Need advice blender, protein source, taste disorder, getting weak

May 24, 2021 4:15 AM

I need to choose a personal size blender for primarily fruit smoothies plus protein. I have a taste disorder unrelated to Covid and until my docs figure this out, I need help. I have lost 40 lbs, everything tastes awful. Eating normally is impossible. Currently I am eating cantaloupe, grapes, pudding, occasional protein bars, OJ, seltzer, water. And the occasional ounces of cheddar.

There is no protein in my eating habits except for protein bars and the occasional couple ozs of cheddar cheese. I may soon lose the ability to tolerate cheddar.

I am a vegetarian, now even my former limited eating preferences are impossible. I have tried canned protein drinks but the taste/aftertaste is awful.

Do I buy a Nutribullet? Some sort of single serve blender?

I don't need to travel with this, or need travel cups.

And what protein source do I throw in the mix with the fruit, some sort of powder? Milk is not an option. Any thoughts, links appreciated.

I do have 2 medical consults coming up including dental.
I am diabetic, on oral meds, A1c is 6.2, which is good. PCP is on this.
I just feel I can't wait.

posted by alwayson_slightlyoff to Health & Fitness (24 answers total)

I have a NutriBullet and it's easy to use, clean, and store. I'd certainly recommend it for this purpose. I can't remember if it comes with single-serving cups (you can get them, I have one), but if not, you can just make a larger batch and drink it over multiple meals.

You could use protein powder — not sure if "milk not being an option" rules out whey protein, but you can also get powders based on pea protein, soy protein, etc. Or if Greek yogurt is an option for you, a serving of that blended into a smoothie can be a decent protein source.
posted by Kosh at 4:26 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

I don't really enjoy smoothies generally, but I go through a phase for a couple weeks every summer where they're all I want to eat.

Two things that are invaluable to me as a part time smoothie consumer:

- an immersion blender (not SUPER powerful but it does the job ok and it's something I can use the rest of the year when idgaf about smoothies)

- silken tofu
posted by phunniemee at 4:49 AM on May 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

A Vitamix is the best smoothie maker IMO. I’ve compared a Ninja and Nutribullet and the Vitamix purées much creamier and faster. There were no stringy and grainy bits at all. They have the pitcher of course but also single serve containers that come with lids that have a pop up for sipping from or using a straw. So great for soups,too.
posted by waving at 5:08 AM on May 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

I have a ninja, which was much cheaper than the vitamix and works perfectly on frozen fruits. I never find an immersion blender powerful enough.

For protein, either a non dairy protein powder or tofu.
posted by jeather at 5:33 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

Nutribullet works really well, but any blender is pretty good for smoothies, so long as it's up to whatever you want to put into them (ice cubes and things that need to be broken up a lot can make blenders break down).

For protein that doesn't add a ton of taste, I'd explore clear whey protein. I had to gain a lot of weight a couple decades ago, and I hated protein powders, but that was the most tolerable. There's also a line of "protein water" that claims to have a lot of protein without a lot of sugar, so you may want to look into that, as well.
posted by xingcat at 5:40 AM on May 24, 2021

I use raw eggs for protein. Any immersion or other kind of blender will work fine.
posted by bdc34 at 5:52 AM on May 24, 2021

IANAD, and your situation is unique, but in general, to maintain weight you need calories, from whatever source. The composition of those calories is (again, in general), less important. You certainly need protein, but often protein is filling relative to the amount of calories it provides, which is why people often increase protein consumption when trying to lose weight. A pound of cantaloupe has about 150 calories. A scoop of protein powder has around 120.

Sugar and fat are generally easy to consume. A can of soda will have about 150 calories; yes, sugary drinks are not generally healthy, but if you are literally weak from lack of food, it may be the best option. And a single tablespoon of canola oil has 120. Mixing a few tablespoons of neutral oil into a smoothie will greatly increase the amount of energy it provides.

