What would you rather have? Protein powder or take-away food?

Say you are really busy and you don't have time to cook yourself... would you take meal-replacement protein powder or food from take away shop, or even the ready meals from supermarket?

 

I like whey protein shakes with milk, bananas, and peanut butter. But you should also probably have some foods that are more "whole." So I guess a combination of the two.

 

I'd say if your that busy then you need to work on your scheduling abilities.

It's not that hard to pre-cook things like chicken breast and vegetables and bit of cous-cous - enough portions for a 1/2 week say and then chuck them in the freezer and pop them out when you're ready.

It takes not being lazy. These days everyone has fallen into the 'I'm too busy' trap - as if they're were running the country or something.

It's simply not true. If you find yourself having to choose between MRP's and fast food or shop take-away food then you real issue is how you're managing your time. Plain and simple.

What's more that whole train of thinking is one step away from being sold into an expensive Pilates class or some kind of BoxercizeTM or BodyCombatTMclass... and then next thing you know you're like 300lbs and on the Atkins diet.

Ok, to answer you question directly - well.. not just yet...

What do you mean by take-away? Does that include fast food? Is that kebabs and the like or are we talking deli style sandwiches and juice?

*he thinks.... couldn't just answer the fricken' question could he?!?!*

 

I'd rather take away, i usually do a bit of training every night so it'll balance out

 

I think being busy is a genuine excuse. When I'm working long hours and fitting 3 or 4 nights of training in I often don't get chance to eat at home.

I'd much rather have take-away than a drink.. The important thing is to try and choose the healthiest option. Maybe chicken kebab or from a Chinese have boiled rice instead of rice and chow mein noodles instead of chips

Take-aways are still frustrating with there lack of truly healthy food

 

I would take a ready meal from the supermarket over a protein powder any day. First thing, it tastes better and second, even if its a ready meal, its still the real thing. Protein powders don't replace a real meal, they can only supplement it.

Christian

 

Real excess sodium, real preservatives, real artificial colors and flavors and of course... real partially hydrogenated vegetable oil.

No doubt most things taste better than MRP's... just like most things feel better than being slotted with an overhand right in sparring... but you've gotta have discipline and look past the immediate urge to satisfy desire.

I do agree that some people have insanely busy schedules... I guess I just got to the point where I found that for myself that skads of cash didn't neccessarily equal a better quality of life. When you're old and looking back you won't remember all the hours spent in overtime at a job... but your body will have a very active memory on how you've treated and fed it over a lifetime.

 

Thats a fair point, it does lead to a poor quality of life working too much. Its not a habbit I want to keep going, not if I have to live on ready meals

 

Take away food > protein shakes any day of the week if thats all your gonna eat.

I'd go with chinese food or the like and not bread-type fast foods.

 

I'd much rather have a quality meal replacement bar than eat McDonald's. I would rather eat nothing than McDonald's. Same thing applies to a shake but I don't see them as being super convinient. There are places you can order a salad at, though the dressing usually has as many calories as half of one of their burgers.

I agree with SLJ that people that "don't have time" are just making excuses as they sit in front of the TV two hours a night.

 

Actually, yes, alot more real than culping down a measured amount of proteins and vitamins. And just because its a protein drink, doesn't necessarily mean its good for you either. When I hear people speak of protein drinks I think of the stuff body builders use and to be honest, use that as a supplement but if you only live on that be prepared for serious deficiencies in your diet.

And also, slipthejab ever took a look on the back of a protein drink ? The stuff you listed above exists in those just as much as in a ready-made meal.

Christian

 

What I meant is not all the meals to be replace by MRP or take-away food, but maybe 2 or 3 meals through out the day.

I myself find it more convinent to have MRP for my lunch and recess at school, while cooking my own breakfast and dinner at home. I sometimes do get take-away food at school, just for the taste of it, but I never touch ready-meals because they are more expensive than MRP.

 

Usually protein drinks have a high whey content...but many also have very low carbohydrate or fat content (such as the whey isolate i use). If you eat normal healthy meals most of the time, and take some sort of multivitamin, I would argue that protein shakes are FAR healthier than the rubbish you'll get in a microwave meal....not only carb+fat wise, but also just the chemicals used...additives and preservatives.

EDIT: And, I believe the question was not about protein drinks, but protein powder. I personally blend my own fruit smoothies and mix my powder into that, I don't see how that could be less healthy than a kebab...

