With fitness becoming so important and nearly everybody worrying about weight loss and muscle building, it becomes important to have the right nutrition. Kitchen is the best place to start your fitness training, as it is said. Hence, one must take care of proper nutrition. Proteins are the most important form of nutrition for fitness. Protein shakes are not entirely protein and come in different bases, but can be the answer to balanced diet conundrum for the fitness trainers.
There are four major sources of protein shake powders:
Soya
Egg
Natural Whey Protein
Rice Powder
While whey is complete protein with high biological value, soya and rice powder form ideal protein solution for vegetarians. Natural whey is extracted from milk. All these four sources are high quality proteins which good amounts of essential and non-essential amino acids. Rice and soya provide protein shake powders which are low in fat and aid in gaining muscle mass, strength and stamina too. Rice additionally, controls allergic reactions too.
A Good Protein Shake Recipe
Ingredients for a good protein shake are:
High quality protein powder
It is an obvious ingredient. Without a protein powder, you can’t make a protein shake. The quality of protein is very important, and one must make an informed decision while choosing the protein powder. There are some choices, especially with flavors. Since you have to take the shake daily, you are better off choosing the right flavor. Chocolate, vanilla and strawberry are most popular flavors. A poor quality protein powder will provide poor nutrition, bad metabolism, poor taste and may have plenty of side effects. Hence, choose a good quality protein powder of your favourite flavor and the right source (Whey Protein gets absorbed very quickly helping you to repair and grow you muscle at much faster pace).
Whole Foods
It is an added ingredient and can add flavor and nutrition to your shake. Peanut butter, eggs, almonds, cream are some nutritious foods that can be thrown into your shake to make them delicious and nutritious too.
Frozen Vegetables and Fiber Supplements: other ingredients that you might add which can provide nutrition are frozen vegetables and fibre supplements. Frozen broccoli, psyllium husks and other such ingredients can add a lot in terms of nutrition and fibres especially are great in aiding metabolism.
Milk Base or Water
You can choose both milk and water as base for protein shakes. Ideally, you might say that milk is more nutritious and therefore should be better. However, protein powder already has enough protein, and all that milk might do is adding some calories & fat to the shake instead of any value. Also, milk might provide some indigestion. Therefore, water is an ideal base. However, in some cases, milk may prove better, especially for those wishing to gain some mass. Again, it depends on person to person, and one must consult a good dietitian or trainer before proceeding.
Using milk as a base also reduces the overall absorption process of protein i.e. delaying the overall process of muscle repair and growth. Whereas, using water helps to increase the overall absorption and digestion process. Hence, it is recommended to use water as base just after your workout specially during window of opportunity (30 minutes after workout).
Choosing the right ingredients, making them taste well and having them is important as a good nutritious protein shake can go a long way in making your training regimes a success.