For an overview of weight gain, see the r/gainit FAQ. It's mainly aimed at healthy people who are trying to gain muscle, so not all of the information will apply to you, but I think some of the general concepts and food suggestions will be helpful,
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 5:53 AM on May 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Personally, I'd avoid raw eggs, as they may present a health risk.
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 5:56 AM on May 24, 2021

I have an Oster single-serving blender that has worked beautifully for smoothies for many years. It blends frozen fruit with zero problems. In terms of protein powders, I might have gotten a bad batch, but the pea protein that I tried gave all my smoothies this horrible alfalfa flavor, but ymmv. I use nut butters now. Maybe those would help you?
posted by corey flood at 6:16 AM on May 24, 2021

You can buy pasteurized raw eggs which are safe to eat without further cooking and will blend happily; otherwise seconding Mr.Know-it-some that just getting whatever kind of calories you can is important, protein aside.

If you can eat peanut butter (or another nut or seed butter) or peanut flour/paste you can throw in a scoop of that with your smoothie for protein + fat.

Also many people (myself included) find that if they drink something through a straw it is more palatable and easier to get down than if they sip it from a cup. It just doesn't spend as much time in your mouth. So consider getting a big straw for your smoothies.

No specific blender recs from me - I have a vitamix and it is great but expensive. I used to use a hand blender for smoothies, mostly for ease of cleanup and it was OK but would occasionally leave chunks that I didn't care for (although, again, these are less noticeable if you are drinking through a straw).
posted by mskyle at 6:18 AM on May 24, 2021 [3 favorites]

A friend of mine wanted to do a lot of smoothies and after burning out two cheaper blenders, she's gotten a Vitamix. So far, she says it's doing the job really well.
posted by PussKillian at 6:40 AM on May 24, 2021

Response by poster: Thank you all, this has so far been helpful.
I have actually never tasted a smoothie!

I should have said that I don't need to regain weight, the weight loss and meds and initial monitoring of food is what got my diabetes under control since Jan '21. My cardiologist will be thrilled, really, with the weight loss when he sees me next week after 1.5 years. Although the taste disorder has been ongoing for about 2.5 years, along with most of the weight loss. But recently things have gotten worse, curtailing what I am willing to eat. And I guess I have lost 17 lbs since January.

So I am not concerned about calories, but I am concerned about ... nutrients and protein? Yes, oils, maybe flaxseed? Are people still bothered about lignans? I have Hashimoto's and MS and cardiac disease. Honestly if I wasn't afraid of taking another fall I am not sure why I would bother with this but -- I am trying to stay independent, you know? ::grimace::

Anyway I will bow out now I just didn't want folks to think I was down to a dangerous weight. I am 5'4" and 160 but dropping fast, no exercise, no effort. Neighbors are... shocked.
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 6:45 AM on May 24, 2021 [2 favorites]

I've had both this single-serve Ninja and this Nutribullet one and they are both just fine for what you need. I replaced the ninja with the nutribullet because I wanted to make larger smoothies, but either will make a good smoothie, just don't overload the ninja.
posted by Medieval Maven at 6:51 AM on May 24, 2021

It has been my experience that if I put something I dislike in a soup, it ruins the whole soup. So when you're making blender things that don't taste good to you, I'd recommend keeping the things that *do* taste good to you separate. But if you're still looking for a protein source to throw in the blender, beans. Personally, I think white beans are the blandest.

The generic human (whoever that is) is supposed to get a minimum of 400g of fruits and vegetables (not counting potatoes) per day. That's nearly a pound. Oh hey, here's the cite for that from the WHO. It's got some other good basic advise, too. (Note: when they talk about "free sugars" they are probably talking about sugars with the fiber processed out.)

