Vitamin C Packed Brunch Punch

Looking for a healthy drink loaded with fruit and antioxidants?  Try this delicious brunch punch recipe.  Great for Christmas parties and your health!

1/4 Cup of Lime Juice
2 Cups Cranberry Juice
3 Cups Orange Juice
1 Large Can of Pineapple Juice
Feel free to garnish with citrus wedges and slices, maraschino cherries

New High Protein Pancake Recipe

If you have not tried my last Protein Pancake Recipe, you may find it here: Protein Pancakes

This is the second recipe I have created for protein pancakes.  Virtually every protein pancake recipe I have found online leaves out actual pancake mix.  They tend to only use protein powder.  If you have ever tried to cook with protein powder, you know that it has a really rubbery consistency, it’s not very appetizing.  I don’t want to create recipes no one will want to eat or that you have to suffer through to get it down!  What’s the point?

These protein pancakes have even more protein in them than the last batch I made.  A whopping 76 grams for the entire batch!  They also taste great.  Here is the recipe:

You will need something to measure out 2 Cups with.  Fill the 1st Cup up with Muscle Milk Vanilla Protein Powder, then finish filling that Cup up with pancake mix.  Fill the 2nd Cup up with nothing but pancake mix.  Mix in 2.5 cups of organic milk and 1 whole egg.  Just mix in a bowl and cook them up like you would a normal pancake.

These taste great and are easy to make.  It’s a good way to add some vitamins, minerals and protein to your diet.

Pure Protein Chewy Chocolate Chip Protein Bar

Today I am going to be reviewing Pure Protein’s Chewy Chocolate Chip High Protein Bar.

Taste:

While it doesn’t taste exactly like a chocolate chip cookie, it is pretty good.  It’s also a unique flavor for a protein bar.  With most every bar being based on peanut butter in some way, it’s nice to have something to mix things up.

Protein & Nutrition:

Loaded with 20 grams of protein, it’s hard to go wrong here.  The vitamins and minerals are just an added bonus.  For a bar of this size, it packs a lot of punch so I highly recommend it as a meal replacement or just a way to work some more protein into your diet.

Servings:

These come in a box or individually wrapped.  Regardless of if one uses these as a meal replacement or a snack (depending on your goals), these are an inexpensive and healthy addition to your day.

Protein Pancakes

Looking to add a little extra protein to your day?  I tried this out yesterday for breakfast and these taste great!  Just like regular pancakes, I couldn’t tell the difference.  They are simple to make as well.

For a normal pancake recipe you will use 2 cups of pancake mix, what you want to do is replace some of the mix with a scoop of protein powder.  I used 1 scoop of Muscle Milk Vanilla flavor because it tastes like cake batter and works nicely with pancake mix.  So you still only use 2 cups total, you just put your scoop of protein powder in your measuring cup, then fill the rest up with pancake mix.

After that, all you need is 1.5 cups of organic milk and 2 eggs.  Mix it all up well and get to cooking.  This batter has over 50 grams of protein and makes 10-15 pancakes.  If you want even more protein in it you can even use 2 scoops of protein powder and throw in another egg.

Dr. Oz Metabolism Boosting Smoothie Recipe

According to Dr. Oz, this smoothie will help you relax, sleep better and speed up your metabolism.  So if you are stressed or can’t sleep well at night, give it a try and let me know if it helps you or not.

5 Ice Cubes
1/4 teaspoon of Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 Cup of Soy Milk
1/2 of a Banana
1 Cup of Tart Cherry Juice

Chocolate Peanut Butter Smoothie Recipe

This recipe is going to mix things up a little bit.  You may not think all of these ingredients go together but it actually works well when blended up.

1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 scoop of protein powder
1 free range egg
1 packet of unflavored oatmeal
3 packets of truvia/stevia
1 tablespoon of peanut butter
1 cup of ice

Just blend it all up and enjoy.  If it isn’t sweet enough for you, you may add more packets of stevia if you desire.  Because of the protein powder, the peanut butter, egg and oatmeal, this smoothie is packed with protein.  Depending on the protein powder you are using, you are looking at around 45 grams of protein in this one.

Blackberry Protein & Antioxidant Smoothie

Smoothie week continues with the Blackberry Protein Smoothie.  I grow my own blackberries in the backyard so I have to come up with different ways to use them.  Blackberries are loaded with fiber and antioxidants so it’s hard to go wrong with them.

2 handfuls of blackberries
1 scoop of protein powder (use any flavor you like, I used vanilla)
1/2 cup of Greek Yogurt
2 packets of stevia/truvia (if your blackberries are sour and you like a sweeter drink)
1/2 to 2/3 cup of milk (depending on how thick you want it)
1 cup of ice

Just blend all of that up and enjoy your cold, creamy smoothie after a nice hard workout!  This one is easy to make and you don’t need that many ingredients.  Depending on the protein powder and type of yogurt you use, you are looking at a little over 30 grams of protein with this one.

