Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
Mike Ellis
TDR MEMBER
This information is provided as a public service, to perhaps prevent some of you from experiencing the horror that my family just did :-laf :-laf :-laf
My mother has been quite ill, and due to some kidney issues the doctor has directed her to intake a substantial amount of protein. We got her some of the Boost / Ensure type products, but could not get her to drink them due to the taste. They aren't too bad IMHO, having tried them myself to see what she was going to have to choke down, but she flat refused.
Accordingly, we went to the GNC store and picked up a variety of protein supplement products - candy bar type, pudding type, and liquid supplement type. We then went home and had a 3 person taste test with myself, my 19 year old daughter, and my Mom.
After trying these products, I thought I'd post the results here and perhaps assist some of you who may feel the urge to try some of them yourself. I'll list the good ones first, with names in blue type. The bad ones will be listed in red type. I wish there was a skull-and-crossbones smiley that I could use to designate some of them :-laf
Note that many of these candy bar products are like $2. 75 a bar or more at GNC, they can be bought much cheaper when they are going on sale (less than 50 cents each), or by buying in boxes.
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Boost (Vanilla)
Boost is a liquid supplement, with a consistency like a very thin milk shake and a decent vanilla taste. It leaves a bit of an aftertaste due to all the stuff they pack into it, but compared to the other products on this list it is like ambrosia. It comes in a small red plastic bottle, with 240 calories and a long list of vitamins and minerals. When you look at the list of stuff crammed into the bottle, it is amazing that it tastes as good as it does. 3 Thumbs Up. Highly recommended.
Kellog's Special K Protein Water (Strawberry-Kiwi)
This is a flavored water product, similar to a not-too-terribly-sweet Koolade. It has a very pleasant strawberry taste, with little aftertaste. It was a bit sweet for my taste, but overall very good. 3 Thumbs Up, highly recommended.
Luna Whole Nutrition Bar for Women (S'Mores)
10 grams protein, 180 calories, 40 from fat.
This bar has a thick layer of what looks like rice crispies, but is actually a soy-based rice, with an assortment of vitamins and minerals. The "rice" is mixed with some sort of sticky nougat-type binder, with the bottom portion of the bar coated in chocolate, apparently made with organic cocoa. This bar isn't bad at all, other than not being very sweet. It doesn't have a strong soy taste to it, overall it is similar in texture and crunch to a "Whatchamacallit" candy bar without the top part covered in chocolate. This product got 3 thumbs up.
Luna Whole Nutrition Bar for Women (Nutz Over Chocolate)
10 grams protein, 180 calories, 40 from fat.
Same construction and comments as the previous Luna bar. I preferred its taste to the S'Mores but the womenfolks liked the S'Mores better. Again, 3 thumbs up.
Pure Protein High Protein Bar (Peanut Marshmallow Eclipse)
28 grams protein, 280 calories, 80 from fat.
This bar has an amazing 28 grams of protein packaged in a fairly tasty candy bar shape, with an assortment of vitamins and minerals. It is an unusual golden brown color for a candy bar, looks like it has been covered with "Bit of Honey" candy. It has 3 layers - a thin marshmallow-like top layer, chocolate nugat type thick main layer, and on the bottom a sprinkling of what looks like peanuts. It has a very good peanut butter type flavor, when you are chewing it tastes very good but it does leave a bit of an aftertaste. It has a consistency somewhat like a Milky Way bar. I thought this was and the ProMax were the best of the candy bar type products, but the 2 women thought the Luna bars were better. 3 Thumbs up.
ProMax Energy Bar (Double Fudge Brownie)
20 grams protein, 280 calories, 50 from fat.
