Nicole Astra:
Welcome to Talking Plant Protein. I'm your host, Nicole Astra. On the menu today are ready to drink protein shakes flavored with chocolate. My guest today is nutritionist, owner of Victory Nutrition, Beth Penzone. Welcome to the show.

Beth Penzone:
Thank you so for having me.

Nicole Astra:
All right. My first question is what are people looking for with protein shakes? Are we going for supplements or meal replacement?

Beth Penzone:
I would say we are seeing both things right now with our clients and these are already made, which are great. And some of them are just for snack, other ones are definitely marketed as a meal replacement, and that is something you would look for when you're looking at the nutrition label. If it's really meant to be a whole meal, it needs to provide carbs, fats, proteins, and enough caloric intake to actually replace a full meal.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. Let's dig in.

Beth Penzone:
Okay. So first we're going to have Owyn brand and this is a great, a ready, like we said, ready to drink protein shake. What you're looking for here is... This is amazing, has no added sugars in it. So that is right now very a hot topic to be looking for, these added sugars. This has no added sugar.

Nicole Astra:
Right. And I'm just going to say it because they look a little scary. We already said protein and chocolate, so again, we want to tell the truth around here. So they're always going to have that deep, rich color.

Beth Penzone:
Correct.

Nicole Astra:
A lot of these have sweeteners.

Beth Penzone:
Yes. They all have sweeteners.

Nicole Astra:
What sweetening in this one?

Beth Penzone:
This one is naturally sweetened with monk fruit sweetener, but no added sugar. So there's no cane sugar, anything like that in this one.

Nicole Astra:
It's not that bad, I got to tell you.

Beth Penzone:
No, it's pretty good. I'm going to say the chocolate flavoring in this is pretty light compared to some of the other ones we're going to try.

Nicole Astra:
I think the actual drink itself is kind of light as well. It's not very thick.

Beth Penzone:
Yes. It's not thick. You're going to see some of the difference in that when we drink some of the others, this is the thinner on the side of consistency?

Nicole Astra:
What are some of the points of Owyn?

Beth Penzone:
So this one, the high points of this is that again, there's a great ratio also. When you're looking at a label, this is a great ratio of fat to carbs to proteins. so when you're looking at a protein shake, you want it to be protein based. And a lot of times it'll say protein shake, but when you look at the ratio, it's not a higher amount of protein than fats. So this has a great ratio, a nutrient breakdown.

Nicole Astra:
And how many grams of protein, for example?

Beth Penzone:
This has 32 grams of protein in a very adequate serving size.

Nicole Astra:
Would this be one serving?

Beth Penzone:
This is one serving, yep. All of these are considered one serving bottles.

Nicole Astra:
Wow. So this will be a lot.

Beth Penzone:
So that is something to look at. Yes. So when you're looking at this is one serving, this is also one serving. So that plays a role in too what you're looking for at a shake. This might be just too much volume for some people. So, okay. So onto this one.

Nicole Astra:
Huel is up next, we are familiar with them.

Beth Penzone:
This is Huel. And this is promoted as a meal replacement.

Nicole Astra:
Already, I can tell it's creamier.

Beth Penzone:
It's creamier.

Nicole Astra:
It's a little bit softer of a color, more like a milk chocolate.

Beth Penzone:
Yes. And it's going to be thicker as well. So that chocolate flavor comes out a little stronger in his one.

Nicole Astra:
The after taste of this is definitely chocolate, whereas the other one wasn't.

Beth Penzone:
And now this one, because it is meant to be a meal replacement, has a much higher fat content. That is what's making this creamy base.

Nicole Astra:
So you don't necessarily have to shy away from those things that might... You want carbs, you want fat, you want it to be balanced.

Beth Penzone:
Yes, in a meal replacement shake. Now this, when we're talking about if you're using it for meal replacement versus a snack or post-workout supplement, post-workout this wouldn't maybe be your best option because it does have too much of a fat content, which slows down the absorption.

Nicole Astra:
Okay, so let's talk about that because the shelves, there are hundreds options of protein shakes.

Beth Penzone:
Packed. Yes.

Nicole Astra:
So really it depends on what your nutritional need is.

Beth Penzone:
Correct.

Nicole Astra:
But then also maybe even time of day.

Beth Penzone:
Time of day, purpose. When we're thinking about using these, you're really thinking about fueling yourself. What is the purpose of what you're taking in and what you want to get out of it? If it's a post-workout food, you don't want it to have a lot of fat content because it slows down the absorption. It makes your body work a little bit harder. Read the labels.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. Last one.

Beth Penzone:
Okay. So we have Ripple. This one, you'll see, and they have a lot of these different flavors, but ripple is monk fruit sweetened. It is great. It does have some added sugars in it, but for me, this has a very great flavor, especially for families that are going vegetarian.

