Protein Shakes: The Basics

There is a lot of confusion about what a protein shake is, how to use it, and why we use it. So lets break it down.

Why
The first thing to talk about is the why. Protein shakes have two purposes 1) to supplement your protein intake and 2) as a workout recovery.

A supplement should be supplemental, meaning that the primary source should be coming from a primary source. For protein our primary source should be from real whole food and if we are not getting enough then we supplement with whey, casein, or something similar. The focus here is to make our macro nutrients balanced.

As recovery, a shake can be used to fuel the muscles immediately after working out. However when using shakes in this whey (get it, lol) they should be paired with a carbohydrate that has a high-glycemic index. The combination of these two macro nutrients will help fuel the muscles, help you recover faster, and stabilize your blood sugar (which drops during exercise). The focus on recovery shakes is performance.

The reason we take the protein in liquid form is because it is easier to digest and therefore is absorbed faster. Compare this to eating a steak. You will still get the protein but it will take much longer to digest the steak.

What
So now that we have the why lets talk about the what. For both recovery and supplementation a whey isolate will work for most people. When looking for a whey isolate there should be a short list of ingredients (about 3-5) and should be highly rated on labdoor.com.

As mentioned before if used for recovery we need to add a carbohydrate. Some good high-glycemic index carbs would be bananas, raisins, or dextrose.

How
The last part is how. For recovery this is pretty straight forward. As soon as you are done you're workout you should take your shake. 

Now for supplementation there are some options. You can combine recovery and supplementation by taking the shake post workout. Since performance is not the goal we can take that additional protein anytime. A very popular option is to take a slow absorbing protein like casein before bed.

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Have a question or comment about the protein supplemental and/or recovery? I would love to hear about it, let me know.

Cheers,
Berek