Do You Get Enough Protein?
As a longtime Austin personal trainer, I’m very frequently asked what the best way to build muscle is. As with any undertaking, you have to start with the basics. If you are serious about building muscle, you’ll have to be serious about your protein intake as well. Protein is the macronutrient responsible for the the development of muscles in the body. Chicken, fish, meats, beans, eggs, etc, all contain various amounts of protein and these are foods that should be included in our diets. Broccoli also has an impressive amount of protein pound for pound, so to speak, but you’d have to eat an absurd amount of it in order to match the protein content of a single chicken breast or piece of fish, so sticking with a main source of protein such as meats, eggs, fish, chicken, etc and then using secondary sources to bolster it such as milk, nuts, broccoli, and the like is a great starting point.
It’s also important if you’re working out to supplement your protein intake with shakes or a bar anywhere between once and 3 times per day depending upon your goals, your size, your age, as well as your budget. There are many types of protein powders available as well as many types of bars, but the bars tend to deliver significantly less protein coupled with higher fat and sugar contents. Powders are generally easier to digest and also tend to enter the bloodstream quicker than other sources. It’s been found that if you eat a chicken breast, depending upon your individual metabolism amongst other considerations, it will take your body several hours to absorb the protein. A whey protein shake, on the other hand, can be absorbed within 30 minutes, generally speaking.
Go into any supplement store and you’ll be overwhelmed with the myriad of choices on the shelves all bottled up and displaying their crazy catchphrases and “cutting edge nutritional technology practices” that were concocted by their advertising teams in an effort to impress you into purchasing them. Terms like “ultrafiltered microfractioned adrenalized whey isolate particles bio fused to make you enormously powerful from just the first sip”. While the absurdities abound, so do the choices and that can be daunting and downright misleading to the novice. Even the grocery store sells protein powders, ready to drink shakes in a bottle, bars, amino acid pills, creatine, etc. In this crazy, under regulated, jungle of muscle building miracles, what should you be consuming?
There’s many different types of proteins available. Whey, soy, whey isolate, caseinated, hydrolysated, egg albumin, etc. Each individual manufacturer will have a different pureness to their product as well. This was evidenced by a revelation that a lot of powders were laced with anabolic compounds so when people ingested that powder, they were unwittingly using anabolic steroids to a small degree. Lo and behold they got bigger and stronger! A lot of manufacturers add sugars and fats to their products, and as a result some powders contain an unhealthy level of cholesterol. Especially the weight gainer protein powders as they need to be denser calorically, not just high in protein.
Whey is the most popular and inexpensive protein powder available. It’s fast acting and effective. It is a derivative of milk so those who suffer from any degree of lactose intolerance would be wise to choose whey isolate as their alternative. Caseinated is a good option for a late night protein shake as it breaks down slowly thus allowing the body to take it in longer while you’re sleeping or at least at rest. Soy, generally speaking, is estrogenic and should be avoided. Milk protein isolate is a nice blend that incorporates whey, casein, and a few others usually and thus, contains a large amount of amino acids similar to that of soy products, but without the potential estrogenic side effects. Egg albumin protein is basically powdered egg whites. They too have a very impressive amino acid profile. This type of protein is very rarely seen in powdered form, however, but rather in cartoned liquid form so as it can be cooked or simply drank.
With so many choices and so many variances, there’s no clear cut “best protein” you can buy. We all have different metabolic rates as well as different digestive irregularities so making a sweeping statement and declaring one form the superior would be unrealistic. Whatever you go with, give it a few weeks and see how it feels with your body. Results aren’t overnight. If you see progress, stay the course, but always keep an open mind to alternatives.
