There are those out there who despise the flavour of these scientific wunder-drinks, but with a little shopping around, there's more than enough selection for anyone to find something that they like. The simple truth though, is that when you're looking for a fast, efficient, and above all, convenient way to get nutrients to your starved muscles as quickly as possible after a run, it's incredibly difficult to beat a good micronised whey infusion.
Of course, as a guy, we have a few other things to worry about when burning thousands of calories a day running - muscle catabolism can leave you breaking down more muscle than you build after each work-out, meaning those pounds you're dropping could easily be lean muscle as opposed to beer muscle.
Keeping a high protein diet helps to maintain muscle-tone even whilst you're running a calorie deficit in order to drop pounds, ensuring that you don't end up with a grossly out of proportion upper body.
Protein also helps to keep up the nitrogen balance in your blood stream, vital to proper immune function, because we all know that nothing destroys your work-outs faster than being sick (...or hung over.)
Of course, the other side of the equation is that you can't ignore the rest of your body when working out. Lifting heavy objects at least twice a week will help you stay in proportion, as well as preventing injury by strengthening connective tissue and support-muscles.
All of this exercise can only be supported if you're putting the right stuff into your body. Go with the Munn-chies and eat lovely luscious legumes if that's your calling, but the engineer in me will stick to the Myoplex.
Post-script: My actual weapon of choice.
"The right stuff into your body" does not include "artificial flavors", "sodium caseinate" which is a hidden source of MSG, "Dutch processed" chocolate which decreases its flavonols, "sucralose" which is a disgusting ARTIFICIAL SWEETENER, and other random ingredients such as "silicon dioxide" and "A²Zorb." I prefer my food ingredients not to have superscripts, thank you. And beyond the ingredients, you're getting 2 g of saturated fat and 2 g of sugar in each scoop of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteLet me put you on to the most efficient, healthy source of protein that you can find. As a vegetarian, I am always making sure I get enough protein in my diet, whether it be from tofu, seitan, tempeh, oatmeal or legumes. A couple of weeks ago, I found this dry roasted edamame for sale at Whole Foods for $1.69 each. (They’re actually $1.99 online per package…they’re *gasp* cheaper at Whole Foods? Take that, Monica!)
http://www.seapointfarms.com/products.asp?prod=87&cat=47&hierarchy=0
Let’s break down the pricing. I can buy a package of the dry roasted edamame for $1.69 at Whole Foods. For each $1.69, I am getting 4 servings with 14 grams of protein in each serving. So for $1.69, I get 56 grams of protein, which is 32.9 grams of protein per dollar. I am probably going to order it in bulk soon, so the amount of protein per dollar will undoubtedly go up even more.
For the Syntha-6 2.91 lb. container, I get 30 scoops of powder with 22 g of protein in each scoop for $45.98, plus $5.99 shipping and handling. This gives me 660 g of protein for $51.97, which is 12.7 grams of protein for dollar.
32.9 >>> 12.7
Beyond the horrendous ingredients and way less protein per dollar, the dry roasted edamame also offers less fat, less saturated fat, less carbs, less sugar and more fiber per serving.
http://www.seapointfarms.com/prodfiles/dry_roasted_lightly_salted.gif
There is no reason to consume that disgusting protein powder at all, unless you hold on to that ridiculous notion that it is more efficiently processed in our bodies. That is a ridiculous concept when you actually think about it for more than 5 seconds, as if our bodies are somehow better at processing artificial powders than natural foods.
Well, here's the issue: Soy protein is definitely not the equivalent of whey protein, or cassein for that matter, when it comes to bio-availability and packing essential branch-chain amino acids only found in animal product.
ReplyDeleteSo, if you decide you want animal protein instead of plant protein, you're stuck with a problem - how to get a bunch of it without having TONS of unwanted saturated (and other) fats. In that scenario, protein shakes end up being far healthier than the alternative (steak and eggs every day...)
Essential amino acids? You can get those from other sources such as quinoa, which I make sure to eat once or twice a week.
ReplyDeleteBioavailability? You've definitely got me on that one. Whey protein is certainly the gold standard...but you can get protein from many sources and I will take my lack of artificial additives over your increased efficiency.
And how are protein shakes healthier than eggs or lean meats such as chicken, turkey or even ostrich? The latter four don't contain those disgusting artificial ingredients which you clearly conveniently ignore every time you put this garbage into your body. Health benefits aren't just exclusively judged by the fact that it's a protein powder and your brain clearly is swayed by this Jetsons-esque "powder = better for me" logic.
The fact remains that our bodies are made to consume, digest and absorb nutrients from natural food, and that is how we function best.
If you're going to consume whey protein, at least make sure it doesn't have those disgusting additives, such as the protein on this site:
http://www.jayrobb.com/jayRobbProtein.asp