sun-warrior-raw-vegan-protein-powder1Consuming food rich in protein is a great way to boost feelings of fullness, decrease hunger and enhance weight loss. Protein is also needed to make up muscle tissue, which in turn helps to keep our bodies active, strong, and healthy. Protein is an essential nutrient that helps form the structural component of body tissues and is used in many important biological processes including making enzymes, producing antibodies to help our bodies fight infection as well as creating DNA, the building blocks to life.

As you can see, protein is extremely important to anyone who is serious about improving their health and physique. New studies have found that most people should consume .75 grams of protein per pound of body weight! For a 150 pound woman this means about 113 grams of protein per day! That is a lot of egg whites and chicken to eat. Which is why supplementing with protein shakes is important.

There are countless different types of protein shakes on the market. Choosing the best protein can be really overwhelming. We thought we’d put together a quick guide on what to look for when choosing the best protein for yourself.

There are four main sources in protein shakes:

 

Protein Type Taste Allergenic Fat Content Absorption Amino Acids
Egg White Medium Medium/High Low Fast Some consider the amino acid profile of eggs to be the best of all food sources.
Vegetable/Plant(can be made of soy, pea, cranberry, hemp seed, rice or a mixture of various plant sources.) Depends on Brand Low Low Fast Depends on brand. Sun Warrior Protein has excellent amino profile.
Casein High High Low Slow (Great snack before bed) Produces a stream of amino acids as it digests
Whey (available in whey concentrate and whey isolate) Very High Medium from(beta-lactoglobulin, alpha-lactalbumin, and bovine serum albumin) Whey concentrate – lowWhey isolate – almost no fat Fast Contains all amino acids & high in branch chain aminos

 

As you can see there are many different protein choices. One other thing to be aware of when selecting a protein is the sugar content. Anything over 3 grams of sugar per 20 grams of sugar is high for everyday use. Depending on your body and training goals – one of these will be the best protein for you. After years of training with whey protein, Soma Fitness transitioned to Sun Warrior Classic Protein after noticing that both our digestion and our client’s improved after moving away from protein derived from milk products.  Our belief is that the western diet most of us grew up on consisting of fast food, packaged foods, GMO (genetically modified organism) vegetables, feed lot and caged animal proteins (which have been injected with antibiotics and other substances) – has done a number on our digestive tracks. For many, whey protein causes bloating, gas, acne and other unwanted side effects. Vegan protein provides a great supplement that is gentle on the body. Another product that we just tried and like quite a bit is Naturade Pea Protein.

One of the complaints with vegetable based protein is their amino acid profile. However, we feel that Sun Warrior does a very good job with their formula. Below, you can view the amino acid profile comparison of Optimum Nutrition Whey and SunWarrior Protein. Per scoop, the amino acid profile for the Optimum Nutrition Whey is higher than SunWarrior – however, we feel that the vegan protein is digested so much better it can be consumed at a higher rate than other milk based products.

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