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Protein Powder
You might be wondering why take protein powder? Why not just eat high protein whole foods? There are many good reasons to supplement your diet with protein powder and I will talk about some of them now. Before we begin, all foods have what is called a biological value and the higher the biological value the more protein will be absorbed by the body from that food. High quality protein powder will quite often have a biological value near to 100% whereas high protein foods biological value vary. For example eggs have a biological value of 93%, fish 76%, lean beef 74%. If you have just completed a weight training workout your body will be in an anabolic state for a small time window in which you need to get protein to the stressed muscle parts you have just worked out. Protein powder is the quickest way to achieve that. Another reason is a good quality protein powder will have a range of essential branch chain amino acids specifically profiled for muscle recovery. Most high protein foods have amino acids too but it is unlikely that they are in the optimum portions for muscle growth. Thirdly, if you want to build muscle you will need to be consuming approximately 2 grams of protein per pound of body weight per day. And even if you are wanting to maintain your current muscle mass you will need 1-1.5 grams per pound of body weight. To get that amount of protein from whole foods is really challenging not to mention expensive in comparison to protein powder. What is the optimum protein powder? The answer to that question depends on your body type. Two commen body types are hard-gainers and normal metabolism. Hard gainers will want a high calorie protein powder that has more carbs. If you have a normal metabolism a protein powder with low carbs will be more suitable. Most protein powder has serving sizes of approximately 23-26 grams of protein. Folks with normal metabolism trying to put on weight would consume a double serving of protein powder immediately after a workout and single or double servings during the day to get to your optimum daily protein intake. There is one caveat though - whole food should still be your major source of protein. A hard gainer would follow the same routine however, if you find you are putting on too much weight around the middle, you might need to blend your protein with a low carb version to reduce the calories per serve while maintaining the protein serving size required. Again, whole foods in the form of eggs, and lean meats should be your main source of protein. Another thing serious bodybuilders do is rotate their protein powder from one brand to another so your body doesn't get used to one type of protein powder and possibly lessen the effects you get from them. Additionally, if you are approaching a competition of some sort you will want to minimize your fat levels and so changing to a protein powder with a different profile for different stages of your cycle is required. If you are finding it hard to take the full daily protein amount some folks will add protein powder to their foods. For example, mixing a protein powder serving to slow cooked rolled oats is a way to boost protein consumption without adding a lot of mass to your food volume. To answer the original question - what is the best protein powder? You need to find the best protein powder for you and your goals. Go to a reputable sports nutrition website and tell them what you are training for. If what they say is something similar to what we have discussed here today they probably know what they are talking about. Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com To find our more check out this Protein Powder resource. |
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