Nicole Astra:
It's so light. I don't expect it to be that light.

Beth Penzone:
It's so light. So you can tell a big difference between the lightness of this versus this.

Nicole Astra:
This is a far subtle flavor as well.

Beth Penzone:
And it's very light. This one to me replicates more of like a chocolate milk.

Nicole Astra:
I was just going to say, could I pull this off as chocolate milk to my kids? I might be able to.

Beth Penzone:
Yes. So this one, when we're looking at families and they're going that route to be plant-based and their kids love chocolate milk and that's what they're missing out, Ripple is definitely one I would say kids can go to.

Nicole Astra:
So, I am a firm believer if it's not delicious, I'm not going to eat it. So that goes for if it's a sweet, it's got to be worth the calories, but also we have to make nutrition easy, flexible, but it's got to be good or we're not going to get those nutrients.

Beth Penzone:
It has to.

Nicole Astra:
So let me ask, these are meant to be ready to drink. Is anyone putting this in their smoothie in the morning?

Beth Penzone:
Yes.

Nicole Astra:
Are we... Okay, so maybe we are changing the flavor of some that maybe is not as palatable for us.

Beth Penzone:
Correct.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. What about coffee? I've seen that as well.

Beth Penzone:
Coffee, amazing. Coffee creamers, you can use these as creamers. You want to be... Especially iced coffee during the warmer months, that this is an amazing supplement instead of creamers that are usually dairy-based, high sugar content. This is a great way to start incorporating more protein into your day.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. So takeaways are absolutely read the labels.

Beth Penzone:
Absolutely. Read the labels, know what you're using it for because are you using it for a meal? Are you using it for a snack? Children, adults? By know what the purpose is.

Nicole Astra:
So let's talk about protein content. I notice all of them have pea protein.

Beth Penzone:
Yes.

Nicole Astra:
Any one source something else?

Beth Penzone:
Okay. So this one right here, this has a pumpkin seed protein as well. And when you're looking at them allergen wise, they're all very pretty clean, but this one is processed with tree nuts. So that's something you would want to be aware of if you do have allergens in your house. The rest of these are completely allergen free, but this one does have coconut in it, so that you'd have to be careful with tree nut allergies.

Nicole Astra:
Now let's talk sweeteners, especially if you are not used to drinking protein shakes, you're you're going to want something that has a little bit of sweetness in it.

Beth Penzone:
For sure.

Nicole Astra:
So what are the ones that you personally recommend and then also what do we have here?

Beth Penzone:
Okay. So personally I recommend something that's sweetened with monk fruit sweetener. That is, comes from a monk fruit tree, is very natural. And to me it has none of those after taste that sometimes you can get with what they consider the category of alcohol sugars. And that is how they sweeten a lot of these drinks without the added sugars.

Beth Penzone:
So monk fruit sweetener to me is very natural and it does not have that after taste that some other sweeteners have.

Nicole Astra:
And it's available.

Beth Penzone:
It is available and you... Yes. You don't always just get it in prepackaged foods, you can get it now on the shelf when you're looking at all the sweeteners.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. And at home, are we replacing that one to one like we would a typical white sugar?

Beth Penzone:
So when you look at the packaging, usually they come in a different variety. The liquid, there's liquids that you can drop in, there's baking blends that have a little bit of the monk fruit sweetener and some cane sugar. Those are more one to one. If you're looking at something like a stevia or a full monk fruit sweetener, a lot of times it's about half because it is very sweet.

Nicole Astra:
So two have monk fruit. What about the Huel?

Beth Penzone:
The Huel, it has a little bit of added cane sugar in it, as well as the Ripple.

Nicole Astra:
Okay. And again, in balance, that's okay for you.

Beth Penzone:
That's okay. Sometimes these added sugars in balance, especially when you're looking at give or take a little bit, does it mean that myself or one of my family members is getting in the protein they need, then those added sugars in balance are okay every once in a while.

Nicole Astra:
So now nutrition wise, are you rating all of these with an A?

Beth Penzone:
I think they're pretty darn good, yes. I would give them all an A. Again, just make sure the purpose is known for what you're getting, but I would give them all an A.

Nicole Astra:
And taste is of course an individual thing, but I can tell you, I was a little bit scared.

Beth Penzone:
Don't be scared. You don't have to be nervous.

Nicole Astra:
These were not bad. Not bad at all.

Beth Penzone:
Yeah. I would definitely say everyone has their own preference, but don't be nervous, give it a try. Most of the things on the market these days taste pretty good.

Nicole Astra:
Thanks so much for watching Talking Plant Protein, bringing you what you need to know. Protein shakes.