I'm curious to see if anyone else here incorporates protein shakes/smoothies in their diet?

After years away from the LC lifestyle, I've been committed for the past 6 weeks like I've never before! I'm down 15 lbs and feel great.

One thing I've already burned out on is cooking breakfast everyday. I love eggs, but breakfast gets old. So I started drinking smoothies for breakfast. We have a Ninja blender and I found some stuff on amazon and I can't believe how good my smoothies taste! Who knew xanthan gum was the greatest invention ever?!?!?

Before I strut my stuff too much, I wanted to make sure there aren't any hidden ingredients. I also wonder how much of this is BS marketing stuff.

Ingredients:

1. Crushed ice
2. 1.25 c Almond milk, unsweetened, vanilla
3. .25 c Heavy cream
4. 1 sc Keto Broth,chocolate
5. 1 sc Keto Collagen,chocolate
6. 1 tbsp PBfit- All-Natural Peanut Butter Powder
7. .25 tsp xanthan gum

Macros:
Cal: 580c
Fat: 45g
Net Carb: 5g
Fiber: 2g
Protein: 32g

The net carbs are a little high, compared to my regular breakfast of 3 eggs and sausage.

The nutrition information for the keto broth shows "chicken bone broth" and beef collagen as the sources for those proteins. Broth has come into popularity in the fasting community, and the main reason it's appropriate for that is that as usually made, it contains very little protein. This product is souped-up (sorry) to contain more of the sort of protein found in broth--problem with this is that if it's to provide much of your day's protein, it's actually a very poor source, collagen is an incomplete protein, no tryptophan. There are people adding collagen as a supplement, that's fine. Collagen protein as a meal-replacement protein however has a very poor history, there were a bunch of deaths in the 70s when people went on protein sparing modified fasts based on this type of protein. Not that this is dangerous if you're eating a fair amount of protein the rest of the day. But you might be better off with just plain old whey protein and add in your own mct oil and minerals etc. if you need to.

Thanks teaser.

I thought too much protein can risk converting to carbs?

As for the rest of my daily intake- I'm usually right at 22 carbs/day and 2000 - 2400 cals/day.

I'm not Teaser, but will provide my two cents. This is a myth that roams in LC circles because there is some evidence that if your body *needs* glucose, it will convert protein into glucose via GNG. The key is need, or some will say that GNG is "demand-driven." There is adequate evidence including many, many ketoers that eat a gram or more of protein per pound of ideal weight, without raising blood sugars. For me that's around ~200 grams of protein a day. I find that most days I don't eat that much, but I am finding that I do a lot better for weight loss when I get that much protein and less fat in order to balance my calories out to a deficit. That means no fat bombs, etc., but it can still mean chicken thighs, ribeye steaks, eggs fried in bacon grease, etc. If you are eating keto for epilepsy, the higher fat is absolutely necessary, and can be good for you if you don't want to lose any more weight. However, if you have fat on your body to lose, it's best to let your body burn body fat, rather than plate fat, and get your protein up to feel satiated, keep muscle loss to a minimum, and as some claim, the thermogenic effect of protein.

If you search Ketogains on the internet, you'll find lots of people who do it this way, and lots of information about it.

I like Impact Whey (www.myprotein.com). It seems pretty pure, and I can actually drink the vanilla without adding anything but water. The key is to only add enough water to dissolve it. It's pricey, but I think I'm getting the value. I will sometimes make a smoothy with greek yogurt, two scoops of whey, spinach, and a TBSP of cocoa powder, and it makes an awesome protein shake.

I've heard great things about Dymattize ISO 100 Whey protein powder isolate in Peanut Butter or Peanut Butter Chocolate. I am going to try that next. Again, pricey, but I've heard it's worth it.

That being said, I only do whey two or three times a week as variety or if I'm in need of extra protein. I still like to get my protein from meat. It seems to work better.

Protein-->carbs is sort of a loaded issue. I do try to get not too much more protein than my requirement in the interests of maintaining ketosis, I find I have more energy, better mood and weight maintenance that way. But I think in the interests of not overdoing protein, it makes sense to go with higher quality protein. Filling the diet with lower quality proteins could make the total requirement of protein for maintenance and repair of lean tissue effectively higher--increasing the total intake of gluconeogenic amino acids. I'm not sure that would result in higher overall glucose production, but it likely makes the diet less ketogenic.

There's an idea out there that gluconeogenesis is demand- rather than substrate-driven, with the claim that increasing dietary protein won't result in much of an increase in glucose production. I think that's a little bit flawed when you look at some of the clinical experience from people administering the ketogenic diet as an adjunct cancer therapy or for epilepsy, there reducing protein is reported to result in lower blood sugar. Also in the rodent studies, they find it's necessary to reduce protein as well as carbohydrate to induce much in the way of ketosis. In starvation unquestionably gluconeogenesis becomes dependent on available substrate, the question is how close to mimicking starvation metabolism does somebody have to be to make that start being an issue?