 

errmm... nope. If you read up and find out just how they go about arriving at partially hydrogentated vegetable oil (the foundation for most package foods these days) you'll find it's rather unreal.

I never stated as much. Most chemical herbicides that are deadly to man are 'natural' but you don't catch people taking them in doses.

Again - nope. I did not post that one should live on protein drinks. Go back and re-read what I posted. Obviously - a MRP is a supplement. Supplement. Not something that you can exists on solely everyday and expect to have a healthy diet. Again - that's not what I posted. It's what you understood. Two different thing.

Not in the MRP's that I use. I've yet to see an example of an MRP that is as chock full of partially hyrdrogentated veg. oil as most ready made meals are. Sodium is generally at nowhere near the levels of even your average TV dinner or Big Mac. So nope again. Not to mention the fat content and saturated fats garbage that's in fast food and ready mades.

If you pay attention to what kinds of proteint supplementation you take and what's in the MRP's you take you can easily come out far ahead of what's in most fast food or frozen dinners. Simple as that. Again remember we're talking primarily whey protein here.

Neither of them would you want to live on... again - reread the post... that's where I go on about being able to achieve some balance in your scheduling and quality of life.

 

Tough one but I'd have to go with kebab meat and chips from my local shop.For £2.50 you get a huge portion of meat,chips,coslaw and cheese.If your training hard it should be quite a good meal,I always take time out to cook and eat properly,if you havent got time to eat then your time management skills suck big time

 

slipethejab, the original question was about what would you rather take, an MRP or a ready-made meal. The point I'm trying to make is that you shouldn't make that option of whether you take an MRP or a ready made meal but actually, that you take an MRP as a supplement not as a complete meal. A real meal, consisting of potatoes, meat, etc. (even if its ready-made)is still alot better than flushing down some protein mix.

And concerning what you posted, it made no real sense at all. And its not what you stated above either. So maybe you should re-read your own stuff again.

Christian

 

Ready made sucks. It REALLY sucks. I've never come across a ready made meal that actually tastes real (or good for that matter). Too much artificial flavouring I guess.

I'd rather have a shake with whey + natural peanut butter + fruits. This will provide 100x more nutrients than some crappy ready made meal.

Btw, does take away include ready made meals? I was thinking more of fast food. If I had to eat fast food, I would eat a thin crust pizza with loads of meat on top or subway.

 

What is your proof for this? Whey contains the entire amino acid spectrum, so you're going to get all the protein you need. So out goes your meat etc... Take away meals, such as eating kebab and chips regularly, are just untenable in terms of health effects in the long run.. I don't understand why you don't consider WHEY protein to be a healthy food...it's about as natural as they come, and, I think, fantastic in conjunction with a balanced diet. If you don't believe me, take a look at http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39766

Right back atcha!

 

Some take-away is good, some is bad. Have common sense and make the correct selections if you really care that much. Personally, I nail a big fat kebab!

Seriously though, some ready-meals are actually ok. I had an M+S chicken arrabiata and aside from the white pasta which isn't that bad anyway, the nutritional profile was very good, as were the ingredients. The only thing it was a little high on was salt, which you as an athlete need more of anyway. I personally sweat like an egg in the frying pan so I also need more than 6g a day.

As I said on another thread, whey is still food. If cheese or anything even remotely processed or created is food, then whey is without a doubt a food. It contains a complete, biovavailable source of protein with some excellent fractions that provide you wilth health benefits. Obviously, you can't have it all day every day, but that's like anything! It's rich in certainn things, deficient in many others. Name a food that isn't?

 

Ok... define ready-made.

Are we talking a ready-made as in a TV dinner in a carboard box and an alluminium tray/carboard tray that pops in the oven/microwave?!

Basically a TV dinner right?

Sorry - if I had a choice between a TV dinner/ready-made dinner and a MRP... then yes it's going to be the MRP every time. I think if we compare what's in the average 'meat and potatoes' ready-made meal and what's in my brand of MRP.. I'd easily be the winner. I certainly have none of the sodium, partially hydrogenated oils, saturated fats or artificial flavors that the vast majority of ready-made meals have.

One doesn't need to look farther than the number of morbidly obese Americans who live on the things and look at the sad state of affairs they're about. 'Nuf said.

Mate if you can't understand what I've posted then there are two distinct possibilities:

1) Ready-mades have taken a greater toll on you than you thought

2) Ready-mades failed to provide proper nutrition for your grey matter to funciton.