Starbuck’s Protein Box for the Win!
Sometimes even the best laid plan has its faults and my morning was no exception. While I am trying to learn the art of prepping my meals for the week, truthfully I am still in the training wheels phase.
So I’m sure that you can imagine how my morning went. Alarm goes off, hit snooze three times, hurriedly dress and groom and out the door to summer school I go. As a result, I am running late with no prepped breakfast waiting for me in a tidy little lunch bag. What’s a girl to do?
Well, this girl tried out the new drive-thru Starbucks in my area. Sidenote: I prefer Dunkin Donuts price and coffee quality to Starbucks, but alas there is not a drive-thru Dunkin near me. The one thing that Starbucks has going for it is that I can get the Starbuck’s Protein Box as the perfect grab and go option.
Starbucks makes several different varieties of Protein Boxes, but, today I am focusing on the Eggs and Cheese Box. This lovely little package contains 2 cage-free eggs, 1 cup of fruit, and multigrain muesli bread with a honey peanut-butter spread. It was clear that the package was freshly made for today’s sale only and all the components had a taste and texture that one would expect.
Let’s talk nutrition! Yesterday’s workout was full of heavy lifting, low reps and I knew after having double racked kettlebell squats and kettlebell cleans on the workout list that I would need a heavy protein dinner and replenishing breakfast to prep for today’s workout session. This little Protein Box was jammed packed with 23g of protein, 24g of fat, and 40g of carbohydrate.
Let’s break that down. The simplified version is that every time I workout (especially lifting), muscle fibers tear a little in order to heal and grow larger muscles. Protein is an essential macro needed for the repairing/rebuilding process. As for carbohydrates, I have a love/ hate relationship with carbs. For the workouts that I am doing, I know that I need a certain amount of carbohydrates in my diet. In the case of the protein box, this is provided in the fruit and multigrain muesli bread, which are whole food healthy options. Lastly, the fat macro category. I see 24g of fat and my mind wants to panic, but I know that not all fat is bad fat. There are a lot of “fat free” diet food out there that is not good for you, so you have to look at where the fat is coming from. In the Protein Box, fat is coming from healthy sources in the cage-free hardboiled eggs and peanut butter. When it comes to fat on a nutritional panel, look at the source of the fat and remember the key to moderation. For example, the tablespoon of peanut butter that I spread on my muesli bread was a proper serving, if I had ate a jar of peanut butter it would be a different story.
The Protein Box worked for me today. However, the price tag for the box was a little over $5 which makes it unrealistic to repeat on a daily basis. Sounds like I need to add making a homemade version of this Protein Box to my meal prepping plans.
PS: I do not have the strength to go the Starbucks without getting coffee! This morning’s healthy choice beverage was an iced coffee with almond milk for the win. It cost me around 100 calories for a 16oz grande drink.