Thailand 2017 | Ready-to-Drink Protein Shakes

Any serious gym user, body-builder or fitness enthusiast would know that protein is life (∩_∩) Exercise requires healthy muscles and protein is important for repairing, maintaining and building muscles. Whether your fitness goal is to lose fat, body build or gain strength, protein is an important part of your diet.

Nowadays my goal is to eat 120g protein per day. It's easier to plan when I'm at home to meal-prep and stick to a more routine diet, but holidays can make things a bit more difficult since the schedule is less fixed & I'd be eating out more often.

When we travel, I will usually bring my protein bars {see my other fave high-protein snacks} at least to make sure I've some "guaranteed" protein at hand as they are compact and convenient. The boy will usually pack his protein powder along too but I find those too much of a hassle as you still need to measure, add water & shake haha.

What is better than #Meiji choc milk?? 🍼 Ans: Meiji High-Protein Whey choc milk w/ 25g of #protein per serving!!😜👍🏻🌸 #sakuraharuka #ASHxThai #aifitnessdiary #bkk #bangkok #thailand #travel #fitspo #fitfam #proteinfood #wheyprotein

A post shared by Ai Sakura  (@aisakuraharuka) on Mar 13, 2016 at 3:55am PDT

In one of our trips to Bangkok {BKK} last year, we discovered pre-made, ready-to-drink protein shakes from Meiji! Each milkshake bottle contains decent amount of protein, is delicious and really easy to find. Yeah, you don't even need to go to a nutrition or supplements store to find these.. any decent local supermarket should sell it.  

During my birthday trip to BKK last month, I went to buy the Meiji protein shakes and discovered other brands too! Super excited and decided to try them all haha.. If you are in BKK and need a quick protein fix, go try them out yourself too!

Some things to note though...

i. Not all protein is created equal and of course, protein quality matters too, especially if you are dieting and calories are restricted. Basically protein quality simply refers to how well or not the protein is used by the body once it has been digested. Obviously I don't expect the protein quality of these off-the-shelf shakes to compare to those made by supplement companies that sell direct e.g. Musclepharm, BPI Sports, Optimum Nutrition etc., but if you need to hit your protein count and as a quick fix, they are good enough👍

ii.  The major proteins in milk are casein and whey. These two milk proteins are both excellent sources of all the essential amino acids, but they differ in one important aspect—whey is a fast-digesting protein and casein is a slow-digesting protein. For the really, really serious and advanced gym users, protein supplement timing is crucial too and you've to take different types of protein at different times of the day.. but I don't think many of us, including myself, are at that stage yet haha.

1. Meiji High Protein Whey Formula {Chocolate}
Size: 350ml
Protein: 25g
Calories: 280 cals
Cost: THB49 {S$1.99}
Availability: High - Most supermarkets and convenience stores.

Review: This tastes just like thick, creamy Meiji chocolate milk actually, which I like and find really yummy. It is sweet and contains sugar, and has kinda high cals for the amount of protein but the good taste makes up for it haha. One bottle is rather filling and would be nice for breakfast, tea or as an after-workout refresher. Really good value-for-money. The Coffee & Classic Vanilla flavours have 50% less sugar, and there are Light versions in Banana & Plain Milk flavours that contain 18g protein, and 500mg L-Carnitine.

L-Carnitine helps the body to produce energy and is said to promote fat-burning. There's also Meiji High Protein L-Carnitine Formula {i.e. no added whey} that comes in natural, plain milk flavour. It has 500mg L-Carnitine, 18g protein and 210 calories per 350ml bottle.

2. Hooray Better Shake High Protein Whey & Casein Milk {Dark Chocolate & Coffee Latte}
Size: 300ml
Protein count: 28g
Calories: 180 cals
Cost: THB69 {S$2.81}
Availability: Medium - Family Mart, Big C, Tops, MaxValu Supermarket, Foodland etc.

Review: This is also a delicious and thick milk drink. Hooray Better Shake is the only one out of the 3 with a whey/ casein protein blend to take advantage of the different digestion and absorption rates of these two different proteins for better muscle growth. It also has relatively low cals for the amount of protein it contains, uses stevia instead of sugar and doesn't cost much more than Meiji High Protein so if given a choice, I would buy this out of the 3. It also comes in French Vanilla {20g protein, 160cals} and Coffee Latte {28g protein, 170cals}.

1% of total sales goes to charity so this might be an extra reason to support them too ♥ 

3. Rumble Ready-to-Drink Whey Protein {Chocolate}
Size: 500ml
Protein count: 31g
Calories: 170 cals
Cost: THB75 {S$3.05}
Availability: Medium - Villa Market, Central Food Hall, Tops, Terminal 21, Gourmet Market etc.

Review: I didn't fancy this the most out of the 3 ready-to-drink protein shakes. It was really watery {no milk added} and kind of bland. Felt pretty disappointed with the taste actually. It is, however, sugar-free and also contains the highest protein count out of the 3 and 500mg of L-Carnitine. This pre-made protein drink is not as easily available as Meiji High Protein Whey shakes. There is a Melon flavour, which is even more rare.

Are there any other ready-to-drink protein shakes in Thailand?

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