I went to the grocery store recently with my husband and we purchased some Kellogg’s Protein Water mix. I know that a lot of people have complained that the stuff doesn’t actually help you lose weight – that wasn’t my goal. I like the idea of replacing some of my daily water intake with something that’s water-like but tastes good. Plus it honestly makes me less hungry between meals.
Sure, it has some sugar and about 30 calories per packet. It only has 5g of protein and 5g of fiber. I could probably drink a glass of milk and be healthier but milk isn’t helping me drink 64 oz. of water per day. Plus I really like the flavor of the protein water.
When did picking water get so damn confusing, anyway? Flavored or unflavored, sparkling or “still”, bottled or tap or filtered tap…. I remember when I was a kid (this was not that long ago) and I would sometimes drink from the hose in the summer if I was running around in the yard. Yesterday I read a report that drinking from the hose may increase your lead exposure. So does drinking tap water if you have pipes that are over a certain age. Great….
No wonder it’s so confusing to pick out a bottle of water. Too bad you’re typically getting something that came from a tap anyway.
But I digress…the purpose of this article is point out to those who believe that protein water is a scam that just about everything you buy is wrapped up in a scam by the corporation shilling it out to you. It’s up to you to make an informed decision about the product. Do I think that protein water by itself will help you lose weight? No, absolutely not. But their claim that it makes you “feel full longer” is definitely true, at least for me. Is it the most nutritious drink out there? Again, no, but it tastes great and is better than a lot of other things you could have. As studies have shown, most every food can have good and bad effects on people so you might as well eat as nutritiously as you can while also enjoying what you eat. For me, that includes the occasional glass of protein water.
Your article brings to mind the shocking news about Aquafina & its water. The news broke out a few months ago that the bottled water they sell is nothing more than tap water. Upon hearing this news, I checked the label on a bottle, and sure enough there it was: nowhere on the label did they claim it to be ’spring water’ or anything similar to that.
What put people off is that the water is distributed, marketed, and sold in ways which make the average consumer believe that they are buying something which they are not.
It seems we have to be extra vigilant when reading nutrition labels on almost every product. Cans of sockdeye salmon for example, will show information which varies from brand to brand. Companies can say there is x amount of protein per x amount of food consumed. But there is no standard measure they have to use. They should be required to all use the same size of serving – whether it be tablespoons, grams, etc., so that consumers can make better, more informed choices about what they put into their bodies!