Fitness Fun Fridays #13

And it's Friday again, raddid tat-tat-tat (drumming fingers on the desk Andy from The Office style). Happy Fridays Big Tuna's, I had a pretty cool week, mostly because when it comes to graduation requirements... I am done. Finished. There was a time when I thought treating 250 different people would be a lot... but ya know it wasn't that bad :) Thanks for all the positive feedback I got last week (and some very, very interesting stories) and I hope you all had a great week too.

So I was thinking about what to dive into this week, and a couple of friends of mine were asking me about protein stuff in clinic. I was answering to the best of my knowledge and then it hit me... we talked about protein in the past, and how many of you might not be getting enough... so what about

Protein powders? Now I was waiting to see if Biden-Palin would touch on this in their debate, but I guess they ran out of time. So, let's leave it up to me then :)

After talking to a good buddy of mine across the Atlantic last night, I realized that some people might not know what protein powders are. Maybe you've seen them, on the shelf, all brightly colored, screaming look at me, and having slogans written like "gain massive muscle in 2 hours" with Hulk Hogan or someone on it. Listen, I'll let you in on a tip... I would say that men eat protein powder more than women... and men are visual people. There I said it. I just sold out my gender. We like brightly colored, shiny, loud things. That's why the plastic jugs look like this. Should you judge a protein powder by it's outside... absolutely not.

So let's get to the big questions... So what is this stuff? Do you need to take it? Will it make you huge?

Well protein powders are exactly what the words imply... they are protein in a dry, storable, powder form. Add some type of liquid, mix it together, and eat/drink it. It's that easy :) While every powder is different, especially on taste... each scoop has close to the same properties, based on it's protein source.

Whoa, protein source? Isn't protein... just like, protein?

Nope. Protein powder can come from a variety of foods. The most popular is whey protein, by far... and it comes from whey, which is a byproduct of milk manufacturing. Over the past few years, I am shocked at the spike in it's prices, but then again, milk has gone up too right? Whey protein is great for muscle building, and is a powder of choice among weight lifters, due to the fact it is very fast absorption. When you finish a workout and your muscles are hungry for nutrients, you want a fast acting protein to help you recover. That's why it gets the Adam stamp of approval.

Powders also come from sources of: brown rice, soy, casein, egg, and a few others. You can definitely find one to fit any allergic, vegan, or dietary restrictions. Whenever you consider a powder though, you want to look at the label... here's an example of one.

Now I like this one. Let's walk through it together. From my other posts, you might know what to look at already... we have our Big three, Carbs, Fat, and Protein, right? Well we want a protein high in protein, and low in the other two. So if you look at the values, this one is really nice. 23g of protein with only one gram of sugar, and 1.5 grams of fat. Nice, dude. So basically when you take this, you're getting all protein without any other stuff. That means there's no hidden calories or junk in it. Some of you may want to be weary of aspartame, fake sweeteners, sodium levels, and weird science word ingredients. Make sure to check for those.

I compare it to having too many drinks with friends. It's easy to drink your calories and forget about them right? It's kind of like... Whoa, I had 6 beers already, whoops. Well a protein shake high in sugar or fat could cause you to gain unwanted weight too. So always, always, always check out labels.

Now let's tackle the other questions... this is important.

Protein powders are not steroids. While I love Arnold and Franco (the latter is a chiro), they had what I call "special help". Looking that way without steroids is almost impossible, I say almost because genetics can vary. Protein powder is a supplement, and is exactly what it says... ground up dry protein. Therefore, it's safe to say you will not get huge-normus from it, and not wake up one day with your shirts all being too small :) On a personal note, I've taken powders for about 5 years now, and I am by no means a huge guy (my facebook friends can probably back me up). So, not to worry, it is not illegal, and will not hurt you, I promise. I haven't even yelled at someone this week, so there's no roid rage here :)

Do you need to take it? Well, that's a personal question. Because a supplement should help you in your diet, so ask yourself if you are getting enough protein. Back in my protein post, we talked about getting about 1.8g/kg of bodyweight. If you are far off, I would consider it. Remember that protein does many functions, including:

• Increasing satiety and decreasing hunger
• Burns calories during digestion to process it
• Builds muscle, hair, nails, etc
• Excess has a very hard time converting to fat

There's a whole bunch of other reasons too, but I recommend re-reading that prior post, or just doing a quick research on your own. I like protein powder around my training because it's given me great results, and it's a cheap source of food... food is expensive when you eat 6-8 times a day :)

Alright, I think that's going to be it for today. I hope I perked many an interest, and if you want to email me certain questions, go right ahead, I actually have some free time now :) Other random stuff...

• I've been in a baking rut recently, but I'll try to fix it this weekend
• I had to wear a jacket yesterday because of the cold
• Buckwheat is delicious
• 51 days until I'm a chiropractor
• You guys are cool cats
• I need a good cornbread recipe for next weekend

Yup, random... I told you so. Happy weekend everyone!
Protein