Protein is often over looked when it comes to the three macro nutrients, proteins, carbs, and fat. Fat, and carbs have been getting a lot of attention the past few decades, but protein, not so much. Today you will find out what protein actually is, the importance of it in building our bodies, and much more.

What is Protein?

Protein consists of amino acids, both essential, and non essential. There are about 20 amino acids in total. Essential is classified as not being able to make it; thus we need to get it in our diet. Non essential means we can create it based on certain building blocks, so we don’t need as much in our diet. Sometimes non essential amino acids are conditionally essential. This means that if your sick, or have a health condition, you may need to consume some through diet. All protein gets broken down into amino acids, which are used for creating structure in our body. Everything from creating hormones, neurotransmitters, immunity, muscle protein synthesis, bone, and more. Of the 9 EAA, 3 of them are considered branched chain amino acids, or BCAAs. These consist of valine, leucine, and isoleucine. Many people take this in supplement form, but taking only 3 of the 9 will not get the results your looking for. The reason why these became popular is because of leucine, which is the main amino acid responsible for muscle protein synthesis. Our bodies want all 9 of them for muscle protein synthesis. If  were not getting them in supplements, our the right foods, we develop deficiencies, and could result in a host of problems. There are differences between protein found in meat, and protein found in plants. You definitely can get enough protein from both, but the types of amino acids are in question. It’s convenient to eat a steak, and get all of the amino acids your body needs, but in plants you would have to combine a lot of different foods. You can do it with plants, it’s just harder. How much protein do you actually need? I recommend .5-.8 grams per pound. You may even need more if your putting on a lot of mass. This report can help you get even more specific. Eating too much protein in a single sitting can lose benefits, it’s better to spread it out through the day.

Protein Supplements

When your looking for a protein powder, you want to make sure it’s a complete protein, or containing all the EAAs. Generally the animal based ones will, but you may need to combine a variety of plant based sources to get the same effect. The second would be the amount of leucine in there. This is how you support muscle protein synthesis. When you look at the research, 90-95% of it is done in whey protein, so that’s what I’m going to go over.

Whey protein concentrate-

This is classified as the cream you would get at the top of the milk. It still contains a lot of the milk solids in there. This is about 80% protein, and tastes the best because of carbs, and fat.

Whey protein isolate- This filters out the fat, and carbohydrates, so you are left with 90% protein, and the rest are immune factors. WPI contains 90% protein. This form also does not have lactose.

Whey protein hydrolysate- This form filters out everything accept the protein. This is 99.9% protein. You are lacking the beneficial immune factors, and it does not taste very good.

If you want to choose whey protein, you want to make sure it’s grass fed, and sustainably sourced. This is very important for a number of reasons. The impact that it has on the environment, and the treatment of animals. The conventionally raised cattle are fed hormones, and antibiotics. Chemicals, heavy metals, hormones are found in conventional whey protein. You are just condensing these down when you make a protein powder. This also goes for plant based protein powders, you want to get organic. They did a big study analyzing plant based proteins, and found many contaminates.