protein powder?

grrrace

Hey- I've read of a lot of you guys putting protein powder in stuff,

what's the deal ? I've never had it so I don't know the benefits. 

Does it make you feel fuller? Does it taste good?

I'm an idiot, but I'd love to learn! 

raynes

Well, sometimes its difficult to reach your protein goals for the day with "normal" food alone, and a protein powder is a great way to supplement it.

I personally aim for about 30% of my daily calories from protein (abut 133g of protein) so it's essential for me.

Most people will feel more full when they eat more protein, as it takes longer to digest, so that's a bonus.

Also, a key part of exercise is post workout recovery.  When doing any kind of strength/resistance training vital to have protein right after a workout to aid in rebuilding the muscle fibres you breakdown.  A protein shake (even just protein powder and water) is the easiest way to do that.

Depending on what you're going to use protein powder for, there are two general categories (of whey protein at least): blends and isolates.

Isolates are absorbed in your body faster and are great for post-workout recovery.
Blends contain a mix of fast and slow absorbing proteins, so are good for supplementing food (adding to yogurt, or shakes for breakfast).

I use an isolate, becuase I'm most interested in post-workout recovery, but it's still great for adding in to food.

[Deleted User]

I follow a mostly vegetarian diet (we'll call me a flexitarian, I do eat meat 2-3 times a week) so I know I need to supplement my protien because I'm probably not getting enough from nuts, yogurt etc.  Anywho that being said, I JUST bought my first thing of protien powder from GNC yesterday and I will admit I wish I would have researched more of them before buying one.  I am a compulsive ingredient reader and I couldn't believe all the stuff that GNC's protien powders were loaded with.  Many of them had hydroginated or partially hydroginated oils in them and they all had a ton of science-lab ingredients and heavy metals in them. 

I ended up buying one that is soy based for $40 but afterward I stopped at Target and looked there, they had one that was a Natural protien powder that listed very few ingredients (maybe 7-8 things total) and I wish I had gotten that instead and it was only $20.  I actually will probably return the one to GNC and buy the one from Target.

Anywho I know that was way more info than you asked for but I would just definitely read the labels and research before you buy.    HTH.

msange727

i was a vegan a far way back, and like mery, i had a really hard time getting any protein in my diet, so i relied on soy protein powder. do some research to see what type of protein you'd be better off with (there are egg-based, whey-based, soy-based, casein-based... lol), because some have different health benefits than others, and some are way expensive and more difficult to find.

personally, i've switched from soy to whey, because although i do eat meat now, i still don't get enough protein each day. using both, i would say that they whey is better for mixing into recipes, and is less expensive.

hope this helps! :]

mehgank

This is a great question, because I've been using the GNC WellBeing chocolate protein powder, and while it's tasty, I fear that it's probably not the best one out there for me.

FI uses whey protein, so I might look into that. Especially since pp's mentioned that it mixes better.

msange727

yes, definitely check them out - one thing i noticed was that a lot of products include all kind of crazy stuff. i forgot to mention - aim for one that gives you the greatest amount of protein per serving that you can find, with the least amount of added sugar (because it's not supposed to be a milkshake lol). for example, i use optimum nutrition's chocolate whey, and mine has about 24g protein and 1 or 2g sugar per serving, which is good. when i first started using soy protein, i didn't realize that what i was using had about 13g protein, and just as much sugar!

TurtlesAllTheWayDown

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-boards_getting-shape_protein-powder-3?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20BoardsForum:238Discussion:85f90f73-da83-4aa6-b248-1ec4d18a42d7Post:d9dd3723-7375-4227-9edb-22a651b846cd">Re: protein powder?</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: protein powder? : Does it disolve well?  I tried to do a "high protein hot chocolate" a while ago adding (a full scoop) to a hot chocolate and it was just nasty...
Posted by raynes[/QUOTE]

Sort of. I never add it JUST to the coffee. I mix one scoop (even though a serving is two scoops, I can't do that much) with a few tablespoons of the creamer in the bottom of the coffee mug. I whisk it together with a fork to dissolve it. THEN I pour in the coffee. FI tried to "help" me by pouring my coffee one morning right on top of the powder and it was a disaster!

My trainer said it would be cool to make an iced coffee smoothie with ice, skim milk, powder. But I don't have a blender, only a food processor, and this is working for me so far! Whisking well makes it sort of frothy, like a gas station cappuccino.

MLC84

I know this board is against these type of products, but I use quiktrim vanilla flavored protein powder.  I usually make a fruit smootie with it and drink it for breakfast.  It's like a slimfast but so much better tasting.