Oh also, hold your nose and close your eyes (or make it look amazing). We use all our senses when tasting our food.
posted by aniola at 7:24 AM on May 24, 2021 [1 favorite]

Shake that I drink daily (to gain weight, but you can adjust measurements)
--
3 scoops whey protein powder
1 cup lactose free ice cream (butter pecan)
1 cup frozen strawberry/banana mix
2 tbs peanut / nut butter
1 cup milk. I've used almond but it has less calories.
1 tbs psyllium husk, for poopin
1 cup greek yogurt.
Sometimes a squirt of flavored syrup or balsamic vinegar for extra flavor.

Depending on if I over-scoop or under-scoop the various things, it's 800-2000 calories. And it tastes great! (Though, my wife says I need to call them milkshakes instead of smoothies).
posted by bbqturtle at 7:42 AM on May 24, 2021

For about a quarter of the price of a Vitamix you can get a Ninja and will probably be as satisfied as you would be with the more expensive option.

I will argue, though, that any high-powered machine that has individual smoothie cup options is a very good idea, because you can really only get like 12oz of ingredients in there before ice goes in. It is extremely easy, in smoothie-making, to start putting stuff in an entire blender pitcher until suddenly you have a $24 half-gallon of undrinkable goo.

There are unflavored unsweetened vegan protein powders, but you might explore real-food options before making that investment - nut butters, bland beans, hemp seed/hearts, quinoa (which you may want to eat not in a smoothie for textural reasons, I think mixing it with a food you can tolerate, since quinoa only has the vaguest flavor on its own, is probably less appalling), soy products including soy yogurt, oats.

It sounds like about all you can tolerate at this point is a fruity sweetness? My family had a similar challenge with my grandfather when chemo and radiation both ruined his sense of taste and limited his ability to chew or swallow. All he really had left was tart-sweet as far as taste. He could tolerate dairy, but you could likely swap any dairy in these options to canned coconut cream or milk, soy or other nondairy yogurt, or just skip; his favorite options:
- Vanilla nutritional drink cut with POM pomegranate or pom-cherry juice, tart cherry juice, and occasionally Sunny Delight or Tampico type orange drink, until tolerable. "Tolerable" varied over time - the resulting drink (served in Dixie cups, very small servings many times a day because he was never hungry) was anywhere from pastel purple to Prince-type purple.
- Oatmeal or rice pudding with grape or berry jam mixed in
- Meatballs (find a meatless meatball that is higher in protein like soy or pea protein, or similar burger patty) with grape jelly sweet and sour sauce - see 3 variations on the sauce here. Over time we added more and more apple cider vinegar at his request until it was inedible by the rest of us and tasted almost decent to him.
- Any carb in BBQ sauce. Probably would have eaten cardboard if we put a sweet enough BBQ sauce on it, but it couldn't be one of the "smoky" sauces, really the cheapest plain bottled sauce with no hickory or mesquite was the ticket.
- Scrambled eggs. He didn't LOVE this, but two eggs scrambled can be swallowed by the spoonful in 90 seconds or so without chewing or lingering at the tasting stage. He would only accept freshly-cooked scrambled eggs that had just exactly cooled to body temperature and he had four women around who would do that for him, but if you can be more flexible this is something you can batch-cook in advance and then eat by the spoonful as you can stand it.

Now, we had the success we did because one of his children was a PhD registered dietician with 40 years of hospital food management experience who was already up to speed on the protocols for dysphagia and gum damage, no appetite, trying-to-avoid-NG-tube, chemo wasting, etc etc and his other child was an accomplished and adventurous home cook. We were absolutely pumping a ton of sugar into a diabetic and managing the consequences of that because he did not have any more weight he could lose. This was hard work to accomplish. I think you should tell every doctor you're talking to that you need a referral to a real problem-solving, probably oncologically-specialized, dietician who can help develop a food program that works with your aversions and intolerances.

