Protein Shakes

I have several recipies and drink them most days as my snack, the are quite filling and as they are sweet hit one of those junky snack spots They are based on recipies in Rose Elliott's low carb veggie cookbooks and are anywhere from 1.5 carbs up to about 5 carbs depending on what you put in them. I have adapted the original recipies, for example soya milk instead of water, as I like them slightly thicker than the original recipe.

my basic recipe is as follows, I have tweaked it a bit to get a consitency I like, depending on the ingredients
55g tofu
150 ml soya milk (or water)
1 scoop of plain protein powder - I use the plain one from Holland and Barrett and have also tried a whey protein powder
2 tablespoons (15ml) of dairy or soya cream
sweetener of your choice to taste

blend until smooth with a stick blender or in a goblet blender

The actual carbs vary depending on the ingredients you use.
I find the soya protien powder has a slightly more powdery texture than whey protien. As soon as you start to use the manufactured flavoured protien shake powders, the carbs go up sharply :shock:
Using dairy cream makes it thicker.
The soya protein powder does not mix easily - I usually use a balloon whisk to initially blend it with the other ingerdients before using the electrick stick blender,otherwise it congeals on the blade of my stick blender :shock: and it is a heluva job to get it off

frapuccino - add 1 teaspoon of good quality instant coffee, you can also add food flavouring essence for variety
lemon cheesecake - add a couple of drops of lemon food essence and some lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice
strawberry - add a small handful of strawberries or other berry fruit

my favorite is the coffee one (less than 2 carbs) but I am experimenting with other flavours such as chocolate, almond and peanut butter. I have tried several of Rose Elliott's original recipies and some are not up to much, but fiddling around with quantities and substituting ingrdients is good.

I have googled low carb protien smoothies/shakes but have not really come up with much yet, and many of the ones I have found involve banana. I have found recipies in some of the other low carb books I have acquired.

Watch quantities and what the actual ingredients you use do to the carb count. If you leave it longer than 20 minutes it seems to thinken up but is still very drinkable if you either blend it again or use a whisk in it.

:shock: CLEAN EVERYTHING STRAIGHT AWAY :shock:

Yes, I didn't mention which kind of tofu :roll:

The soft silken tofu works best, but all I have been able to get recently is the firm one. The Cauldron one, which is most easily available in supermarkets, does not have a good texture for the protien shakes - they are a bit lumpier than when you make them with the silken tofu. The very best one I have found is a very soft silken Japanese tofu from a local independent health food store, but it is considerably more expensive than the others.

Also, the different kinds of tofu have different carb ratings. Keep an eye on the packaging.

Yes, it is worth getting the glossy one of her low carb cookbooks, she has better smoothie/shake recipies in that one. The ones in the first book involve water rather than soya milk and she refined them for the second book. You can probably get them cheaper on eBay than Amazon. If you are a vegetarian they are both worth getting.

H&B had plain whey protein powder on offer last week, but I'd just bought a big tub of teh soya poweder.

H&B only stock Cauldron tofu in my area. I looked all over my Asian street market and could not find tofu :shock: but I eventually found some firm silken tofu in Waitrose. The independent health shop I use is a bit more of a hike to get there.

H&B seem to have the best value in organic unsweetened soya milk, followed by Waitrose. Again, check the carbs and ingredients on the packaging, some of them contain maltitol.

Hiya

I have practically carb free protein shakes regularly. I use holland and barret soya protein powder (choc flavour but they do loads of differnet ones) which is 2g carbs per scoop, with unsweeted soya milk, can't remember exactly but i think about 2g carbs per serving. I whip it up inthe blender with some frozen berries (5g carbs per 100g) although if you wanted to go really low carb, omit this point obviously. For a richer drink add in some soya cream. Mmmmmm............

You can get a huge, huge tub of 'Body Fortress' Whey protein in H+B right now for £30. Got one just last week, and judging by the weight of it (five and three quarter lbs!), it'll keep both me and the fiancee severely toned for a long time. If you're only looking for a breakfast shake, that'll probably do you for three months at least. And pound for pound it's better value than the smaller tubs, even when they're half price. Don't know how big your H+B is, but in my smallish one, they only do this whopper sized tub in strawberry.

Excess protein can occasionally have an adverse affect on blood sugar, though. Especially on a really low carb diet. Protein is broken down into glucose much faster than fat, so if you have more than a bare minimum, along with few carbs, it MIGHT make you blood levels go up a point or two more than you're expecting.

Also, flavoured protein powders will have different effects and will taste markedly different depending on what you put them into. In water, they're a bit 'meh'. My fiancee, who takes it with soya milk often says it's a bit sweet for her, but dairy milk seems to be quite a happy medium (she doesn't like drinking cows milk though). Obviously, full fat, or Jersey/Guernsey milk will give you the greatest energy kick for starting your day.