Healthy (and Tasty) Chocolate Banana Smoothie Recipe

If you are looking to add more protein to your diet but hate the taste of most protein shakes, this recipe is for you.  It tastes great, is loaded with protein and other healthy ingredients, is quick to make and will give you energy after a hard workout.

All you need is:
1/2 cup of milk (I used organic whole milk)
1 scoop of protein powder (I used Optimum Nutrition’s Vanilla)
2 tablespoons of Honey (you will need to microwave it for 15 seconds so it will mix well)
1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder (not needed if you used chocolate protein powder)
1 banana
1 free range egg (optional)
1 cup of ice

Just blend all of that up and in a few seconds you will have a cold creamy shake filled with protein and healthy ingredients that tastes great and will give you energy!  Depending on your protein powder and if you used the egg or not, you are looking at nearly 40 grams of protein in this.

Zone Perfect Strawberry Yogurt Nutrition Bar

Today I am going to be reviewing Zone Perfect’s Strawberry Yogurt Nutrition Bar

Taste:
I really like the taste of this Strawberry Yogurt bar.  It’s not just the standard flavors put into every protein/nutrition bar (chocolate, peanut butter, etc).  It’s nice to have some variety and this bar certainly offers that.

Protein & Nutrition:
This nutrition bar contains 14 grams of protein and 18 vitamins and minerals.  It is also all-natural.  It’s hard to go wrong with any of that.  One of the biggest problems with most protein shakes and bars is that they have artificial sweeteners in them, so it’s nice to find a product free of those types of things.

Servings:
These come in a box or individually wrapped.  Regardless of if one uses these as a meal replacement or a snack (depending on your goals), these are an inexpensive and healthy addition to your day.

Strawberry Muscle Milk Product Review

Today I will be reviewing the Srawberry flavor of Muscle Milk by CytoSport.

Taste:
This product tastes pretty good.  It’s maybe a little sweet but I would put it somewhere in between the Vanilla and Chocolate flavors from Muscle Milk.  This is 1 of the top 2 protein shakes I have ever had as far as taste goes.  Taste is pretty important to me because if something tastes so bad I can’t drink it, I’m not going to stick with it no matter how healthy it is.  It does have a very slight artificial sweetener taste, it’s almost unnoticeable most of the time.  This product gets a 9.5 out of 10 on taste.

Protein (and vitamins & minerals):
This is why most people are drinking these shakes in the first place so it’s an important category.  Muscle Milk has 16 grams of protein per serving and is also loaded with about 15-20% of 20 vitamins & minerals.  This isn’t the most protein I have ever seen in a shake (most have about 24 grams) but it does have the vitamins and minerals many other shakes do not have.  I drink mine mixed with 1 cup of milk so I take in 24 grams of protein.  You could also mix this with other ingredients if you wish, like a banana or peanut butter, whatever you like.  It isn’t necessary though, because as I said before, it tastes great.  The serving size is 35 grams, only 16 grams of that is protein, meaning the rest is made up of other ingredients (carbs and fat -2 grams of fiber which is a carb, etc).  This product gets a 8 out of 10 on protein.

Servings:
1 container has 25 servings.   This breaks down to less than $1 per serving.  I eat 5 times a day so having 1 of my meals cost less than $1 (plus the cost of 1 cup of milk) is pretty nice.  Usually with protein shakes, buying in bulk lowers the cost per serving but I bought a smaller container (1.93lbs) just to try it out and see if I liked it.  It’s also nice when a container has about a months supply, so even if you buy the smaller container you only have to buy it once a month.  8.5 out of 10

Artificial ingredients:
In our culture, unless you grow all of your own food, it’s impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners and the like 100%.  That said, I try to avoid them as much as possible.  This product does have a few of them in it, namely acesulfame potassium and sucralose (splenda) but they are among the last ingredients listed, meaning they are the least out of everything in it.  Unfortunately, 95% of protein shakes have at least some of these ingredients in them.  7 out of 10

So overall I like this product and I can actually drink it because it tastes wonderful.  Mixing it with milk I get 24 grams of protein (you don’t want to take in to much at a time anyway since you can only digest so much at once).  For the price it’s good.  I would buy this product again but because I want to avoid artificial sweeteners I will rotate this in with other drinks from time to time instead of just always drinking it.

Overall Score: 8.4 out of 10

Muscle Milk Light Chocolate Peanut Caramel Bar

Today I am going to be reviewing Muscle Milk's chocolate peanut caramel protein bar (light version)

Taste:

This protein bar tastes okay, but it's certainly not the best on out there.  It uses the standard flavors for a protein bar, chocolate, peanuts, caramel.  This isn't a bad thing, it just isn't unique.  Taste = 7.8 out of 10.

