Popular protein shakes will not be as helpful in your muscle building efforts as you think, and they may even make you fat. Here is what you should know about their key ingredients and how to make up for their deficiencies.
So-called experts in nutrition and bodybuilding all talk about protein supplements as one of their favorite subjects. Protein powder reviews sometimes seem breathless with overhyped recommendations, almost as if these supplements are a miracle food group for building muscle. The reasoning is the dietary protein goes straight into building muscle, so the more you consume the more muscle mass you will have.
There is a little truth to this claim.
The key point that I'm going to make rests on the ingredients that protein supplements normally contain. To keep things simple, just consider the following sample products for the amount of the three main food groups: protein, fat, carbohydrate (as sugars).
Product 1: Serving size (34.6 g), Protein (20 g), Sugars (4 g), Total Fat (1 g)
Product 2: Serving size (29 g), Protein (24 g), Sugars (1 g), Total Fat (1 g)
Product 3: Serving size (30 g), Protein (22 g), Sugars (0 g), Total Fat (0 g)
All of these products offer plenty of protein in each serving. The glaring deficiency is: NOT ENOUGH FAT! Fat is absolutely a crucial food group for taking with a high amount for protein for building muscle.
Everything you eat or drink is absorbed and used better in the presence of fat. Just today a research article appeared that showed the importance of using oil-based dressings for optimizing the antioxidant benefits of spinach salad. (By the way, we chemists classify fats and oils as the same kind of food group, the only difference being whether they are solids or liquids at room temperature.)
The simple advice, therefore, is to include fat or oil with your protein shakes. Plenty of it. You only need to follow two rules about what to include:
Rule 1) Eat all of the fats you want if they are made by Mother Nature. Saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated, plant or animal. None of this matters. Eat them all. The best ones are flax oil (cold-pressed and kept refrigerated), coconut oil (solidifies below 75 degrees), real butter, fish oil (either from fish dishes or from supplements from sources that are low on the food chain, such as krill), and CLA supplements (i.e., conjugated linoleic acids).
Rule 2) Don't put a single molecule of fat in your mouth if it is synthetic or processed in any way. Trans fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, are obvious no-nos. Margarine and other fake butters are awful, too. Not so obvious are the vast majority of vegetable oils on the market. The worst of the worst are corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil, and cottonseed oil, all of which are highly processed. If an oil is not cold-pressed, it is most likely processed by heat and clarifying agents. It is probably solvent-extracted, too. Do not consume any of them
It is also crucial to watch out for the carb content of your protein shakes. Excess sugars will slow down your muscle building efforts. The example products above are fine in that regard. Unfortunately, you will find many products that provide upwards of 10 grams of sugars per serving (!).
Products that are artificially sweetened pose too many threats to mention, especially if they contain aspartame. Ideally, bodybuilding supplements should contain no sugars or sweeteners or flavoring at all. High quality products like these are sometimes hard to find, so just be persistent.
So-called experts in nutrition and bodybuilding all talk about protein supplements as one of their favorite subjects. Protein powder reviews sometimes seem breathless with overhyped recommendations, almost as if these supplements are a miracle food group for building muscle. The reasoning is the dietary protein goes straight into building muscle, so the more you consume the more muscle mass you will have.
There is a little truth to this claim.
The key point that I'm going to make rests on the ingredients that protein supplements normally contain. To keep things simple, just consider the following sample products for the amount of the three main food groups: protein, fat, carbohydrate (as sugars).
Product 1: Serving size (34.6 g), Protein (20 g), Sugars (4 g), Total Fat (1 g)
Product 2: Serving size (29 g), Protein (24 g), Sugars (1 g), Total Fat (1 g)
Product 3: Serving size (30 g), Protein (22 g), Sugars (0 g), Total Fat (0 g)
All of these products offer plenty of protein in each serving. The glaring deficiency is: NOT ENOUGH FAT! Fat is absolutely a crucial food group for taking with a high amount for protein for building muscle.
Everything you eat or drink is absorbed and used better in the presence of fat. Just today a research article appeared that showed the importance of using oil-based dressings for optimizing the antioxidant benefits of spinach salad. (By the way, we chemists classify fats and oils as the same kind of food group, the only difference being whether they are solids or liquids at room temperature.)
The simple advice, therefore, is to include fat or oil with your protein shakes. Plenty of it. You only need to follow two rules about what to include:
Rule 1) Eat all of the fats you want if they are made by Mother Nature. Saturated, unsaturated, polyunsaturated, plant or animal. None of this matters. Eat them all. The best ones are flax oil (cold-pressed and kept refrigerated), coconut oil (solidifies below 75 degrees), real butter, fish oil (either from fish dishes or from supplements from sources that are low on the food chain, such as krill), and CLA supplements (i.e., conjugated linoleic acids).
Rule 2) Don't put a single molecule of fat in your mouth if it is synthetic or processed in any way. Trans fats, or partially hydrogenated oils, are obvious no-nos. Margarine and other fake butters are awful, too. Not so obvious are the vast majority of vegetable oils on the market. The worst of the worst are corn oil, canola oil, soybean oil, and cottonseed oil, all of which are highly processed. If an oil is not cold-pressed, it is most likely processed by heat and clarifying agents. It is probably solvent-extracted, too. Do not consume any of them
It is also crucial to watch out for the carb content of your protein shakes. Excess sugars will slow down your muscle building efforts. The example products above are fine in that regard. Unfortunately, you will find many products that provide upwards of 10 grams of sugars per serving (!).
Products that are artificially sweetened pose too many threats to mention, especially if they contain aspartame. Ideally, bodybuilding supplements should contain no sugars or sweeteners or flavoring at all. High quality products like these are sometimes hard to find, so just be persistent.
About the Author:
Find out what Dr. Dennis Clark recommends on how to eat for a muscle building diet in his free report. Also see what Dr. Clark recommends on how to find the best bodybuilding supplements anywhere.
0 comments:
Post a Comment