Are you type 1 or type 2, Lizzie?

And special K is touted as being really good due to it's comparative lack of calories and fat, which is fine so long as you pancreas works, haha. It's also some fairly refined stuff. Gives you a quick boost. But that's not as good for us, is it? :x Most (if not all?) Nestle cereals are wholegrain. So that in itself would lessen the hit you're getting to your sugar levels, slowing it down, giving you more time to get a brisk walk to work, or the shops or wherever to lower your sugar that way.

So you could try switching to shredded wheat or cheerios or something?

****, that sucks.

Sounds like a pretty awful position to be in. I suppose I was lucky in a way that when I got diabetes, I REALLY got diabetes. I went down HARD. Haha.

Being told to snack, while trying to keep your blood sugar down? I'd find a different consultant if I were you. As a rule, wholewheat things will, of course, be better. Try switching up to full fat or jersey/guernsey milk and adding double cream to it. You'll nearly double the calorie content. If you need a little extra flavour on it, blueberries and raspberries are negligible for sugar...about 5/100g or something.

Might help.

I've got trouble keeping my weight up with this thing, too. Fortunately, I manage to force myself to hover around a bmi of 22 or so. Most of that is by weight training. Maybe try building a little muscle? It'll up your bmi and larger muscles burn more sugar, so keep your levels a little lower. And most people can actually add a decent amount of muscle without becoming that kind of muscled monster they're scared of. If only it were that easy!

A quick point on the topic of protein powders, probably best to stay away from whey protein, this is a fast acting protein that causes an insulin spike, that's why body builders use it post workout and in the morning. You want a much slower release protein, calcium caseinate it ideal for this. You'll get slow release and feel fuller for longer. Get it from myprotein.co.uk, cheapest price I've found. It doesn't mix as readily as whey so you need a decent shaker or blender!

BTW I'm assuming you are interested in a breakfast alternative rather than building muscle!

Useless Pretty Boy said:

Excess protein can occasionally have an adverse affect on blood sugar, though. Especially on a really low carb diet. Protein is broken down into glucose much faster than fat, so if you have more than a bare minimum, along with few carbs, it MIGHT make you blood levels go up a point or two more than you're expecting.

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I've been meaning to ask about this - I've seen references in a few posts about not having too much protein. How much is too much? I'm bringing my carbs down, but now eating about 35-45% protein instead; not noticed any problems yet. Is there an ideal ratio?

brill said:

I've been meaning to ask about this - I've seen references in a few posts about not having too much protein. How much is too much? I'm bringing my carbs down, but now eating about 35-45% protein instead; not noticed any problems yet. Is there an ideal ratio?

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An ideal ratio? Well there probably is somewhere. And my ideal ratio maybe different to yours. Finding it might be more difficult as no one can agree on it. Generally in a low carb approach the carbs are replaced with fats and proteins kept the same. Some people think eating too much protein is bad for the kidneys although the 'evidence' for this is a little dubious to say the least. Do what suits you and your lifestyle, as long as it keeps the numbers down.

brill said:

Useless Pretty Boy said:

Excess protein can occasionally have an adverse affect on blood sugar, though. Especially on a really low carb diet. Protein is broken down into glucose much faster than fat, so if you have more than a bare minimum, along with few carbs, it MIGHT make you blood levels go up a point or two more than you're expecting.

Click to expand...

I've been meaning to ask about this - I've seen references in a few posts about not having too much protein. How much is too much? I'm bringing my carbs down, but now eating about 35-45% protein instead; not noticed any problems yet. Is there an ideal ratio?

Click to expand...

Yeah, high protein brings with it horror stories about kidney damage and other such things. I can't remember what the profered ratio by the government is, but it's not too far from what you're taking. And y'know, professional athletes take huge amounts of protein compared to the average person, and never seem to do themselves much damage. You should see the diets that people like Chris Hoy or Michael Phelps eat. If protein was that much of an issue, they'd be in trouble.

But proteins do have the ability to raise blood sugar slightly if your body decides to start burning protein due to a lack of carbs.

Useless Pretty Boy said:

Yeah, high protein brings with it horror stories about kidney damage and other such things.

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If you can point me in the direction of any information to back this up that does not state "may", "might" or "could" I'll be very surprised.

Useless Pretty Boy said:

But proteins do have the ability to raise blood sugar slightly if your body decides to start burning protein due to a lack of carbs.

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Good point. Protein CAN be converted into Glucose/Glycogen by the body in the absence of Sugar (carbs) AND Fat. Not a problem if you include some of those healthy fats we all love so much...