This is NOT about healthy lifestyle shit, it's only about diabetes in the sense of a concern to manage, this is about not knowing how to obtain a nutritionally-complete diet given your medical complications. You deserve a better consult on this than Metafilter, as well-meaning and experienced as we may be. You may have to consider NG or TPN feeding if this situation escalates, and having an established relationship with a dietician can mean better decision-making in that process.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:38 AM on May 24, 2021 [4 favorites]

If you are adventurous, I'd suggest a visit to an Asian grocery store and ask which are sweet and which are savory snacks, and maybe buy some experiments and see what tastes right for you, but be aware of ingredients that you can't tolerate. There are Asian specialty groceries that serve vegetarians for religious reasons and they have fake meats of all types, as well as super-tart / salty snacks.

As for blender, I suggest something a LITTLE larger than a personal one. A lot of fruits and vegetables are bulky yet produce very little juice. Spinach being a prime example.

Finally, rice porridge aka congee aka jook would be super-bland, but you can mix it with savory flavors and practically "drink" it.
posted by kschang at 12:01 PM on May 24, 2021

Your saliva produces enzymes that help you digest your food. If you're drinking smoothies to bypass chewing unpleasantly-flavored things, consider finding some other way to generate enough saliva to help digest your meals. Maybe after-meal gum?
posted by aniola at 12:45 PM on May 24, 2021

If dairy is OK, just not milk, you can use Greek yogurt (higher in protein than regular yogurt.) A lot of Greek Yogurt sold these days is nonfat—if you want to add some fat to balance out the carbohydrates, look for the low fat or whole milk kind, which might take some hunting around the dairy case.
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:04 PM on May 24, 2021

pineapple juice is frequently recommended for chemo patients, as a remedy for chemo mouth. Adding it to certain foods might help the flavor, especially in smoothies. It's both tart and sweet. I would definitely experiment with neutral flavored legumes.

When I was going through chemo, sometimes even if I couldn't normally taste something, the texture was appealing. Apples and raw carrots were always tasty and had good texture.

Everyone is different, of course. Good luck.
posted by annsunny at 1:09 PM on May 24, 2021

Lentil protein powder will give you the most protein of anything on the market. Some versions come with vitamins added. Some also have added flavors, like chocolate, but you can get the flavorless kind too. I don't think the flavorless version is genuinely flavorless, but the flavor can be hidden and the protein can be added to whatever, including a smoothie.

You might also try soups, including lentil soup. For maximum protein impact you can add 3/4 cup of milk mixed with one or two egg yolks for extra protein. Also consider adding shredded chicken and shredded cheese (provolone or mozzarella both have fairly light flavors) for an even bigger protein kick, or even plain high-fat yogurt.

Don't forget about fats: Avocado is one of the healthiest of the naturally fatty foods, and it's also got all sorts of good vitamins in it. It, too, can easily be smashed up and added to smoothies or soup, as can heavy cream and butter, all of which have flavors of their own, but relatively light ones that can be covered by whatever flavors do work best for you at the moment.
posted by Violet Blue at 1:10 PM on May 24, 2021

I got a vitamix after our previous device started leaking. I got it off ebay - it's a tank and its just the best at making smoothies. Put the fruit you like in, frozen or fresh, and then add in small increments your supplement/target food.

I personally prefer vanilla whey like Gold Standard which is available all over and Designer Whey Vanilla Protein Powder from Trader Joes, which tastes a bit like cake mix to me. You will probably find the label directions a bit much so 1/2 a scoop in some pudding is where I would start. It doesn't taste at all like the canned drinks.
posted by zenon at 1:13 PM on May 24, 2021

I make a smoothie almost every day in a Magic Bullet which I think is a cheaper maybe knock off of the Nutribullet. It is easier to get out and clean than my big blender. I use silken tofu or a big dollop of almond butter for protein.

In the past I have liked Kachava for a meal replacement/protein powder.
posted by jeoc at 3:51 AM on May 25, 2021

Response by poster: OMG you folks are amazing!
I am stunned by the suggestions you have provided me,
the time and effort each of you took.
Many thanks, and I will surely be more proactive with my physicians as well.
posted by alwayson_slightlyoff at 6:59 AM on May 25, 2021 [1 favorite]