Protein & Nutrition:

This protein bar is 45 grams, only 15 of which is protein.  It does have 4 grams of fiber but next to 0% of your daily vitamins and minerals.  Protein & Nutrition =  7.5 out of 10

Servings:

These come in a box or individually wrapped.  The price can vary but you are probably looking at a little over $1 per bar.  This is a pretty good price but I like to keep my meal replacements below $1 per meal since I eat a lot.  Servings = 8.2

Artificial ingredients:

It doesn't look to terrible, but it does have sucralose in it (which is in a lot of protein supplements).  Artificial ingredients = 9 out of 10

 At only 170 calories, it is a good bar for those trying to lose weight, using this as a meal replacement.  It's not terrible but there are other bars out there that are just as good or better.  Personally I will be sticking with those other protein bars for the most part but I might cycle these in from time to time just to break up eating the same things all the time.  Overall score=  8.1 out of 10.

Pure Protein's Strawberry Shortcake bars

I tried a new protein bar recently that is pretty unique.  Pure Protein's Strawberry Shortcake bar.

Taste:

This protein bar has a unique flavor to it, which is a plus since most protein bars are some variation of chocolate and peanut butter.  Just having some different options to mix things up goes a long way.  If you like the taste of strawberries and yogurt, this protein bar is for you. Taste = 9.5 out of 10.

Protein & Nutrition:

For how small it is, this protein bar is packed with protein.  19 grams of protein to be exact.  There are some other bars out there with a lot of protein in them but they tend to be huge, this one is not.  It has a very small amount of sugar (3 grams) and 18 carbs total.  It also has 15%  of your daily recommended amount for several vitamins and minerals.  Protein & Nutrition = 9.2 out of 10

Servings:

These come in a box or individually wrapped.  The price can vary but you are probably looking at a little over $1 per bar.  This is a pretty good price but I like to keep my meal replacements below $1 per meal since I eat a lot.  Servings = 8

Artificial ingredients:

Made with natural ingredients, including real fruit, it's hard to go wrong here.    Artificial ingredients = 10 out of 10

Overall, this is a good tasting protein bar that can be used as a meal replacement or a snack.  It breaks up the same old flavors typically used for protein bars and has a large amount of protein in it for its size.  Pure Protein's Strawberry Shortcake bars receive a score of 9.2 out of 10. 

Vanilla Muscle Milk Product Review

Today I will be reviewing the Vanilla flavor of Muscle Milk by CytoSport.   

Taste:
This product tastes a lot of cake batter.  This is 1 of the top 2 protein shakes I have ever had as far as taste goes.  This is pretty important to me because if something tastes so bad you can't drink it, your not going to stick with it no matter how healthy it is.  It does have a very slight artificial sweetener taste, it's almost unnoticeable most of the time.  This product gets a 9.5 out of 10 on taste.

Protein (and vitamins & minerals):
This is why most people are drinking these shakes in the first place so it's an important category.  Muscle Milk has 16 grams of protein per serving and is also loaded with about 15-20% of around 20 vitamins & minerals.  This isn't the most protein I have ever seen in a shake (most have about 24 grams) but it does have the vitamins and minerals many other shakes do not have.  I drink mine mixed with 1 cup of milk so I take in 24 grams of protein.  You could also mix this with other ingredients if you wish, like a banana or peanut butter, whatever you like.  It isn't necessary though, because as I said before, it tastes great.  The serving size is 35 grams, only 16 grams of that is protein, meaning the rest is made up of other ingredients (carbs and fat but this has the good kind mostly-2 grams of fiber which is a carb, etc).  This product gets a 8 out of 10 on protein.

Servings:
1 container has 25 servings.   This breaks down less than $1 per serving.  I eat 5 times a day so having 1 of my meals cost less than $1 (plus the cost of 1 cup of milk) is pretty nice.  Usually with protein shakes, buying in bulk lowers the cost per serving but I bought a smaller container (1.93lbs) just to try it out and see if I liked it.  It's also nice when a container has about a months supply, so even if you buy the smaller container you only have to buy it once a month.  8.5 out of 10

Artificial ingredients:
In our culture, unless you grow all of your own food, it's impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners and the like 100%.  That said, I try to avoid them as much as possible.  This product does have a few of them in it, namely acesulfame potassium and sucralose (splenda) but they are among the last ingredients listed, meaning they are the least out of everything in it.  Unfortunately, 95% of protein shakes have at least some of these ingredients in them.  7 out of 10 

So overall I like this product and I can actually drink it because it tastes wonderful.  Mixing it with milk I get 24 grams of protein (you don't want to take in to much at a time anyway since you can only digest so much at once).  For the price it's good.  I would buy this product again but because I want to avoid artificial sweeteners I will rotate this in with other drinks from time to time instead of just always drinking it. 

