Yesterday, my normal 13 hour work day of delivering construction and industrial supplies turned into a 24 hour shift because of a breakdown with my truck. I always carry enough premeasured, healthy foods with me on my route, but when on the rare occasion my shift gets extended like this, I have to stop and pick something up for nourishment.
I never let being busy or overwhelmed be an excuse to eat unhealthy. If I need to pick something up to eat or drink while I am out on the road, I will always find something that suits my personal nutritional needs, or requirements if you will. This means, I do not settle for sugar laden junk foods. I will not, under any circumstance, sacrifice my nutritional needs over something that does not bring a benefit to my body. If you adapt this type of thinking into your lifestyle, it becomes easy to find healthy choices mixed among all the calorie dense, low nutrition choices found in most convenience stores and truck stops.
Last night, before departing Omaha Nebraska for my three hour trip back to my terminal in Kansas City, I stopped at a Quick Trip and picked up a little something to hold me over until I got home. I got a package of boiled eggs and this Lean Body protein drink. Glancing over the label, I thought this one looked like the perfect premade protein shake. It comes in at 40 grams of protein, 5 grams of fiber and only 4 net grams of carbs. Best of all, this shake is SUGAR FREE! Looking over the nutritional label, I was excited about trying this protein drink for the first time as it actually fulfills everything I look for in these drinks. How can this not be good?
As for the flavor of this shake, on the plus side, it was not too sweet for my personal taste. Now for the negative side regarding the flavor. Even though Dutch Cocoa is an ingredient, I could barely taste anything remotely chocolate in this drink. What I thought it tasted like was akin to how fireworks smell when you are lighting them off on Independence Day. Something like smelling spent firecrackers while you are holding a burning firecracker punk in your mouth after handling it with a little bit of chocolate and gunpowder on the end of it. For everything I thought this drink had going for it, the taste was quite awful. I cannot think of anything I have ever tasted that reminded of the smell of fireworks being lit off, this was quite unusual to me, but I drank it anyhow for the nutrition. Sometimes you just have to consume nutritious foods like medicine to keep you feeling good. When your relationship with food and drink changes, once you look at foods as good fuel rather than something that tastes good in the moment, it becomes easier to consume some things that do not taste all that great, although I still cannot choke down broccoli whether raw or cooked.
On the plus side, even though the flavor kind of made me want to stop my semi and lick my truck tires until I got the taste out of my mouth, this product did satisfy my hunger and nutritional needs. It kept me well satiated until I got home off the road, satiated to where I did not feel a need to eat anything else after being on the road for 24 hours. While I personally did not enjoy the flavor of this drink, that does not mean you will not like it. It also comes in other flavors that might be quite satisfying to the palate. At the end of day, I would still choose this Lean Body Protein drink to nourish my body before filling up on soda pop and cookies. I will buy this before I would anything that contains sugar if I have no other choices to choose from. There are worse things in life than a bad tasting drink.