Choosing the right Protein Powder

            You have or will notice it is difficult to determine what type of protein you should be choosing for your specific goal set, gaining or losing weight. I am personally still trying to find the right amount of protein to sugar intake because the better tasting proteins will have high amounts of protein and sugar with it. While the protein powder that is better for cutting is lacking in taste due to the amount of sugar and other flavors in it.

            Basically what you want too look for in protein powder is four things.

-          Types of Protein used

-          Flavors and sweeteners used

-          Cost per serving or per gram of protein

-          Additional ingredients used to enhance the product’s benefits

1.      The types of protein used can be categorized as animal or vegetable based proteins. The more popular Animal proteins, milk, whey, casein, beef and egg white, are better tasting and more nutritionally superior to vegetable proteins. They consist of soy, rice, pea, hemp and sprouted grains. Most people using vegetable proteins do so as a part of a vegetarian life style. Animal proteins are better suited for gaining weight and muscle.

2.      Flavoring of protein powders falls into three categories. No flavors, artificial/natural flavors or a combination of them both, and only natural flavors. The no additional flavored protein powders are more tailored to cooking or baking. Helps create a somewhat healthy and protein filled baked goodie. The artificial flavors are all approved for use in food products by all relevant regulatory agencies, so they have no effect on the nutritional value of the protein powder. But health conscious people still prefer the naturally sourced forms of sweeteners and flavors.

3.      The cost per serving is a somewhat crucial indicator of quality protein. The problem that arises with this though is that most protein powder manufacturers do mixes of protein called their proprietary mix, this is a problem because different types of protein cost different amounts and the manufacturer will never show the exact mix ratio. Ideally you will want to buy the smallest amount you can of a protein powder the first time you test it out. A two-pound tub of protein powder will only yield 25-30 servings, which can be easily burned though in a little over a month. But once you find a protein you really enjoy you should buy the biggest amount as possible for the price break advantageous.

4.      The addition of ingredients to protein powder is great for boosting the quality of protein powder. Some additional ingredients to be aware of in protein powder is lecithin granules, a healthy fat from soy, amino acids and glutamine. There should be a few grams of each per servings.

This is just a brief explanation of what to look for in protein powder. I believe I will be writing a more indepth article about this topic in the near future.  Here is a more detailed guide http://www.nutritionexpress.com/article+index/authors/mark+g+taylor+ms/showarticle.aspx?articleid=896