My last appointment is next week and have been told should know abt approval by nov 26th. I have yet to find a protein drink I can drink. Any ideas or recipes greatly appreciated. I know these will be so important!

I drink premier shakes and have since before surgery. My NUT recommended them. They have 30 grams of protein and are 160 calories. They are pre made and are 11 oz of fluid. I buy them in Costco by the case.

Congrats! I never found a premade Protein shake I liked. I make one every morning in a Blender Bottle with instant espresso powder, plain nonfat greek yogurt, skim milk & either chocolate or vanilla Protein Powder. It's yummy!

Also, there's a great list here: recipes.html" rel="external nofollow">http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/p/protein-shake-recipes.html

Get a little creative & you will probably enjoy them more.

I use natural flavor Protein powder, half a frozen banana (and u can use other frozen fruits or, i suppose, small amounts of frozen pumpkin - if Starbucks can sell a pumpkin lattee, why not a pumpkin shake?! Altho the idea of adding pumpking does not appeal to me."

I add stevia, a natural no calorie no carb natural sweetner, I buy it organic at Trader Joe's.

I add unsweetened cocoa powder sometimes, or fresh berries -- if I do berries, I might skip the stevia.

I add cinnamon most of the time, sometimes ginger. sometimes I use chilled cofffee for a mocha shake -- with cocoa powder.

I used to buy Optimum Nutrition whey isolate in five pound jugs that was much more affordable than the 100% organic raw whey I use now. I don't just want to lose weight. I don't want any more chemicals ingested in my body. My temple, right?! But I loved every shake I made with Optimum Nutrition mocha chocolate that I bought on amazon, which had lower prices than anywhere else I found.

There is an expensive but really delicious organic protein called Tara's Whey. Her dark chocolate flavor is really really good. But at something like $32 for 12 ounces, and the artificial sweetner used in it and the chemicals -- I finally have realized just cause something says organic doesnt mean the food manufacturer doesn't add chemicals. "Organic" might only mean the main ingredient is organic. but if taste is your barometer, try Tara's Whey. It comes in all kinds of great flavors. I still have fond memories of that dark chocolate protein powder, low in carbs. Ohmy gosh it is tasty.

I have been to many support groups and various meetings required by my bariatric surgery program. I hear lots of complaints about the taste of Protein drinks. I think most folks hate the taste of commercially premade drinks simply cause such drinks are loaded with chemicals.

make your own with unflavored whey or whey isolate, use stevia to sweeten and you can make them taste like anything you want. And if you use half a frozen banana, which is about ten carbs, true, but if all you are doing is two Protein shakes a day, four ounces protein like turkey or fish and some vegies which is my pre surgery diet -- those ten carbs are worth the frothy almost-ice-creaminess you get. Same with adding some frozen berries -- which are low glycemic (lower in carbs) fruit.

Try chocolate powder, stevia, plain protein . . .and some nut butter. A Peanut Butter chocolate shake! Yum. I try to savor them slowly.

And with the natural powder, post op when you have to work to get in all the protein, you can add scoops of the natural unflavored protein to things like yogurt, majorly boosting your protein intake, or into chicken broth, etc.

Wander over to the food and nutrition board. http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/388-food-nutrition/

You're going to find hundreds of posts about Protein, recipes, and tips to increase your intake.

I will say that if you haven't yet found a protein you like you need to keep looking. I know some people skip them entirely but your body will not heal as quickly and will scavenge your muscle if you don't eat adequate protein. A person that loses mostly fat looks different at goal than a person that's lost most of their muscle mass!

~Cheri

Thanks so much guys! Def some ideas I hadn't thought of.

<p>Congrats! I never found a premade Protein shake I liked. I make one every morning in a Blender Bottle with instant espresso powder, plain nonfat greek yogurt, skim milk & either chocolate or vanilla protein powder. It's yummy!</p> <p> </p> <p>Also, there's a great list here: <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='recipes.html" rel="external nofollow">http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/p/protein-shake-recipes.html'>http://bariatricfoodie.blogspot.com/p/protein-shake-recipes.html</a></p> <p> </p> <p>Get a little creative & you will probably enjoy them more. </p>

How much of each ingredient do you use? Love the idea of coffee Protein Drink