Ensure, how to make it taste better?
494
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1692 days
trainDaBrain posted 3 years ago.
It's one of the best ways to get calories in. But the taste... maybe eating a handful of habaneros, thereby temporarily burning out your tastebuds...
personally I've found that I can't drink the stuff during an event without getting nausous. and I'm actually ok with the taste. something about digesting such a calorically dense food... but it works, and it keeps your body afloat during the effort.
as for making it taste better... I'd be curious on how to do that too. any ideas out there?
58
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1322 days
cg posted 3 years ago.
A friend of mine who is way into weightlifting drinks it all of the time. He said he got used to the taste - but didn't like it at first. he drinks the high protein version (I think it is berry flavor). I bet the hi-protein version tastes worse though.
Are you drinking the pre-mixed or did you buy the powder.
Seems a bit thick to drink while racing, but I guess you could always chase it with a hammer gel.
4949
Member
1727 days
beads1985 posted 3 years ago.
I drink ensure before events and not during them and I am used to the taste.
You can get different flavors, maybe cut it with some water to thin it out.
Or get choclate syrup and flavor it.
Nothing to it, but to do it
494
Member
1692 days
trainDaBrain posted 3 years ago.
Ensure is a drink usually used by people who have trouble getting enough calories, either thru an existing medical condition, or some kind of pyschological condition such as triathlons or, where I was introduced to it, adventure racing. It's one of the best products out there in terms of delivering a high caloric, semi-nutritious dose of liquid food. They're not cheap, but then, it's a lot of calories in one little can/bottle. I don't recommend trading in your salmon dinner with rice and veggies for an ensure, but they do the trick when it's 2 am and you're trying to find your car from a training exercise that lasted over 16 hours.
63
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1427 days
Nell1217 posted 3 years ago.
chocolate syrup...that might do the trick, I'll have to try it. I've tried using them in smoothies, one can of ensure with one frozen banana, frozen peaches, and frozen blackberries...its better, but still couldn't drink it.
]Face your fears and live your dreams,
Take it all in,
Yes, every chance you get.”
- Jon Blais ALS Ironman 2005
4949
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1727 days
beads1985 posted 3 years ago.
Tequila also tastes pretty nasty but I have gotten a few shots of that down in my life. :eek:
Ensure isn't so bad when it is really cold. Just drink it quickly.
Nothing to it, but to do it
56
Member
1189 days
WayNorth posted 3 years ago.
Nell1217,
If you are still looking around this site I can offer 2, perhaps even three cents worth:
Ensure can start to resemble a 'shake if it's really, really cold. And it's three in the morning and you are really, really hungry.
It is very colorie dense so I can see it being great for adventure racing etc, but it has a whack of simple sugars, loads of fat (which anything calorie-dense will have) and is expensive. It's easy to use and easy to recomend (too easy I think, having done it myself).
When you have the luxury of time and your own kitchen you could make your own blend of fruit and fruit juices and ice and cream (or ice cream if you don't mind the sugar) and some protein powder and get a tasty, better balanced, lower glycemic-index treat (is that a word in common parlance? if not let me know).
My, I sound a bit crunchy granola. Maybe you should add some weatgrass.
A modern era northern explorer described his diet as butter and shortbread. THAT'S calorie dense.
Good luck packing it on. A hard problem to find sympathy for
Garth
.jpg "rjkowski's picture")
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1367 days
rjkowski posted 3 years ago.
Have you tried other Ensure-type drinks that might have better taste? I drank some Boost before IM WI and I thought it tasted great. It was the chocolate flavor.
The other option is to use Instant breakfast drinks. They tend to taste better (In my humble opinion) and they aren't quite as expensive as ensure. In my high school days I worked in the food service dept. of our local hospital. We used to make up shakes for some of the patients with a package of instant breakfast, some milk, and a scoop of ice cream. They were delicious.
63
Member
1427 days
Nell1217 posted 3 years ago.
thanks everyone. I'll try them all!
]Face your fears and live your dreams,
Take it all in,
Yes, every chance you get.”
- Jon Blais ALS Ironman 2005
2455
Member
1332 days
Triguy98 posted 3 years ago.
I dont know about ensure, but for my protein shakes, I add a little chocolate milk powder (Nestle Quik or store brand) to the mix. It spread more evenly through the shake than the syrup, and ya get more bang for the buck.
Life is short. Play hard and get dirty doing it.
My Dr. suggested I start drinking an Ensure once a day since I have been loosing weight. I
bought vanialla, I heard it was the best. I couldn't drink it, the taste was horrible. Suggestions on how to drink this stuff? My coach says he drinks it on the bike in Ironmans. How do you do it??? Thanks!
]Face your fears and live your dreams,
Take it all in,
Yes, every chance you get.”
- Jon Blais ALS Ironman 2005