Overall Score: 8.4 out of 10

Pure Protein's Peanut Marshmallow Eclipse Bar Review

Welcome to my review of Pure Protein's Peanut Marshmallow Eclipse Bar.

Taste:
This protein bar tastes great.  I would almost eat this for a snack even if it wasn't a supplement.  Taste is important, because if you can't eat it (because it tastes so bad) you won't stick with it.  This product gets a 9.5 out of 10 on taste.

Protein: (and vitamins & minerals):
This bar is 50 grams, 19 of those grams are protein.  This bar is a good snack or meal replacement, depending on your goals, and it isn't a huge protein bar so it's nice to get so much protein from it.  The rest of the grams come from fat and carbs (which isn't necessarily bad).  Sugar is what people really need to be looking out for and this product has next to none.  It also contains 25% of many of your daily vitamins and minerals.  This product gets an 8.5 out of 10 on protein.

Servings:
This varies on if you buy a box of them or buy it as a single protein bar.   The price per bar also varies depending on if you buy it in a box or single.  Protein bars cost a little more per serving than protein shakes typically but they are nice to break up the same old thing all the time, and you can carry it with you.  This product gets a 7.5 out of 10 on servings.

Artificial ingredients:
As always I try to avoid these whenever possible.  Overall this protein bar isn't bad.  It's biggest offender is Sucralose (Splenda) and it's the last product on the list (meaning it contains this in a smaller amount than anything else in it).  This product gets a 9 out of 10 on Artificial ingredients.

Overall this is a great product and an easy way to get 19 grams of protein.  It's handy and you can take it with you anywhere you go.

I give this product an 8.6 out of 10.

All weight is not created equal

This is why it's important to find out your body fat percentage.  Sometimes people lose weight and think they are doing good, but they have lost muscle.  Sometimes people gain weight and think they are doing good but it's fat.

Chocolate Muscle Milk Product Review

Welcome to my first product review!  I will be reviewing exercise equipment, protein powders and other supplements in future reviews.

For my first review I will be reviewing the protein powder Muscle Milk by CytoSport.  I just tried this a few days ago for the first time after hearing positive statements from people I know.

Taste:
This product (I have only tried the chocolate) tastes great.  This is 1 of the top 2 protein shakes I have ever had as far as taste goes.  This is pretty important to me because if something tastes so bad you can't drink it, your not going to stick with it no matter how healthy it is.  It does have a very slight artificial sweetener taste, it's almost unnoticeable most of the time.  This product gets a 9.5 out of 10 on taste.

Protein (and vitamins & minerals):
This is why most people are drinking these shakes in the first place so it's an important category.  Muscle Milk has 16 grams of protein per serving and is also loaded with about 15-20% of around 20 vitamins & minerals.  This isn't the most protein I have ever seen in a shake (most have about 24 grams) but it does have the vitamins and minerals many other shakes do not have.  I drink mine mixed with 1 cup of milk so I take in 24 grams of protein.  You could also mix this with other ingredients if you wish, like a banana or peanut butter, whatever you like.  It isn't necessary though, because as I said before, it tastes great.  The serving size is 35 grams, only 16 grams of that is protein, meaning the rest is made up of other ingredients (carbs and fat but this has the good kind mostly-2 grams of fiber which is a carb, etc).  This product gets a 8 out of 10 on protein.

Servings:
1 container has 25 servings.   This breaks down less than $1 per serving.  I eat 5 times a day so having 1 of my meals cost less than $1 (plus the cost of 1 cup of milk) is pretty nice.  Usually with protein shakes, buying in bulk lowers the cost per serving but I bought a smaller container (1.93lbs) just to try it out and see if I liked it.  It's also nice when a container has about a months supply, so even if you buy the smaller container you only have to buy it once a month.  8.5 out of 10

Artificial ingredients:
In our culture, unless you grow all of your own food, it's impossible to avoid artificial sweeteners and the like 100%.  That said, I try to avoid them as much as possible.  This product does have a few of them in it, namely acesulfame potassium and sucralose (splenda) but they are among the last ingredients listed, meaning they are the least out of everything in it.  Unfortunately, 95% of protein shakes have at least some of these ingredients in them.  7 out of 10 

So overall I like this product and I can actually drink it because it tastes wonderful.  Mixing it with milk I get 24 grams of protein (you don't want to take in to much at a time anyway since you can only digest so much at once).  For the price it's good.  I would buy this product again but because I want to avoid artificial sweeteners I will rotate this in with other drinks from time to time instead of just always drinking it. 

Overall Score: 8.4 out of 10