In part one, we established the importance (essential) of complete animal protein. Now let’s talk about sources of high quality protein.

There are several objective, empirical measures of the quality of a protein. The number one empirical measure is called the Biological Value of protein.  

Biological Value of protein  

The Biological Value of protein is composed of two major parts. One part is how much or how many of the essential amino acids (the building blocks of protein) does a given protein provide per serving? The other major part is how easily is a given protein digested or assimilated? Sometimes this is called protein efficiency or net protein utilization. How much of the protein you are eating, drinking or ingesting is actually able to be used by your body to build muscle (like your heart muscle – the most important muscle in your entire body) and bone and your immune system?

When we look at these scientific, empirical measures of the quality and usefulness of proteins, two proteins stand out above all others. Number one is whey protein isolate – that’s what The Joe Dillon Difference protein is. The second best (also an incredibly high-quality protein are pasture raised whole eggs.  

Speaking of pasture raised, the whey protein isolate I use in my protein is pasture raised – that means that it is 100% grass fed in open pastures. Being 100% organic and grass fed, which means Joe Dillon Difference whey protein isolate is safe for pregnant women, lactating women, and growing children.  

O.K., we have established empirically that Joe Dillon Difference whey protein isolate is of the highest quality, but is it easy to use? Is it practical? Is it easy to incorporate into a busy lifestyle?

JDD shake

Quick question: can you run a blender? If you can operate a blender, that’s how easy it is to use JDD protein.

A JDD shake is the simplest, safest and fastest way to get the highest possible nutrition into your body.  

As you may recall, that was the first sentence of Part One of this newsletter.

First, start with a blender. 

I personally use a Vitamix with variable speed and a large (half gallon / 64 fluid ounces) indestructible plastic blender container – large enough to whip up morning shakes for your whole family.

What is the JDD shake process?

Start with the liquid. How much liquid? What kind of liquid and why? As you know from the directions on our protein jar, we recommend 2 cups (16 fluid ounces) of liquid – either unsweetened coconut milk or whole milk. Why? The Joe Dillon Difference whey protein isolate provides you with the best tasting, highest quality protein. The next ingredient we need is healthy fat. The fat that is in unsweetened coconut milk is almost 100% saturated fat – one of the healthiest fats – it is saturated fat that raises our HDL (good) cholesterol that keeps our arteries squeaky clean. You want your HDL cholesterol to be as high as possible – over 100 is ideal. My HDL is 111.  

One of the keys to high quality nutrition is the highest quality protein. Another key is eating enough healthy fat to provide you with all the energy you need, so your protein is used for rebuilding – not for energy. Unsweetened coconut milk is healthy fat but 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk only give you 90 calories. Add that to the 210 calories in 2 level scoops of JDD protein and all you have is 300 calories.  

Start your day

If that is how you start your day, it is not going to take you very far. That is one reason our second recommendation is whole milk. 2 cups of whole milk (instead of unsweetened coconut milk) give you lots more healthy fat plus 292 calories. 292 calories for the 2 cups of whole milk plus 210 calories for 2 scoops of JDD protein gives you a total of 502 calories. Add in 48 calories for a cup of fresh strawberries and you have a total of 550 very healthy and delicious calories – an awesome way to start your day. For very active athletes a 2 cup Half & Half shake is 888 calories and a 2 cup whipping cream shake is 1,086 calories.

Another super way to go is to start with our original unsweetened coconut milk – 210 calories for 2 scoops JDD protein, 90 calories for 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk + 48 calories for a cup of fresh strawberries for a total of 348 calories. To this we can add (for more sustained, longer lasting energy) one or two tablespoons of either olive oil (at 120 calories per tablespoon) or one or two tablespoons of avocado oil (120 calories per tablespoon). One added tablespoon of either super healthy oil would be a total of 468 calories (348 calories plus 120 calories for the oil). Or a total of 588 calories with the addition of 2 tablespoons. Now you have lots of super healthy, high-energy fat to protect your protein.

JDD protein is the purest, cleanest highest quality protein. Healthy fat is the cleanest burning, most concentrated energy.  

Mix it up

Another strategy would be to stick with our original JDD shake (2 scoops of JDD protein, 2 cups of unsweetened coconut milk, and one cup of fresh strawberries – 348 calories. Then eat something in addition to your JDD shake. High healthy fat examples might include a few strips of bacon, or several sausages, or a few slices of cheese. Macadamia nuts (the healthiest of all nuts by far) are another super healthy addition to your shake – either eaten afterward in addition to your JDD shake or blended right into your JDD shake for a crunchy variation. Or you can get creamy macadamia nut butter to blend in.

I think you can begin to see there are a myriad of variations depending upon your tastes and your goals.

In Part 3, we will discuss JDD shakes at your office or workplace as well as JDD shakes on the road.

Again, thank you for listening. 
It is all part of our health and well-being odyssey.  
Joe