Protein Supplements

I love working out, and a big part of exercising is dieting. You likely have specific dieting goals based on your workout goals and exercise plan.

There are a lot of articles, programs, and guides on what to eat and what not to eat when dieting. A common theme between them is monitoring and sometimes increasing your protein intake. 

Particularly in weightlifting, but across sports, people emphasize the important of protein in dieting. Often times, this means incorporating protein powder into different snacks, meals, and shakes.

The problem is that the most popular type of protein powder is whey (dairy) protein. However, there are a lot of non-whey proteins that have become popular in recent years:

1. Pea Protein

   • Pros: high protein content (grams of protein in a serving/total grams in a serving), "complete" protein (contains all 9 amino acids), widely available

   • Cons: can be grainy, personally do not enjoy the taste

2. Brown Rice Protein (my choice)

   • Pros: high protein content, better tasting compared to other choices (in my opinion)

   • Cons: seems less common than pea protein, "incomplete" protein

3. Soy Protein (comparison between soy & pea protein)

   • Pros: "complete" protein

   • Cons: soy is a common allergen

4. "Vegan Blend" Protein (generally a mix of the sources above)

   • Pro: common, generally better taste

   • Cons: generic term used when selling protein powder, often has low protein content

Other popular sources of protein include protein bars and protein shakes. 

Protein Bars

Traditional protein bars contain 20+ grams of protein (check out the nutrition facts for Quest bars as an example). As you'd expected, the primary protein source for these bars is whey/milk. While great tasting dairy free protein bars exist (just search "vegan protein bar" on Amazon), I still haven't found any that contain comparable amounts of protein. As a result, I generally avoid purchasing protein bars. That said if they satisfy your protein goals, they may be a good option.

Protein Shakes

Protein shakes are ready made and bottled drinks that can be great when you're on the run or too tired to make a shake after a workout. They generally have higher protein content than meal replacement shakes (Soylent for example) and lower calories. The good news is that there are lot of different protein shakes with 20+ grams of protein. Ripple & Orgain have some options made primarily from Pea protein (like Ripple's vanilla shake and Orgain's chocolate shake), but there are tons of options. Last note for these shakes - be warned that liquid consistency can be pretty thick.

Conclusion

I haven't found any allergy friendly protein bars or protein shakes that I'm in love with. For protein powder, my go to is brown rice due to the better taste (comparatively) and high protein content. I'd recommend giving a couple of these powders, bars, and shakes to really understand what works for you.