Protein Powder

If you’re working on fixing the way that you eat, you’re starting to look at how many different nutrients you need to eat. Protein, carbohydrates, and fats are the primary nutrients that you’ll usually consider. Making sure that you’re getting enough (or not too much) of each starts to play an important role in your overall health.

For many people, getting enough protein can be difficult. If you’re eating a balanced diet, and keeping all of your meals focused on basic ingredients, then you can get there pretty easily. However, that’s also quite difficult to do for many people everyday. If you find you’re struggling to get as much protein as you need in your diet, then you’ll start looking for supplements to help get there.

There are several protein supplements and meal replacement bars out there that are made to help you get more protein in your diet. These items are packed with extra protein in order to make the calories that you take in really count towards your protein goal. However, these products can also be filled with several other unhealthy ingredients as well.

Protein powder is a simple way to add additional protein into your diet. There are multiple different ways you can drink protein powder, but the most standard way is simply mixed with water. You’ll need a blender bottle in order to do so, but then it’s as simple as putting water in the bottle, adding your protein powder, shaking, and drinking.

If you’ve never drank protein powder before, you may find that it’s got an odd taste. That’s to be expected to some degree - this is a drink that is infused with additional protein. It’s meant to help you get those additional nutrients, and while they do the best they can to make it taste good, it’s not going to taste like a milkshake.

What protein powder should I buy?

There are protein powders out there that do taste like milkshakes. You need to be wary of those products though. Generally, those products are also far less healthy than the protein powders that don’t taste as good. When choosing a protein powder, make sure to read what ingredients they’ve added into it, and read reviews online about what others have to say. While you may not like the taste as others do, you’ll at least learn about what is in that protein powder.

Whatever brand of protein you’re looking at, you’ll generally be looking for protein powder that is 100% whey protein. This will at least give you a baseline for protein powders that are slightly healthier than others. Whey is a protein that comes from milk, and is often a byproduct of cheese making. 100% whey protein means the protein is completely from whey, and not other forms of protein.

I’ve found a couple of different brands of protein powder that really work well (taste good and good ingredients) for me are Optimum Nutrition and MyProtein. Optimum Nutrition is probably the most well known protein powder producer. They’ve been around a long time, and make really good products. For a long time, they were considered the best protein powder available for an affordable price. MyProtein is a more recent player in the protein powder arena, and they’ve really pushed the bar for an affordable protein with a good taste. For me, Optimum Nutrition generally tastes a bit better, while MyProtein is generally a bit cheaper.

What flavor of protein powder should I drink?

In terms of what flavor of protein powder you should drink, that’s going to be totally personal preference. I’m a big fan of most chocolate flavors, so I try to stick to those. However, you may find that you don’t like those flavors at all. You may really enjoy a strawberry flavored protein drink.

In order to find what you enjoy, and will actually drink, make sure you start with a smaller amount of powder when you buy it. Going in on a 5 or 10 pound container of protein powder that you’re not sure if you’ll even like is not really a good idea - it will just sit and waste away if you don’t like it.

Is protein powder safe for kids?

Protein powder is considered safe for kids to drink. As long as you’re following the advice from above to buy products that aren’t filled with a bunch of extra sugars and unnecessary ingredients, then it’s fine for your kids to drink protein powder. However, most kids don’t actually need additional protein - they should get enough from their standard diet.

I generally like to let my kids have a protein shake as a snack one or two times a month. They don’t always ask, and I definitely don’t offer it up, but I am generally fine to let them drink it if they really want.

Conclusion

Getting enough protein in your diet can be tough. Using a supplement, such as protein powder, can help you reach your daily needs without adding a bunch of calories. Give it a try to see if it works for you.