This bar looks a lot like a very dense brownie covered in chocolate. It has very strong chocolate flavor, with very little aftertaste considering the vitamins and minerals that it includes. I thought it tasted like a Dutch cocoa cookie, or one of the European style cookies / brownies which typically are less sweet than our American versions. The chocolate flavor was very good compared to the other "chocolate" products we tried. The 2 women absolutely loved the intense chocolate flavor but thought it needed a bit more sweetness. I thought it was a very close 2nd to the Pure Protein bar, they both thought it was as good as the Luna bars. Note that if you are buying these for someone that needs some calories and protein (cancer patients etc), a sprinkling of sugar would instantly make these bars as palatable as any brownie you have eaten. Three thumbs up, highly recommended.
Muscle Milk Pudding (Chocolate)
This product is not too bad. It comes in small plastic cups like regular pudding, but has a slightly more rubbery consistency. It has a strong chocolate flavor that is only slightly sweet, similar to the sugar-free diabetic products. It did not leave a noticeable aftertaste like many of the sports bars did. Overall rating - 2. 5 thumbs up, good but not something I would go out of my way to eat.
iSS OH YEAH Bar (Peanut Butter and Caramel
27 grams protein, 380 calories, 180 from fat.
This bar is actually pretty tasty. It has what looks like a very dense brownie center, completely covered with peanuts in a tan colored caramel-type binder. It doesn't look particularly appetizing, kind of like a mainstream candy bar that they forgot to coat with chocolate, but it tastes very good indeed. The peanuts are excellent, and the product has a good combination of flavors with no noticeable aftertaste. Texture wise it is as good as any of the mainstream bars. All three of us liked the taste of this bar, but clearly a lot of that taste is due to the large quantity of fat that is in the bar. It has only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals though, and that coupled with the high fat led us to give it an overall rating of 1. 5 thumbs up from a nutritional supplement standpoint even though it has 27 g of protein. If you are looking for an enjoyable and tasty high protein snack and are getting plenty of vitamins elsewhere, this might be just the ticket for you (we would give it 3+ thumbs up in that scenario). Recommended as a candy bar substitute.
Raw Organic Food Bar (Chocolate Coconut)
5 grams protein, 230 calories, 100 from fat.
This bar touts its healthy composition heavily on the package. "80% Raw... Alkaline forming... no trans fats... no preservatives... no junk food... ". It is apparently intended to provide an organic alternative to candy bars, but with very little vitamin / mineral content. When you open the wrapper you are presented with a product that looks like a moist brownie with a bunch of nuts and finely chopped coconut mixed into it. Unfortunately, it is accompanied by an ominous whiff of odor strangely redolent of roofing cement. Eating this bar evokes strange sensations, because it has strong and flavorful tastes of dates, cashews, and coconuts, but underneath there is an occasional strong and biting burst of flavor that leaves you thinking of that roofing cement smell. The coconut almost completely kills the aftertaste though, and some of the other products would doubtless benefit from using coconut for that purpose. Unfortunately, none of us could bring ourselves to voluntarily eat more than 1 bite of the bar. We agreed that it was something we could eat if we HAD to, but given our preference we would not do so. We give this about 1 thumb up, combined. Note: This bar was on sale, it did not have an expiration date that we could see but it is possible that it was getting old and stale given its organic components and "no preservatives".
The products began to significantly worsen at this point, so we had to bring in supplemental testers to ensure that our ravaged tastebuds weren't lying to us.
Zero Impact High Protein Mealbar (Chocolate Peanut Butter)
30 grams protein, 448 calories, 192 from fat
This bar packs a large amount of protein into a form reminiscent of a brownie, if a brownie felt like a brick and had the consistency of one of those fire-starter bars that we used to buy at the Army surplus store. It has little vitamin / mineral content. It has a strong chocolate flavor, but it is a bitter chocolate much like raw cocoa powder. There is little sweetness and the texture is very dense. As you chew it crumbles to a bitter powder with hints of peanut butter taste. I did not like this at all, nor did the 2 womenfolks. Testing it on my teenage son yielded a "not too bad" comment, while the wife said it was foul but edible. Given the slight redemption from my son, we give this bar 0. 5 thumbs up. I would not eat it unless the Soylent Green supply was running critically low.
