Protein drinks and shakes have been a part of my diet for quite some time now, but I can still understand how daunting the market is.
There are hundreds of different versions – do you choose whey? Soya? Pea protein? Do you want a diet one or a flavoured one? Or just plain to add to your own smoothies? Ready to drink? Or powder?
It’s often overwhelming. I won’t every claim to have the answers to what you should choose – it’s often down to taste. I personally prefer something fruity rather than chocolatey, prefer something diet as opposed to the standard version (there’s enough sugar and fruit in my diet already) and use a non-flavoured one in most of my smoothies.
But there comes a downside to most shakes – they come in powder form and either turn into a claggy undissolved mess in the bottom of your shaker, or more often, the lid to the shaker the company sent you doesn’t stay closed. I’ve opened my bag all too often and found a pile of powder covering my gym gear.
And that stuff sticks.
Ready to drink avoids that issue. Which is where Everything But the Cow comes in. Combining fruit and soya protein into a ready to drink shake, you can just throw in your bag and go. No panic about powder going everywhere.
And given the research over the last few years suggesting that soya and dairy proteins combined are better for your body, I was halfway convinced.
In fact, the last few months I’ve been making an effort to reduce my dairy intake (I still love butter and cream and cheese, so it’s not going to go away entirely) and increasing my soya intake, so I get that good mix of proteins.
But enough about the sciencey bit – that’s easy to research (just hit Google and read some of the scientific papers or articles). What do they actually taste like?
Really rather good. Sweet, but not overly so – lots and lots of fruit. And the knowledge that it’s all natural stuff makes me feel a lot better about it.
The ingredients list is a lot smaller than most, soya protein, fruit puree, honey. That’s it. 7g of protein means it’s still within the maximum 20g that your body can digest at any one time. Perfect for straight after a work out – which is when I’ve been indulging.
And did I mention they’re a British company? Everything made and packaged in Somerset.
Oh and I know the guys at EBTC are dying to know what my favourite flavour is. I thought it would be the mango and orange – I absolutely love mangoes. But actually, it’s banana and kiwi. The acidity of the kiwi balances out the richness of the protein and the banana.
Yummy.
Now to raid Holland & Barrett…