Protein Supplements: What’s the purpose?

What is protein? Why do we need protein? How much protein do we need?

All questions we’re sure you’ve asked at some point.

So in today’s post at Protein Hunter, we are going to talk about protein supplements.

After reading this article we hope you will understand more of the uses and requirements of protein, how much of an important role it plays in our healthy lifestyles and why you need to make it part of your diet.

Listen up:

Protein is the most important component of our body that is required for the maintenance and repair of the body’s organs tissues and more importantly in our case….our muscles!!

Protein is a kind of macro nutrient that constitutes everything in the body, such as skin, hair etc.

More about that later, for now here comes the basic question most people ask…

How much protein does a person require in their everyday diet?

Quite simply, different people will give you different advice on this.

Depending on your goals, whether that is to be building lean muscle mass or just maintaining a healthy protein level on a daily basis.

For an average person it is recommended that 0.8 grams of protein per kg of lean body weight will suffice.

However:

For the building and maintenance of lean muscle mass the protein requirement varies.

This can be around 1.4g to 2g of protein per each lb of your lean body weight.

A main reason for this variable amount is that the additional amount of protein used during strenuous activities such as cardio or lifting weights.

Hence why after weight training or general exercise is it vital to replenish the body with protein post workout.

More details in a moment, but first…

Why do we need to have protein? What’s the purpose of it?

Please remember this…

The primary goal of protein is to provide proper energy to the body during workouts, alongside carbohydrates and fats.

Protein supplements are a good source to provide that extra protein required after workouts.

There are several sources of proteins, for example from: meats, rice and wheat.

These can lack the amino acids that are needed in order to complete the protein amount in the body.

So, this is where protein supplements can come in to aid the process.

There are numerous supplements available in the market like shakes, powders, pills etc.  We reviewed a few of those in our top My Protein supplements review.

Lets now take a look at some of the kinds of proteins there are:

Whey Protein

optimum-nutrition-whey

Whey protein is a dairy protein, derived from milk as part of the cheese making process. It is easily digested and absorbs inside of the body.

Whey protein is considered a complete protein and contains all 9 essential amino acids and is low in lactose content.

It has three forms which can be separated: Whey Isolate, Whey Concentrate and Whey Hydrolysate.

Whey Isolate

A whey protein isolate is a dietary supplement and food ingredient created by separating components from milk. This is the purest form of the protein.

Whey Isolate is ideal for anyone looking to increase their daily protein intake to meet their individual protein requirements.

It will help contribute to the growth and maintenance of muscle.

It contains the least lactose and can be used as a supplement by people who have anti tolerance towards lactose.

Whey Concentrate

Whey Concentrate protein is cheaper and is not the purest as it contains more carbohydrates and fats.

Due to presence of carbohydrates and fats it is usually more calorie dense, which for certain goals is great.

For example if you’re looking to add more mass in relation to weight training and increasing overall mass, whey concentrate can be a great, cheap protein source.

Casein

Myprotein Casein

Casein protein is also a kind of milk protein.

It works in an alternative way to prevent the muscle breakdown.

During sleep, when it is impractical to consume food or drink, your body will be in starvation mode and may start to break down muscle tissue.  This is where casein protein comes into its own.

It is a slow releasing protein which is ideal to consume before you go to sleep.

Cottage Cheese is a good, natural example which contains casein protein and is often eaten by bodybuilders later in the evenings, before bed.

You can still supplement it of course.

Egg Protein

Image result for egg protein

Egg protein is a good supplement for people who are having problem with lactose. It is an excellent source of protein that is based from animals.

egg protein is usually manufactured directly from egg whites and has a high protein content with over 80% protein per serving.

Soy protein

Image result for soy protein

Soy Protein is a protein that is isolated from soybean.

It is made from defatted soy beans suing a stringent process which removes a vast majority of the fat and carbohydrate content, which can lead to less digestion problems.

This is a food supplement suitable for vegetarians.

We recommend it if you are vegetarian looking to meet your protein needs or simply struggle with digestion issues.

Legumes

Image result for legume protein

These are one kind of plant protein that is beneficial to vegetarians.

It has been researched that the pea proteins have been reported to have no allergic reactions.

All legumes are considered good sources of plant-based protein.

It can be digested easily and also contains glutamine that helps to prevent the muscle breakdown.

Rice Protein

Image result for rice protein

Rice protein is one of the alternatives for people who have an allergic reaction to glutamine.

It contains amino acids that are not present in pea protein.

Rice protein is the ideal protein choice for anyone looking to increase daily protein intake but avoid dairy and soy protein sources, or for vegans and anyone looking to avoid specific allergens such as wheat, gluten, eggs, dairy and soy.

Finally…

One more thing we want to stress is that protein supplements most definitely are one of the best ways to get the extra edge required, but you should never misinterpret them with skipping meals.

Our body requires nutrients of all kinds, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates etc.

Therefore it is important to always remain conscious about consuming a balanced diet.

Supplements go a long way to adding to an already balanced diet, but by themselves won’t provide that.

And we should not take an excess of protein supplements as they will be converted into fats and stored in our body.

 

We hope this article has been of interest to you…

If you have any questions please feel free to leave us a comment below.


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