Milk Shakes As The Ultimate Energy Source?

[Inaut]

I really like milkshakes. I drink them daily. Just recently I’ve began to think of them as perfect sources of energy by incorporating raw egg (or two), coffee, gelatin/collagen, some sort of sugar (maple typically) and dates. So satisfying.

After work outs I’ll add a scoop of casein protein and it is extremely satiating.

For those of us that tolerate dairy well, do you shake your milk?

Happy new year btw RPF

 

[Noodlz2]

I think they are solid, but probably have too much fat to be a staple. Normal milk, mozzarella, low fat paneer are the dairy I have daily. I feel like ice cream maybe once a week. Daily feels a bit rich. I ate a quart daily for some time though.

Maybe that much fat is suitable in conjunction with workouts.

 

[Literally]

Are you making them with milk or ice cream?

 

[Inaut]

Milk only. I should have specified as milkshakes often imply ice cream... my bad

 

[Elie]

Agree

 

[postman]

Freeze dried instant coffee mixes well with milk, no heat needed.

 

[Jib]

Well. I'm making kefir again. With 1% milk. And I use it for smoothies every single day, usually twice a day, sometimes three.

Smoothies for me usually consist of one or multiple of the following:

-Bananas
-Frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberries, papaya, guava)
-Cocoa powder
-Collagen
-Whey protein isolate
-Medjool dates

I have a Ninja blender. It struggles a bit with the dates, to the point where I'm considering soaking them first. I like using dates instead of plain sugar for the obvious bump in nutrition. I also really like the flavor.

Big fan of shakes.

 

[charlie]

Well. I'm making kefir again. With 1% milk. And I use it for smoothies every single day, usually twice a day, sometimes three.

Smoothies for me usually consist of one or multiple of the following:

-Bananas
-Frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberries, papaya, guava)
-Cocoa powder
-Collagen
-Whey protein isolate
-Medjool dates

I have a Ninja blender. It struggles a bit with the dates, to the point where I'm considering soaking them first. I like using dates instead of plain sugar for the obvious bump in nutrition. I also really like the flavor.

Big fan of shakes.

Are you seeing any results from the kefir?

 

[orewashin]

Well. I'm making kefir again. With 1% milk. And I use it for smoothies every single day, usually twice a day, sometimes three.

Smoothies for me usually consist of one or multiple of the following:

-Bananas
-Frozen fruit (pineapple, mango, strawberries, papaya, guava)
-Cocoa powder
-Collagen
-Whey protein isolate
-Medjool dates

I have a Ninja blender. It struggles a bit with the dates, to the point where I'm considering soaking them first. I like using dates instead of plain sugar for the obvious bump in nutrition. I also really like the flavor.

Big fan of shakes.

Why do you use 1% instead of skim?

 

[Jib]

Are you seeing any results from the kefir?

Just watching out for fatigue/exhaustion that could potentially be a result of getting too much lactic acid. Though I had those issues while I was just having milk/fruit/meat. I am a bit paranoid about the "probiotics" as well, as I know Peat is a fan of having a sterile gut.

The only result is gas/bloating has disappeared, presumably because of the kefir solving the lactose intolerance issue, as the bacteria primarily feed on the lactose. And this is pretty huge, as the gas was getting really out of control with plain milk. Especially as I started exceeding a quart a day.

Plain kefir is pretty gross to me, whereas plain milk is delicious, so that's one hangup I have.

Mixing in honey, or blending with frozen or fresh fruit, the kefir is very good, even better than plain milk. The tartness does taste very good with tropical fruits like mango, pineapple, papaya, and guava. And the thicker texture is very nice too. Lactic acid is said to deplete liver glycogen. I wonder if only consuming kefir mixed with honey, or blended with plenty of sweet fruit, can help mitigate that effect.

The other option I was considering was just dissolving liquid lactase or lactase pills in a gallon of milk at a time. I've read you can do that and leave it for a few days and it'll break down virtually all the lactose into glucose. The nice thing with kefir grains is you only pay for them once, and they're reusable infinitely as long as you take care of them. The price you pay though is getting lactic acid and bacteria, both of which can be problematic.

It's funny because the mainstream dogma is all about how good probiotics are, while Peat recommends pretty much steering as clear of them as possible.

For the time being, I'm tolerating kefir well, having it exclusively in smoothies, or mixed with honey. The lack of gas/bloating is a huge relief.

There is also a thing called "secondary fermentation" where you leave the strained kefir out for an additional 12 hours or so. For whatever reason, it mellows it out. I wonder if the lactic acid is broken down or converted into another kind of acid. You would not expect additional fermentation to lessen the tart flavor, but it does. I'd be very curious what exactly is going on there at the chemical level, and if secondary fermentation makes kefir more appropriate for human consumption.

EDIT: Just had a glass of plain secondary fermented kefir, and it was actually okay. Very, very little tart flavor. Almost like a very mild cheese flavor with very little 'tang.' I'm very curious now how the profile of kefir changes with secondary fermentation. Right after straining, it's sharp and acidic, but it mellows out quite a lot with secondary fermentation.

My strategy is I keep a 1 gallon glass jug going at all times. When I first started, I didn't drink any kefir, and just took a few days to get the gallon jug close to full with kefir. Now I make 1 quart of kefir every day, and just pour from the gallon jug to get my kefir every day.

This results in an ongoing "secondary fermentation." One quart of fresh kefir is added daily to this 1 gallon jug of kefir which always has 'secondary fermented' kefir in it.

You can leave the glass gallon jug out on the countertop right next to the main jar you use to culture your kefir. Or you can keep it in the fridge. Either way, this mellowed kefir definitely has less tartness than fresh kefir. Fresh kefir tastes pretty unpleasant to me, but the secondary fermented, mellower kefir is much nicer. It would be interesting if it was actually safer to consume....it certainly tastes that way to me.

I've been feeling tired lately, but I've been dealing with "chronic fatigue" (for lack of a better term) for years now, so that's nothing new. Bowel movements are pretty normal, though they were pretty normal with plain milk too -- aside from the extreme amount of gas I was getting. So all in all, things seem about the same as when I was drinking plain milk, except now I'm not having embarrassingly extreme amounts of gas and bloating.

Why do you use 1% instead of skim?

No particular reason right now. I was using whole milk, to avoid the added vitamin A, but started putting too much weight on, so went down to 1%. I like the texture better with a little fat.

Kefir gets pretty thick though, and I'm not sure I'd even notice the difference between 1% and skim, so maybe I'll try skim. When I went to 1% milk I was still drinking a lot of plain milk, and I just like the texture of 1% better than skim.

I'm not sure if the grains need some fat, however. They primarily feed on lactose but the fat and protein may also be a part of their "diet" and it's possible going to skim milk would change the microbial balance in the grains. Not that that's a bad thing.

RE: Kefir

Overall, I just couldn't keep dealing with the gas/bloating from large amounts of plain milk. It was either lactase liquid/pills dissolved in milk, or kefir, so for now, I went with kefir. It's much cheaper (one time payment), and it seems to be working.

It can also be strained. The leftover curds are good for making a dip. I just mixed it with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and parsley, and it's quite good. It's somewhat similar to Greek yogurt. I just use a sieve and a coffee filter over a bowl.

I know Ray recommends discarding the whey. Personally, I drink it. I add it to fruit juice and I find that I react a little better to the fruit juice this way. Perhaps from the added protein and minerals making me less prone to "crashing" after having juice. I was gonna dump the whey, but I just couldn't bring myself to waste it. If you absolutely do not want it, I hear that squirrels and birds like it very much. So you could put it in a bowl and leave it outside for the animals to enjoy.