I heard Jimmy Moore in a recent podcast claim that a feeling of hypoglycemia that he experienced two hours after eating 120 grams of protein must have been the result of a glucose spike from gluconeogenesis triggering an insulin response, I've seen this explanation before from people who ought to know better, eat protein, make glucose, that explains the insulin response to protein. Doesn't work that way, the insulin response to amino acids is a little more direct, although it does depend quite a bit on glucose levels, higher glucose equals a ramped up response to the amino acids.

Also there's the question of the effect of habitual diet on levels of gluconeogenesis on a keto diet, gluconeogenesis isn't a rapid process, more like a slow-drip supply of glucose/recharging of glycogen stores, I haven't really seen anything that addresses this. Just studies looking at the effect of one protein meal, that says nothing about habitual protein intake.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fO5aTD6JU

Good talk on this.

I feel like maybe that was a bit overdone, but I sort of worry about oversimplification sometimes. A good way to look at this that I've seen recently is--do you want to be in ketosis, or are you hoping for certain benefits associated with ketosis? If more protein gives you good results, go for it, I only eat as strictly as I do because it gives me very obvious benefits.

Great point. I'm not a believer in eating protein for protein's sake. I don't sit down and eat two cans of tuna at the end of the night because I've not hit my protein macros yet. Yet, on the other hand, I find that if protein becomes the main part of the food on my plate (salad vegetables might be the exception), I feel better, and I lose weight better. I don't worry about whether I'm in ketosis or not because weight loss, moderated appetite, and smelly pee are my clear indications. I have seen plenty of n=1 from diabetics to indicate that lots of people do not get elevated blood sugars when consuming what some would consider excess protein.

On the Jimmy Moore front, I saw what he did and wrote. I think it's a bit dramatic. For one thing, I think one week eating higher protein will not give you an indication of how that might or might not work for you.

And my whole reaction to this topic is the fact that many people think excess protein turns quickly and immediately to sugar....I've heard "excess protein turns to cake." Nothing like that at all.

Yes. I remember when I was first eating low carb, if somebody talked about protein being made into glucose, the suggestion was that this happened at a very slow rate, not that there was this big dump of newly made glucose into the blood.

Wow! That's a lot to chew on. Sorry for the pun.

Really appreciate the info. I need to dig in and read up.

There's SO MUCH MORE info/resources than there was back in 1999. I remember going online to buy a low carb cheesecake- (I think I had to mail a check!) it was super expensive and didn't leave a positive experience.

Today there's a whole Keto world, in addition to Atkins.

You might add some egg protein to that smoothie. check out the pasturized egg whites in the dairy case.

I used to enjoy a double malt chocolate frappe with an egg on days I had an animal science class in the dairy building. YUM. I often add eggs from my own hens to drinks. But I would suggest using the pasturized eggs. Or powdered eggs.

Very true. Lots of misinformation too. There are many schools of thought, and I'm not sure that all have science or research behind them, but it's possible. I think the key thing is this: Is what you're doing working for you? If it does for awhile, and stops working, you may need to make some adjustments. In my case, it was macros. Up to a point, I am able to eat keto ratios that were mostly fat (by calories) and lower protein. After a certain point, I did see that I had to limit fat and make sure that my ratios were higher protein by calories. And calories do count, I believe. If I wanted to continue making progress, I had to lower the fat, increase the protein, and make sure I was still eating at a deficit.

The other thing I've learned is that i don't try to find "low carb recipes" especially desserts and treats. I basically eat some variation of meat, some fibrous vegetables for most meals; eggs in some kind of fashion and often some meat for breakfast. I think it works.

Just a comment here:

Here's a video link (apology if it requires a DietDoctor.com membership, but the first month is free and you can cancel if you don't want a sustained membership) to a presentation by Dr. Ben Bickman on why you should not fear protein on a low carb or keto diet. Based on actual studies and not speculation, people consuming protein on low carb diets have a much lower insulin:glucagon ratio (~1.3) compared with those on a SAD approach - where I:G ratio (~70) is vastly different.

Video Link:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/video/pr...utoplay=1853740

The quote from Roger Unger really got my attention:


Protein consumption and impact on fuel is based on the context of the diet one is consuming. Those consuming low carb don't experience the significant increase in endogenous glucose (carb) production that those consuming a SAD WOE experience. My current view is that those of us following a keto WOE can increase protein to a degree (anywhere from 1-2 grams/kg of lean body weight) without significantly changing the production of ketone bodies. I test my ketone levels, and I'm still in ketosis after consuming more protein.

So, the protein in keto protein shakes shouldn't pose a problem with carb conversion if you're following a ketogenic eating approach. I can't speak to the remaining ingredients, as I have not tried protein shakes. I tend to be wary of these products, and that doesn't mean they are not effective, I'm just wary of certain concoctions in order to stay consistent with my WOE. All the best.