(continued in next post)
My mother has been quite ill, and due to some kidney issues the doctor has directed her to intake a substantial amount of protein. We got her some of the Boost / Ensure type products, but could not get her to drink them due to the taste. They aren't too bad IMHO, having tried them myself to see what she was going to have to choke down, but she flat refused.
Accordingly, we went to the GNC store and picked up a variety of protein supplement products - candy bar type, pudding type, and liquid supplement type. We then went home and had a 3 person taste test with myself, my 19 year old daughter, and my Mom.
After trying these products, I thought I'd post the results here and perhaps assist some of you who may feel the urge to try some of them yourself. I'll list the good ones first, with names in blue type. The bad ones will be listed in red type. I wish there was a skull-and-crossbones smiley that I could use to designate some of them :-laf
Note that many of these candy bar products are like $2. 75 a bar or more at GNC, they can be bought much cheaper when they are going on sale (less than 50 cents each), or by buying in boxes.
*****************
Boost (Vanilla)
Boost is a liquid supplement, with a consistency like a very thin milk shake and a decent vanilla taste. It leaves a bit of an aftertaste due to all the stuff they pack into it, but compared to the other products on this list it is like ambrosia. It comes in a small red plastic bottle, with 240 calories and a long list of vitamins and minerals. When you look at the list of stuff crammed into the bottle, it is amazing that it tastes as good as it does. 3 Thumbs Up. Highly recommended.
Kellog's Special K Protein Water (Strawberry-Kiwi)
This is a flavored water product, similar to a not-too-terribly-sweet Koolade. It has a very pleasant strawberry taste, with little aftertaste. It was a bit sweet for my taste, but overall very good. 3 Thumbs Up, highly recommended.
Luna Whole Nutrition Bar for Women (S'Mores)
10 grams protein, 180 calories, 40 from fat.
This bar has a thick layer of what looks like rice crispies, but is actually a soy-based rice, with an assortment of vitamins and minerals. The "rice" is mixed with some sort of sticky nougat-type binder, with the bottom portion of the bar coated in chocolate, apparently made with organic cocoa. This bar isn't bad at all, other than not being very sweet. It doesn't have a strong soy taste to it, overall it is similar in texture and crunch to a "Whatchamacallit" candy bar without the top part covered in chocolate. This product got 3 thumbs up.
Luna Whole Nutrition Bar for Women (Nutz Over Chocolate)
10 grams protein, 180 calories, 40 from fat.
Same construction and comments as the previous Luna bar. I preferred its taste to the S'Mores but the womenfolks liked the S'Mores better. Again, 3 thumbs up.
Pure Protein High Protein Bar (Peanut Marshmallow Eclipse)
28 grams protein, 280 calories, 80 from fat.
This bar has an amazing 28 grams of protein packaged in a fairly tasty candy bar shape, with an assortment of vitamins and minerals. It is an unusual golden brown color for a candy bar, looks like it has been covered with "Bit of Honey" candy. It has 3 layers - a thin marshmallow-like top layer, chocolate nugat type thick main layer, and on the bottom a sprinkling of what looks like peanuts. It has a very good peanut butter type flavor, when you are chewing it tastes very good but it does leave a bit of an aftertaste. It has a consistency somewhat like a Milky Way bar. I thought this was and the ProMax were the best of the candy bar type products, but the 2 women thought the Luna bars were better. 3 Thumbs up.
ProMax Energy Bar (Double Fudge Brownie)
20 grams protein, 280 calories, 50 from fat.
This bar looks a lot like a very dense brownie covered in chocolate. It has very strong chocolate flavor, with very little aftertaste considering the vitamins and minerals that it includes. I thought it tasted like a Dutch cocoa cookie, or one of the European style cookies / brownies which typically are less sweet than our American versions. The chocolate flavor was very good compared to the other "chocolate" products we tried. The 2 women absolutely loved the intense chocolate flavor but thought it needed a bit more sweetness. I thought it was a very close 2nd to the Pure Protein bar, they both thought it was as good as the Luna bars. Note that if you are buying these for someone that needs some calories and protein (cancer patients etc), a sprinkling of sugar would instantly make these bars as palatable as any brownie you have eaten. Three thumbs up, highly recommended.
