I’ve been slacking on my vitamins and protein lately so I am making an attempt to get back on track with everything.  This morning I grabbed another Vitalady sample I ordered a while ago to try out.  This time I grabbed Syntrax Nectar in Crystal Sky (the storage container I have the protein sample in STILL smells like that Lean Dessert Cinnamon Roll!).  I know a lot of people on the ObesityHelp.com message board love the Nectar so I was pretty excited to try it.  I always think it is weird that the powder starts out white and turns a different color with some of these protein powders; this one is an electric blue.  It smelled interesting- kind of like Kool Aid or something like that.  I added 8 ounces of water (I really can’t imagine mixing it with milk- just the thought of milky Kool Aid makes me want to puke) in my Blender Bottle and shook it up.  Holy cow there was a lot of foam at the top!  I am not a liker of foam so I let it settle some while I ate breakfast (peanut butter on whole grain English muffin).  When I looked at it 30 minutes later there was still a large amount of foam, you could clearly see powder clumps and the protein had settled to the bottom of the cup like a dense cloudy fog.  I mixed it back up which just created MORE foam.   I then decided I was just going to have to drink it, foam and all.  The taste is kind of odd but not unpleasant.  It’s supposed to be a tropical punch flavor and it does have a punch kind of flavor but something is weird about it (aside from the foam and chunky protein powder bits).  Maybe that’s just the whey isolate making it taste off to me though.  Only 90 calories and 23 grams of protein is really good though so I could probably just chug this stuff so I wouldn’t have to deal with the foam and the chunky bits.

This is AFTER 30 minutes!  LOTS ‘O FOAM!

Product: Syntrax Nectar Protein: Crystal Sky

Price: $29.99 for an 36 serving tub or $1.99 for a one serving sample from Vitalady

The good: this is one of those flavors that should probably be made with water and not milk so less calories and carbs; tastes fairly decent; thin juice-like consistency; only 90 calories and 23 grams of protein

The bad: it foams up really bad when you blend it in a Blender Bottle; still has some tiny bites of clumps so it didn’t mix up smoothly

The ugly: 30 minutes later it still had a large amount of foam (and all the protein settled to the bottom while I was waiting for the foam to dissipate!); the longer it sit the more chucky bits of protein powder there are it seems

I bought this drink when I bought the Isopure drinks thinking I would try them all out that week but I ended up with a migraine for a week, then a flu bug and both the boys started school this week!  So it has been kind of hard to get in a daily post but with the kids at school now I have more time to devote to writing posts and reviews.  When you first open the bottle you can really smell the chocolate.  It tastes pretty good; super chocolaty.  It would be a good thing to have if you have a chocolate craving but don’t want to eat chocolate candies.  It has 32 grams of protein which is pretty good for that size bottle.  The only drawback: it has the consistency of Pepto-Bismol.  It’s pretty thick and personally, I prefer my liquids to be, well liquid!  Both of the boys loved this drink and said it was super chocolaty!   I bought just one for $1.99 but they do come in cases as well.  I have decided it would be a good idea to start posting nutritional information on products so here is the nutritional information:

So I know that after surgery my tastes will change but for the week prior to surgery (5 days) I have to have a clear liquid diet.  I also know that after surgery protein supplements are going to be needed at least until I am used to getting the protein I need from food only.   So, I decided to try out some of the recommended protein drinks so I could be prepared since my tastes are pretty picky.  I went to GNC to buy some of the Zero Carb Isopure in the 20 oz glass bottles.  I bought one blue raspberry (blue) and one alpine punch (red).  They have 40g of protein in there.   I also bought an Oh Yeah Chocolate Milkshake drink with 32g of protein to try out.  On a side note there, I happened to receive food stamps right now and I was curious if I would be able to purchase any of the protein drinks with the food stamps.. Guess what?  You can!  Any way back to the Blue Raspberry Isopure-

I bought it yesterday and it has been sitting in my fridge untouched because I am afraid of what it tastes like.  I opened it up (it was easy to open which is good because I usually have a hard time getting the jar-lid type tops off things).  It smelled fruity and has some membrane kind of stuff floating around in it.  I Googled it and it seems that is normal- just looks kind of gross like egg whites floating around.  I took just a little sip at first and when it first hit my tongue it tasted pretty good.  Kind of like a Gatorade type flavor.  But there is a strange after taste.  It’s hard to describe it.  Kind of like plastic?  Sometimes when I open something made of plastic and its brand new I get this weird taste in my mouth from the smell.  It is kind of like that.  It’s not super strong but it is.. weird.  The kids tried a sip and decided they liked it when they first tasted it but when the aftertaste got them they wanted nothing to do with it.  But it is tolerable and one would probably get used to the after taste to be honest.  40g of protein could come in handy when on a liquid diet and this would be an easy relatively tasty way to get that protein in.  Oh-but it isn’t cheap.  The single bottles were almost $5 a piece. The cheapest I have seen it is a case of 12 for $39.99.  At over $3 a pop I would probably use it sparingly.  They also have the smaller size bottles that contain 15g of protein (both the Zero Carb Isopure and the Isopure Plus brands) that come in a 6 pack for about $11.  Less then $2 a pop and would probably work well if you are balancing it with getting protein in your food.