Which Protein Powder is Right For You?
Not all protein is one and the same, and with thousands of different products available to you, it becomes quite difficult to make a choice. Should you buy whey protein isolate, concentrate, or casein?
All are good choices, but it solely depends on what you want to implement into your healthy diet regimen. Let’s take a look at these various protein powder categories, and help you make the right choice before any money is wasted during the process of trial and error.
Concentrate Protein Powders
Concentrated protein powders are your first choice since they are generic in use. Protein is the building blocks of life as most have heard, and what this means is that you need protein to function properly. Concentrate protein powders allow your body to moderately process the amino acids during digestion, and use them over the course of 2-3 hours. An example would be Syntrax’s Matrix, which may be great for lean muscle growth diets as well.
Whey Protein Isolate
This type of protein is fast digesting and preferably should be consumed after your daily fitness regimens. Isolate protein powders are some of the most improperly used supplements since people do not know the difference between concentrate and isolate. Sure, a lot of brands use mixtures for their protein, but it is the first ingredient that counts when reading supplement labels.
Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey is one of the most trusted isolate proteins on the market for the past few decades since they have a GMP certification. A little trick you might not know is consuming whey protein isolate right after a full night’s sleep, which allows you to possibly replenish the nutrients quickly that were used during rest.
Casein Protein
Casein is a bit tricky if you believe that you should not consume anything else after 8 pm. This is a common misconception because most people do not understand that your body is fasting while you are asleep, which means it’s in need of protein to assist with the body’s repair and growth process during rest.
The protein you consumed at dinner has most likely been used up by this point, so casein protein comes in and saves the evening since it has a slower digestion rate than any other protein available. Casein protein, like Optimum Nutrition’s Casein, is basically being drip fed to your body throughout the night.
The Other Protein Powders
Two other protein powders you should familiarize yourself with our mass gainers and vegan protein.
- Mass Gainers – Just as the name entails, this protein powder is used to possibly increase your body’s mass, which allows you to “bulk up” by converting the weight gain to muscles. These proteins contain high amounts of calories and should not be taken unless you seek to gain weight.
- Vegan Protein – Vegan protein powders contain no dairy-based protein, and are therefore derived from plants and legumes primarily. This supplement is used by those seeking to follow a vegan diet and/or is lactose intolerant. A good example of this is SDC Nutrition’s All-Time Ve.
Choose the Right Protein Powder
You are now able to familiarize yourself with the primary protein powders that you run into in today’s market, and the choice is yours since you are the one that knows what fits in with your diet. Be sure to check your ingredient labels to make sure there aren’t a lot of sugar fillers ruining your protein content.
- Nashua Nutrition Admin