavy metals in some of them. Go to the middle of [this page](http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=124791831&page=4) to see scans of the article. [This page](http://forum.bodybuilding.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=2489101&d=1275271115) has the money chart. Keep in mind that virtually any agricultural product will contain various metals. There’s also criticisms regarding the way CR presented their info. For starters, they didn’t provide their test methods. Another criticism is that the EAS and Muscle Milk shakes that had the highest levels are meal replacement shakes, not simply protein supplements, which means they’re meant to contain a full complement of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, and users are probably not consuming 3 meal replacers a day. ---
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/28 "2010-06-16T16:10:10Z")
Have you tried the diet Carnation? It’s made with Splenda. FTR, it’s one of the few “diet sweetener” products I can stand at all. It’s still not quite the same, but pretty close. ETA: I meant the Carnation, not Splenda. I’ve tried Splenda in several things that made me go _bleargh_. But it seems to be OK in the Carnation. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/29 "2010-06-16T18:52:35Z")
> [@MOIDALIZE](#): > > [Optimum Nutrition 100% Whey.](http://www.optimumnutrition.com/products/100-whey-gold-standard-p-201.html) > > The chocolate and strawberry flavors are both good. This is what I use, along with the 100% casein. I like Vanilla Chai flavor. FitRX usually has decent sales every so often, too. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/30 "2010-06-18T14:39:03Z")
If you’re looking for meal replacements, I would recommend casein over whey protein. Whey protein is meant to be taking after a workout, because it gets into your system to start repairing muscles faster than casein does. The downside is it also gets burned faster, meaning 200 calories of casein will keep you feeling full longer than 200 calories of whey will. ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267/31 "2010-06-18T18:28:48Z")
I’ve yet to find a casein, including ON products, that doesn’t taste disgusting. But **The wind of my soul** is correct wrt to uptake speed. The only caveat I’d make is that whey is pretty good for mornings since you’ve been effectively “fasting” for 8 or so hours at that point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protein-shakes/543267.md?page=1)