Like many of you I love having a cup of coffee every morning and sometimes multiple times a day if I need an energy kick. Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been doing a lot of research on the effects of milk-based products on your skin. Even though I’m in my late 30’s I still battle with the occasional breakout, and while I’ve tried many times to eliminate various products for my diet and eat clean I still struggle with the occasional flare up. A lot of reach points to the fact that dairy can cause breakouts in the skin (I will do a separate post on that soon) and so I’ve been reducing a lot of the things that I eat on a daily basis that include milk, like my coffee. I have always used organic half and half in my coffee which is ketogenic friendly since it’s heavier in fat and low to no sugar, and only use organic, but I was still curious to see if I reduced more of these milk products if they would have an impact on my skin.

*Update since 2019 I have gone dairy-free; as well as vegetarian and stick to a plant-based diet. Since then the amount of health benefits I have seen has been amazing including skin, energy and workout recovery!

By removing milk that meant my coffee would not be as sweet or enjoyable so I tested what else I could add to make it creamy and taste delicious. I decided to test out adding protein powder to my iced coffee and voila – it tasted amazing! When I tell people about this trick they are like “wow I never thought to do that!” But once they try it they love it. The protein powder is your substitute for milk, creamer or non-dairy creamer.

Let me start by saying that not all protein power is created equal. I have tried many protein powders in ice coffee and a lot of them do not mix well and leave a lot of large clumps. I have found two that I think makes very well but many others leave large chunks of protein which is just not enjoyable at all.

My current two favorite protein powders are the Vega sport protein and the Vega one nutritional shake protein. Both makes completely clear with no chunks at all and are very creamy and almost like a milkshake consistency. They also have tons of food for you ingredients like super food and greens.

Vega Sport has more protein and additional ingredients for post workout recovery. It’s more of a performance protein with 30 grams of protein. 6g BCAA. 6g of glutamin. Turmeric. Tart cherry. Probiotics. Gluten free. No sugar added. It is higher in protein so for me I will use it almost as a meal replacement if I have no time for lunch but have just enough time to grab an iced coffee.

Ingredients: plant protein from peas. Cocoa powder. Pumpkin seed protein. Probiotics. Sunflower seed protein. Alfalfa protein. Tart cherry. Bromelain. Turmeric. Black pepper extract. Beetroot. Sea salt. Natural mocha flavors. Natural vanilla flavors. Stevia.

Vega One All-in-One Shake is more for an everyday smoothie with less protein per serving. It’s us USDA organic, non GMO, 500mg omega 3 ALA, 4g fiber, green, vitamins a&c, 2 billion probiotics, 150 calories per packet and only 1 gram of sugar. Nut free. Dairy. Free. Soy and egg free.

Ingredients: pea protein. Cocoa powder. Veggies and fruit blend. Carrot juice. Spinach. Acerola cherrh juice. Chard. Kale. Lettuce. Pomegranate. Blueberry. Acai. Flaxseed. Agave. Quinoa sprouts. Vitamins. Maca. Chia seed. Sunflower seed. Pumpkin seed. Spirulina. Sacha inchi powder. Stevia.

I buy my packets on Amazon, Vitamin Shoppe or Wegmans which is a chain of amazing grocery stores in New Jersey. What I love about Vega is it’s all natural, Non GMO, plant based protein, dairy free and gluten free. It is also sweetened with natural sweetener and not sucralose like most protein powders. It is a very thick mixing protein so you can easily mix it with ice and water alone or maybe add some cashew or almond milk. A Vega packet is around $2.99 each or a tub with around 38 servings is $45 so it is by no means a cheap protein brand but it tastes great for a plant based protein.

How to make at home…

It is pretty easy to order your favorite Starbucks or Dunkin iced black coffee with extra ice and just add your protein powder but I will say it can get messy. It’s also a bit cheaper to make this at home. I make it and drink it on the way to work and it’s delicious and fills me up too and gets me more water in my diet. To make it is simple.

1. make your own cold brew coffee. Use a pitcher and add a few cold brew coffee bags and let it sit in the for 24 hours with some spring water. I bought my cold brew bags from Walmart for like $4-5 a box which came with 6 packets. I use 3 per large pitcher. Just let them sleep until pretty dark. Then pour that into a shaker bottle with ice.

2. Leave some room to add some almond breeze if you prefer. I like the blue diamond almonds creamy almond cashew original unsweetened. It’s only 25 calories but for a full cup. We are only usually a small amount. It is creamy like a half and half which is not what I use in my coffee.

3. If you’d also like to try out another plant based milk for coffee or protein shakes I just found this new brand called Ripple. It is a dairy free and 12 grams of protein per serving. (12 ounces). It is 220 calories but for this we won’t be using a full serving so it will be so much less. This is a chocolate flavor which is perfect. It using pea protein and is no diary. It is lactose free. Nut free. Gluten free and vegan. I found mine at Target but it’s also sold at Stop & Shop.

4. Add in your protein powder and then shake it up in a shaker bottle with ice and enjoy. Vega mixes so well and not all protein powder does so make sure to test them out. These two do mix well so I highly recommend them. And they taste delicious especially as a plant based brand. And I love they both use stevia and not sucralose.

5. Macros for this is great and filling and tastes like a milkshake or healthy frappuccino. You can even put it in your blender or Nutribullet to make it frozen like a slushy drink

Let me know if you try it and like it. You can always order on the go and just get an iced coffee and add the packet and it will taste just as good. I do it all the time and anyone who sees me do it always says they plan to try it out.

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