How To Choose A Protein Powder

Choosing the right protein powder can be challenging, unless you know what you are looking for. Here’s how to find the best protein powder for YOU.

First things first, no more listening to advertisements. There is no such thing as ‘the latest and greatest’ and no magic pill exists. I sell supplements and I’m filling you in on this because I want to gain your trust unlike some of the big chain stores (I used to work for them) who all work on commission and just read labels and recite back the information. When you listen to the advertisements and follow the marketing of supplement companies it is very easy to be misled because you don’t know what they are testing their products against. It’s always ‘new products’ vs. placebo, well what is the placebo? It could be water, literally, there are very few rules in the world of advertising, for supplements or anything else.

OK, so now what? Let’s take it one step further, most of the protein powder comes from the same place. WHAT? It’s true, companies buy it in bulk and then may add their own flavors to it or some just re-label it and put it on the shelf. It’s how most food is though, The Safeway brand of pasta is the same as the other brand and the other brand, all sold under different names. Not to worry though, there’s still some good to this story, keep reading.

When you work out you are damaging your muscles and they need to be repaired. Protein powders or protein shakes are one of the easiest ways to get protein into your system to repair the damaged muscles. Repaired and healthy lean muscle burns fat because muscle is highly metabolic. More lean muscle = Higher metabolism. This is why protein is so important. Is it possible to eat all of your protein? Yes, but it becomes tough because if you’re doing it correctly you should be consuming a small “meal” once every three hours, so a lot of people will rotate in protein shakes throughout the day in place of meals to accomplish this.

I often get sidetracked so If you’re in the store and I start to ramble just tell me to shut up and to focus, really I won’t be offended. Back to choosing a protein…

Are they all the same? No.

The fastest acting protein is Whey. There are however different variations of this, whey concentrate and whey isolate. The pricier of the two is whey isolate, basically whey concentrate will have majority protein, some carbohydrates and then some fats. The manufacturer will use a machine to separate the protein ‘isolating’ it on its own so it becomes whey isolate.

So what do you need? Good question. If you tried protein powders years and years ago, have no fear, the flavoring is much, much better these days and the protein will actually dissolve when you shake it up. As far as taste goes the one’s with more whey concentrate (when you look at the label it will be listed before whey isolate is how you tell which has more) generally taste better.

Is taste important? YES, here’s why. You won’t see any results without planning out your diet and in this case including the protein shakes into your diet. If you do it correctly (this is all my opinion of course) then you’ll be having two or three shakes a day, so it will be something you have to tolerate. If you pick out a protein shake or protein powder and you don’t like the taste there is about a 99% chance if you’re just starting out that you won’t continue to use it. I’ve been at this for a long time and I can’t tell you how many times I’ll suggest protein powders and I hear “Oh we’ve got one of those in the pantry, or oh yeh my son has one of those left over from a few years ago, we don’t need one today thanks.” For me that just means that it didn’t taste good and you stopped using it. After you begin the habit of taking the shakes and you know you can do it, then and only then do I suggest switching flavors, brands or types. Don’t reinvent the wheel here, if something is working don’t mess with it, but you will get to a point where you don’t even care about taste (and honestly none of them are that bad) and you just do it because it is part of your fat loss or muscle building routine.

So to recap, protein shakes are great, buy based on taste at first and then the more you get into it buy on quality like a whey isolate or a whey hydrolysate (something even more advanced than the isolate but you’ll have to come into the store to find out about that one).

For more helpful tips visit my website at www.personaltrainerannapolis.com or stop by the store, we're located right behind Gold's Gym next to Admiral Cleaners, and tell me or whoever is working that you read the article on Patch and receive a 5% discount on your entire purchase from now until June 1st, 2011.

Talk soon

Erik Thorsvik

Fitness and Supplement Expert