CHEAP AND EASY PROTEIN SHAKE FOR RUNNERS

Protein is essential for maintaining basic bodily functions and for repairing your body after workouts. 

Many runners do not focus enough on their protein intake since unlike bodybuilders (they believe that) their goal is not to build muscles. Their primary focus is on carbohydrates and this approach backfires since the repair and healing powers of protein is absent in their diet. Protein and muscles are essential for sustaining and improving running performance (and also to stop yourself from looking like a chicken noodle).

Richard Kreider, Ph.D., one of the ISSN study's authors and head of the Exercise and Nutrition Laboratory at Baylor University says that, "after an intense bout of exercise, your immune system is weakened for about four to five hours". "Protein stimulates white blood cells, which helps shield against upper-respiratory problems." Military research studies show that Marines who ingested high amounts of protein had fewer medical visits than those with lower protein intake.

As per Runner’s World, “the USDA's Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 0.8 grams per kilogram (or 0.36 grams per pound) of body weight. But that's not enough for athletes, according to the ISSN, which says endurance athletes like runners need 1.0 to 1.6 grams per kilogram a day (or .45 to .72 grams per pound). That translates into 75 to 120 grams of protein daily for a 165-pound runner.”

Protein shakes are an easy way to maintain your protein intake. Unfortunately, the prices of good quality protein powder supplements are obnoxious to say the least. A 5kg supply will cost almost Rs. 10,000/. Moreover, even after having the protein shake, you’ll still need to consume regular food since the shake will not provide enough calories and other nutrients and it will leave you hungry.

All powders are expensive

For the last few years my breakfast has been 3-4 boiled eggs and a glass of milk. A few months ago I had reached my boiling point since the "bite an egg and then take a sip of the sugarless milk" approach had become too insipid and also because it takes about 10 minutes to finish this meal and I don’t have that kind of time before leaving for work. So a quick and simple (and disgusting for some!) recipe which I use after my running session in order to serve the dual purpose of getting in my protein intake plus quick breakfast is The Egg Banana Milkshake.

Ingredients:

1.         3 Boiled Eggs

2.         About 400 ml skimmed milk

3.         2 Bananas

Put the above in a blender and make a shake. It tastes almost like a banana milk shake but with a hint of salt because of the eggs. It’s not tasteful like a banana milk shake for obvious reasons. It’s more like your wife’s cooking- even if you don’t like it, you know it’s good for you to just shovel it all down without complaining.

Do not add raw eggs due to the viruses present in uncooked eggs and moreover cooked (boiled) protein is more bio-available to our bodies than raw.

Protein content is as follows:

18-20 gms of protein from the boiled eggs (3.5 gms in the egg white and 3 gms in the yolk)

12 gms of protein from the skimmed milk.

2 gms from the bananas

So total about 32 gms of protein.

About two glasses of shake will be produced from the aforesaid ingredients and the calorie content will be about 650 calories- so it serves a dual purpose as breakfast plus protein shake.

Try this concoction. You won’t need to snack in between breakfast and lunch, plus the eggs will supply a whole lot of other nutrients. Don’t worry about the cholesterol from the eggs since they contain some much needed good fats.

P.S.- This shake is also a good cure for hangovers, since eggs contain large amounts of cysteine. Cysteine is a substance that breaks down the hangover-causing toxin acetaldehyde in the liver's depleted glutathione. Therefore, eggs, plus potassium from bananas, and hydration plus vitamins from milk can together potentially help mop up the left-over toxins.