Eat the Bear Chocolate Peanut Butter

I want to like Eat the Bear Chocolate Peanut Butter protein powder. I love peanut butter cups - Reece's, Justin's, Trader Joe's, the ones a Pure Barre VaHi client homemade and brought in for class - they are all delicious. Unfortunately ETB's protein powder is not. It's not horrendous, but I wouldn't describe it as good tasting. It does taste better mixed with milk.

What it lacks in taste, it makes up for by being super convenient. ETB sells travel packs that come with five pouches of your choice and a mini Blender Bottle. These are perfect for work travel. I bring the shaker and some pouches when I travel for work and will probably order more because it's so much better than bagging scoops from my protein powder tub.

I like the company Eat the Bear so I'm hoping they make some improvements to this protein powder because I'd drink it at every meal if it actually tasted like a Reece's peanut butter cup. 

Protein Hacks

I'm pretty good about hitting my protein numbers if I plan my meals around my protein sources, but I'm terrible at getting close to 135g of protein if I eat by intuition. I just want to eat carbs. I've been looking for quick hacks to get protein without relying on extra protein shakes and found two simple ways to help you reach your protein goals.

Add egg whites your eggs. Well duh. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. I like to eat two scrambled eggs in the morning. I don't use egg beaters because I like the taste of actual eggs, but today I added liquid egg whites. I was able to increase the volume of food and add 10 grams of protein without additional carbs or fats. Trader Joe's cage-free liquid egg whites's macros are 5 P, 0 C, 0 Fat for 46 grams/3 tablespoons.

Cook up a pound of spicy ground turkey. I buy the Trader Joe's regular, whatever ground turkey meat. I've tried the lean kind and the all-white meat kind and they are too dry for my taste. I season the meat with Flavor God Everything Spicy and Chipotle. Since it's already cooked, it's super convenient to use throughout the day. Sometimes I add it to breakfast, other times I have it for lunch or a snack. One ounce of cooked ground turkey is 8 P, 0 C, 3 F. Two ounces is great with eggs. I eat closer to 7 ounces if I'm eating it for lunch.

Pre-Workout and Post-Workout

People have all sorts of pre and post-workout routines. Some people use supplements, while others only eat real foods. Tosca Reno, the lady who first introduced me to clean eating and lifting, eats like 8 or 9 times a day and keeps things constant regardless of wherever her training falls on her schedule. I train when it's convenient on a given day and I've been experimenting with different pre and post-workout nutrition and supplementation.

Normally I start my day with a protein shake made with Optimum Nutrition Extreme Milk Chocolate protein powder, Optimum Nutrition creatine, Optimum Nutrition glutamine, and Icebox Coffee New Orleans Blend concentrate. I mix it up with really cold water and it is incredibly tasty. I drink it on the way to CrossFit or Pure Barre if I'm working out in the morning. But recently I have found that I perform better if I drink pre-workout before CrossFit and then drink my shake afterwards. If I workout at noon or later, I drink the shake in the morning and then start drinking my pre-workout about 45 minutes before class is supposed to start.

Yum, Crickets

The guys from Exo Protein came to CFHK last March to share samples and sell their protein bars made of cricket flour. I tried one and got entirely freaked out that I was chewing through a bug skeleton. But I was freaking out for no reason; the exoskeletons are ground into flour. Turns out those bits I was chewing on were just nuts...

I bought a case of assorted flavors back when they only made three flavors: Cashew Ginger, Peanut Butter and Jelly, and Cacao Nut. The Cashew Ginger and Cacao Nut are paleo. They've since dropped the Cashew Ginger and introduced Blueberry Vanilla and Apple Cinnamon. This sucks because Cashew Ginger was my favorite.