A Guide to Plant-Based Proteins

When striving for a healthy lifestyle, it’s important to know that about 20% of the human body is made of protein. Regarding this, it’s also important to know that your body won’t store them unless you consume them through your diet.

When consuming proteins, you can choose between animal and plant based proteins. And while a lot of people think that concentrating their protein body income on animal-based products is optimal, know that this is wrong, since plant proteins play a big role in your health and your body’s well being.

What are Plant Based Proteins

Source: MyFitnessPal Blog

As their name suggests, the plant protein’s source comes from plants and provides you with the essential nutrients everybody needs- not only proteins but fibres, minerals and vitamins as well. Consuming these essential nutrients on daily basis has been shown to reduce chronic heart issues and diseases such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cancer and obesity.

These proteins are commonly consumed through healthy diets which include fruit, vegetables and herbs, but it’s also shown that the average daily income of these foods is not enough to satisfy an average person’s nutrient needs. For this purpose, experts recommend including plant based protein supplements and powders into your healthy diet.

What Do Plant Protein Powders Contain

Source: Healthline

If you’re concerned about the content of the plant based protein powders, take into note that these products have completely plant-based protein formulation, which makes them fully safe and very beneficial for everybody, including children, athletes, pregnant women and elders. In fact, an average plant based protein supplement or similar product is usually made of sources such as peas, pumpkin, sunflower and chia seeds, soy, brown rice etc… which when consumed separately in their fresh version are not as efficient as when consumed through natural plant supplements.

Why are Plant Protein Supplements Good For You?

Source: Eat This, Not That

If you’re still sceptical about including some high-quality plant proteins rich supplements into your daily routine, it’s about time to get introduced to the plethora of benefits they offer for your well being:

They’re Sustainable and Eco-friendly

Unlike the animal ones, the plant protein products are being good for the environment, since their production requires less land, water and other resources to grow the plants for these supplements. Aside from that, plants are completely biodegradable and create less waste than animal-based protein products. This makes them great for both your body and the Earth.

They’ll Boost Your Metabolism

The plant protein will make sure your metabolism is boosted enough to lose your couple of plus kilograms. In fact, since protein takes longer to get digested than fats and carbs, the plant based ones almost double that time since they’re rich in fibres. Have in mind that the more you stimulate your organism to digest the plant protein you consume, the more efficient your body becomes in burning fats. If this is not enough tempting to make plant protein supplements your best ally into burning fat, then you should also know that…

They Contain Fewer Calories

If you’re keen on healthy diets and ways of eating, then you probably know that fruits and vegetables are a great replacement for many foods since they contain very few calories. For this purpose, have in mind that the recommended dose of plant protein incomes for an average adult is around 55 grams (excluding the animal-based proteins), which equals approximately 1kg of raw peas, or 2kg of rice. But eating these amounts per day is completely inconvenient and not recommended at all. On the other hand, the plant based protein supplements and powders offer the recommended daily dose of plant protein consumption without getting stuffed with excess calories.

They Boost Your Health

While livestock is often treated with different hormones and antibiotics to speed up the dairy production process, using organic plant protein products will keep you ensured that you’re consuming healthy supplements without all those harmful chemicals getting translated into your body.

Not only the plant proteins are safer, but as we said, they’re also “armed” with great amounts of vitamins, minerals, fibres and antioxidants which boost your immune system and provide the alkalinity your body needs.

They Won’t Cause Allergie

Suffering from allergies, such as the one on dairy products makes it completely impossible to consume whey proteins and similar products which cause gas, bloating and diarrhea. On the other hand, this doesn’t mean you should quit staying in great shape and taking care of your health since the protein supplements made from plant sources are always the safest choice. Also, the most high-quality ones avoid using wheat, since it’s considered a low-grade ingredient that doesn’t contain many nutrients. This makes the plant-based supplements hypoallergenic and gluten-free. So, as long as you don’t have any specific allergies to the ingredients in your plant protein powder, feel free to consume it on daily basis without being worried about your health.

How to Consume Plant Protein Powders

Source: Liberty Live

Not only consuming plant protein powders is beneficial in many ways, but they’re also very tasty since they usually come in many flavours- chocolate, vanilla, banana, peanut butter flavours etc… And even though the manufacturers recommend consuming them combined with water, you can always make your daily protein consumption feel “fun”, and mix it with different beverages, such as orange juice or almond milk, or add the recommended dosage into your morning oatmeal or smoothie to enrich the taste, and of course the protein levels.

Also, some people prefer consuming these supplements by adding them into their breakfast pancake or waffle mix, or making delicious protein-boosted brownies or ice cream as a snack to satisfy their cravings between meals. Make sure you’re creative enough and explore different consuming options.

Once you start consuming these plant based protein products, you’ll embrace their benefits right away, and you'll never leave your home without drinking your favourite protein shake in the morning, or hit the shower after a workout before your daily dosage or these.