Choosing a protein powder is not always as simple as one might hope. There is casein, soy, whey, and a number of alternatives. Today lets focus on narrowing down some of the reasons there are so many and how you can better chose the one right for you.
Protein supplements are called supplements for a reason, they are meant to supplement your food. So take effort to find as much needed protein from food sources as possible.
That information aside, we have all heard about anabolic windows and the struggle of getting a quick and easy protein source on the go. Maybe you just kicked but at the gym and either don’t have time to fire things up in the kitchen or you didn’t bring a piece of chicken to chew on post work out. So drinking a protein packed post workout drink is often just what is needed to stay on top of things.
But how do you choose between the many different kinds of protein available on the market? Are some better than others, or have different purpose? Lets break things down a little bit to answer these important questions.
For the sake of getting this article rolling, lets state the most obvious of protein differences. There are animal and vegetable proteins and enough science on both sides to start an all out war. So without taking a side lets include both in our efforts to highlight some of the pros and cons of each.
BEEF PROTEIN
These brands have become increasingly more popular in the body building and athletic world. Beef has been known to be an incredible source of creatine, BCAA’s and when turned to powder and placed in a tub, is often void of fat and cholesterol. The con here…. have you ever tasted beef protein powder. Its pretty rough. There isn’t a whole lot of ways you can mask the taste unless you want to poor on some BBQ sauce and in that case you might want to just fire up the grill. So maybe you drink this for its benefit and not so much the taste.
PLANT PROTEIN
There are so many different proteins to choose from in the world of plant protein. Someone in preference or lifestyle choice can select from hemp, soy, rice, pea, and as i am typing this many more will be discovered. However those to date are the most popular. The main benefit beyond personal choice of being vegetarian is that plant proteins are packed with isoflavones which provide a great heart benefit as well as antioxidant benefits.
CASEIN PROTEIN
Very similar to whey, which we will discuss later in the article, casein protein is a milk derivative. The true difference between whey and casein is the time in which it is digested. Casein is a slow to absorb protein and can often feed your muscles for a longer period of time. For those wanting to stay out of a catabolic state, this is general thought to be the holy grail of night time protein. Drink a cup before you go to bed and your body stays fed while you sleep. The only problem I see in this is that you rob your body a chance to cool down and you loose the benefits otherwise given in a fasted state. I would skip the night time protein and reap the benefits of your bodies natural cycle to enter a catabolic state. This is when your body will break down and remove a lot of toxins and dead tissue.
EGG PROTEIN
If you have the fear of drinking a high cholesterol content drink you can rest at ease. Egg protein is the white not yolk. Though in your regular practice of eating eggs i wouldn’t skip out on eating the yolk as there are some wonderful health benefits and nutritional content in them. Though I would advise against cracking a whole carton of eggs into a blender and drinking it down.
WHEY PROTEIN
The guy behind the counter at the vitamin shop is going to spew out a laundry list of reasons why there are two subcategories of whey; concentrate and isolate. But for the readers of this blog i am going to simplify it for you. The main difference is the change left in your wallet. Concentrate is meant to be easier on cost and thus corners are cut. Isolate is the better option if you are looking to avoid lactose and fat typically found in concentrate. But if you are already eating healthy and want to save the extra money there really won’t be too much of a dent put in your nutrition plan at the end of the day.
I hope you found this article on Choosing the Right Protein helpful.
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