I’m going to admit it, I heart protein bars. Protein shakes, too. Chocolate flavored please. Cannot get enough of them. Sure I talk all the time about whole foods, and brag about my CSA bushel and my VB6, but I wouldn’t trade all the organic granny smith’s in the world for my daily dose of whey. Despite what Daddy Brad tells me about where this stuff comes from.

Protein Powders/Shakes

I drink a protein shake as a breakfast substitute almost every day, right after a run or workout. Which is what the studies and the fanatics tell me to do. I’ve settled on the gigantic Costco 6lb bag of Cytosport/Muscle Milk 100% Whey as my brand of choice. This stuff is a complete steal, and rather tasty. Costco slims the price of this bag down 50% off the MSRP — so the over 80 servings here will cost you under $.50 each. You’re not going to come close to that anywhere else.

And the shakes go down like a power window.  In my shaker, they get a nice frothy whipped consistency, no clumps at all. The chocolate has a nice body and plenty of sweetness. It tastes like a treat, and delivers 27g of protein at a cost of only 140 calories. I look forward to it.

I do admit that I hide the ginormous tea-bag of protein goodness on the top shelf of the pantry. I tell myself that it’s because I’ve never liked the idea of broadcasting to the kids that daddy is “on a diet,” plus if they ever got a taste of the stuff, I’d be buying a new bag every week. In all honesty, drinking protein shakes has always seemed like something college knuckleheads or middle aged guys having some kind of crisis would do. So there’s that.

I came to appreciate the Cytosport even more when, in a pinch, I walked into a GNC (I know, I know. Huge mistake.) They were running that special, you know, that one they run 365 days a year? That one. And they totally talked me into buying little bags of their Amplified Wheybolic Extreme 60 (must the names always be so wince-inducing?) and their 100% Whey. The stuff was twice as expensive and tasted repulsive, but worst of all, the next day my shaker smelled like a six-day-old possum carcass. Not experimenting any more, thanks very much.

Protein/Nutrition Bars

I go for my longer runs on Sunday, and as part of my pre-run ritual, I stop at the 7-11 down by Lady Bird Lake, and grab a coffee.  I sip the coffee, listen to Being, and munch a protein bar. In the past this bar has always been a peanut butter PowerBar (old school) or a Clif Bar. But from here on, I’m switching to ProMax LS bars.

ProMax recently sent me a box of their bars to sample. I found they beat my old faves both on the basis of taste and nutritional value. As opposed to the slab that is an old school PowerBar or the granola mashup that is the Clif Bar, the ProMax LS were candy-bar like in appearance and taste.

The Chocolate Fudge in particular (they have a peanut butter flavor as well) has a good mouth feel — rich, no sweetness deficit, thanks to the stevia sweetening, I guess. I keep mine in the fridge, so they had a nice firm chewy consistency. The thin chocolate coating was nicely crisp, but had a tendency to flake off (this may be because the bars got hot in transit or because I like them cold). The bars were extremely satisfying, keeping hunger at bay for a matter of hours.

Here’s the punchline: they taste better, have slightly fewer calories, and deliver double the protein per bar. How can you beat that? I highly recommend these bars.

By the way, if you like the Promax products, and are an athlete dad, you might consider getting on board their “I Am the Next Doer” promotion. The winner will be featured in the 2012 “DOer” campaign and will win a 6-day action pack adventure weekend for two to Kauai, Hawaii. The winner will also receive a year’s supply of Promax bars. I’ll vote for you.

Vitamins

The only vitamin supplements I will take are my kids’ Smartypants.  Love them. Take 3 every day as a bonus on my way out the door.  Just the right balance of sweet and sour. If you have a tough time getting your kids (or yourself) to regularly take a vitamin supplement, try Smartypants. Plus it’s my sister’s company. Should I disclose that?

Disclosure: Smartypants is my sister’s company. Also Promax provided me with samples to taste and I hope they send more because I ate all the ones they sent already.