Muscle Milk Pudding (Chocolate)
This product is not too bad. It comes in small plastic cups like regular pudding, but has a slightly more rubbery consistency. It has a strong chocolate flavor that is only slightly sweet, similar to the sugar-free diabetic products. It did not leave a noticeable aftertaste like many of the sports bars did. Overall rating - 2. 5 thumbs up, good but not something I would go out of my way to eat.
iSS OH YEAH Bar (Peanut Butter and Caramel
27 grams protein, 380 calories, 180 from fat.
This bar is actually pretty tasty. It has what looks like a very dense brownie center, completely covered with peanuts in a tan colored caramel-type binder. It doesn't look particularly appetizing, kind of like a mainstream candy bar that they forgot to coat with chocolate, but it tastes very good indeed. The peanuts are excellent, and the product has a good combination of flavors with no noticeable aftertaste. Texture wise it is as good as any of the mainstream bars. All three of us liked the taste of this bar, but clearly a lot of that taste is due to the large quantity of fat that is in the bar. It has only trace amounts of vitamins and minerals though, and that coupled with the high fat led us to give it an overall rating of 1. 5 thumbs up from a nutritional supplement standpoint even though it has 27 g of protein. If you are looking for an enjoyable and tasty high protein snack and are getting plenty of vitamins elsewhere, this might be just the ticket for you (we would give it 3+ thumbs up in that scenario). Recommended as a candy bar substitute.
Raw Organic Food Bar (Chocolate Coconut)
5 grams protein, 230 calories, 100 from fat.
This bar touts its healthy composition heavily on the package. "80% Raw... Alkaline forming... no trans fats... no preservatives... no junk food... ". It is apparently intended to provide an organic alternative to candy bars, but with very little vitamin / mineral content. When you open the wrapper you are presented with a product that looks like a moist brownie with a bunch of nuts and finely chopped coconut mixed into it. Unfortunately, it is accompanied by an ominous whiff of odor strangely redolent of roofing cement. Eating this bar evokes strange sensations, because it has strong and flavorful tastes of dates, cashews, and coconuts, but underneath there is an occasional strong and biting burst of flavor that leaves you thinking of that roofing cement smell. The coconut almost completely kills the aftertaste though, and some of the other products would doubtless benefit from using coconut for that purpose. Unfortunately, none of us could bring ourselves to voluntarily eat more than 1 bite of the bar. We agreed that it was something we could eat if we HAD to, but given our preference we would not do so. We give this about 1 thumb up, combined. Note: This bar was on sale, it did not have an expiration date that we could see but it is possible that it was getting old and stale given its organic components and "no preservatives".
The products began to significantly worsen at this point, so we had to bring in supplemental testers to ensure that our ravaged tastebuds weren't lying to us.
Zero Impact High Protein Mealbar (Chocolate Peanut Butter)
30 grams protein, 448 calories, 192 from fat
This bar packs a large amount of protein into a form reminiscent of a brownie, if a brownie felt like a brick and had the consistency of one of those fire-starter bars that we used to buy at the Army surplus store. It has little vitamin / mineral content. It has a strong chocolate flavor, but it is a bitter chocolate much like raw cocoa powder. There is little sweetness and the texture is very dense. As you chew it crumbles to a bitter powder with hints of peanut butter taste. I did not like this at all, nor did the 2 womenfolks. Testing it on my teenage son yielded a "not too bad" comment, while the wife said it was foul but edible. Given the slight redemption from my son, we give this bar 0. 5 thumbs up. I would not eat it unless the Soylent Green supply was running critically low.
(continued in next post)
