I tried… different protein flavors
Why protein powder?
A big part of staying healthy is eating a balanced meal, which means that you cover all the macro-nutrients as a part of your diet. Sure, the ratios may vary depending on the individual, some may choose to avoid carbs at all but protein is an essential macronutrient which is also known as the building block of our body. Now you can meet your protein intake from a variety of options which vary in terms of cost and cooking time. Protein powder or a protein supplement is one of the options which is the best option in terms of convenience. It’s not a must or an option that magically making you buffed, but it’s more like a tool that helps you reach your fitness/health goals a little easier. It helps with putting on and maintaining muscle mass with which comes a lot of good things.
What are my options?
So let’s start with types of protein powders, the most common one being whey which is made by extracting protein from milk, then we have casein which is a relatively slower digestive option, then there are vegan options like pea, rice, and soy protein. A major criterion for protein supplements is that they should have a good amino acid profile and if you’re getting it from even a decent brand chances are it will.
Another criterion is the macro split, for the sample protein quantity vegan protein options may have higher carbs when compared to the whey-based ones. Amongst the whey-based ones, there’s concentrate and isolate, the latter has almost no carbs. Unless you’re prepping for a competition these differences don’t matter a whole lot, chances are you’re eating carbs and in that case, you may go for any and balance them out with other meals, and if you’re following a keto diet, then isolates are a good option.
From a taste point of view, depending on the flavor they all taste about the same, however, in my experience, you get more flavor options for the whey-based ones as compared to vegan ones. A possible reason may be the latter ones are newly developed and still have a way to go, meaning there may be more options in the times to come. A big noticeable difference though between whey and the vegan options is the texture, the latter tend to have a chalky texture owing to their ingredients (eg. peas) which did cause these to be less palatable in my experience, especially in smoothies. If you can get past this, then you may enjoy it however, it’s hard to compete with whey-based ones as they tend to be smoother/creamier. Here's a blog post that goes into further details on different types of protein powders.
So let’s talk flavors, owing to the advances in the flavor industry over the past few decades we’ve been flooded with all kinds of flavored protein from the basics like chocolate to more complex ones like a birthday cake flavored protein. A decade ago, protein powder didn’t taste this pleasant and was only consumed by the highly motivated Arnold fans whereas now it can be a part of everyone’s diet.
PS: There are a lot of flavors today with companies coming out with new flavors as you read this. Although I’ve tried a lot of them, here I’ll go over the most common and uncommon ones.
Cookies and cream
Starting with the GOAT, if you have a sweet tooth as I do, go no further as this one hits home. It definitely takes you back to your childhood. The good old days when you were binging on cookies with warm milk, like no tomorrow and then you grow up and reality hits, and all of a sudden people start saying that’s not good for you. While that’s true this doesn’t mean you never experience that, thankfully cookies and cream protein do just that for you. No matter the brand you can’t go wrong with this one.
Chocolate and its kin
Well, you can’t go wrong with chocolate, can you? Not only the traditional chocolate protein but there are a lot more options here. A few of them are chocolate-mint, chocolate-peanut butter, dark-chocolate, chocolate-nut combo, chocolate-fruit combo, and so on. Another plus here is that you can use these for desserts like cake and brownies, to amp up the protein content and make the dessert healthier. These are a great option if you’re one to take our protein right after the workout with water, this tastes better than other flavors with just water.
Strawberry
For folks who aren’t a fan of chocolate and other dairy-based flavors and like fruitier flavors, this is the way to go. Usually, fruit-based flavors aren’t that common in protein powders but for some reason, every brand has a strawberry flavored protein. There is a valid reason this makes the list, it tastes amazing. If for some reason you get bored with chocolate you can try this and you won’t be disappointed. This is a great addition to fruity smoothies and packs a punch.
Salted caramel
A sweet-salty combo that won’t disappoint you. It satisfies your sweet tooth perfectly and is a perfect break from chocolate and fruity flavors if you need one. It can be a little difficult to pair this with other ingredients at times but that doesn’t mean you skip this one.
Birthday cake & other funky stuff
Well here’s the thing, flavor technology these days has progressed a lot. We’re at the point where every dessert/fruit/food can be turned into a flavor for protein powder. This, in my experience, is a hit or a miss. Sure, some of these do taste great, for example, smores, but something like a birthday cake flavor can go either way and it’s highly dependent on the brand. I’ve had experiences where these funky flavors have tasted like you’re consuming pure chemicals. Having said that, you should give these a try if you wish to, my only advice here would be to check user reviews first. Many a time there are enough good people who warn you from trying a particular flavor.
Stevia-based
While we all love flavors like cookies and cream and/or birthday cake(if that’s what you’re into), these flavors don’t use natural ingredients, I mean try building a birthday cake from all-natural and benign ingredients. They also heavily rely on artificial sweeteners like sucralose and sugar alcohols. Now whether these are good for you is a topic for another day, but if you’re someone who wants to avoid these, you do have options.. enter stevia. Stevia which is a natural sweetener derived from plants unlike the artificial ones is a better alternative to something like sucralose. Many brands have started to adopt stevia-based flavors, however, this is somewhat new and the flavor options are limited here. A common question here is that does this taste funky as stevia is known to? Umm… yes but no. It does taste a little different but you’ll get used to it and after a point, it won’t matter, hopefully.
Unflavored
Well mentioning unflavored protein isn’t the smartest thing when it comes to a blog post about flavors, is it? I mention this here to highlight the realm of possibilities when it comes to unflavored protein. Sure this is meant to have no flavor, but imagine the combinations you can make with this just because of this. An example is fruity-flavors, earlier I mentioned that there aren’t many options when it comes to fruity flavors. But you can get those here, combining the real fruit with an unflavored protein, gets you the desired fruity flavor with the protein. Another pro here is that since this has no flavor, this has no other ingredients besides whey, thus you’re skipping the artificial stuff if that’s something that concerns you.
My experience
Pros: As mentioned earlier, protein powders are the best in terms of convenience, I literally travel with them and use them to maintain my protein intake while traveling. It also works great as an addition to complete an incomplete meal(in terms of macros) and is a budget-friendly protein option. It is also a fast-digesting source of protein, which is ideal for post-workout meals. It’s also a great option for people following a vegetarian/vegan diet.
Cons: Some cons of protein supplements are that they’re less satiating in comparison to actual food sources. A misconception is that they can be substituted for a meal. This isn’t the case as whereas protein powders have proteins they miss other macro and micronutrients which comprise a complete meal. While protein powders do taste great, most of them always have ingredients that aren’t natural. They have quite a few chemicals and artificial sweeteners to make it taste good, while these are present in small amounts, consuming these daily isn’t ideal(here’s where the last two options discussed help).
Verdict
I do recommend making protein supplements a part of your diet, especially if you’re struggling to meet your protein goals. Although I wouldn’t recommend using it in every meal, it’s more like another source of protein and as they say, you should be switching things up and also you have plenty of other options. Also, I recommend spending some extra time reviewing the brand and the ingredients and making a difference. I plan to do another post where I review the popular brands, let me know if this interests anyone.
Thanks for stopping by. Let me know your thoughts and what other categories would you like me to talk about. Have a great day!