Most of my clients are perfectly happy eating chicken and drinking whey protein shakes. But some of them follow my advice and look for meat free alternatives.
For those people, the conundrum is if they can make vegan protein drinks by themselves or do they need a shaker bottle or a blender to make them. The hard facts about vegan protein is that it's not as smooth and drinkable as cows milk protein, or as some people call it....WHEY! But you still can get some quality vegan protein. I like Vega and Garden of Life and even Naked brands (baked pea protein, for instance). Vegan and Vegetarian diets are actually able to provide adequate protein, it just requires you to put together a detailed diet. But the truth is that vegan protein powders in particular are harder to mix into water (and you won't be using milk now will you). So I do recommend using a blender bottle or else buying a actual blender if you want to make protein smoothies. If you are using a vegan protein powder like Vega, then a blender bottle should be sufficient. But if you are using that protein powder in conjunction with food, then you will need a blender. This isa good guide for choosing the best blender for green smoothies. I would also suggest you read consumer reports. They are pretty reliable when it comes to testing out products.
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When you discuss vegetarian bodybuilding a big question that is bound to come up is protein.
That is because most people who are vegetarian are not going to eat meat. Chicken and Beef are the two most popular forms of protein. Read any guide to building muscle and that guide will tell you that you have to eat protein. Most protein sources are listed according to the amount of protein that they have and meat ranks high. So,for instance if you are looking to build a lot of muscle then most diet programs would tell you to eat lots of chicken. But that is not a viable way of thinking. There are alternatives to meat and animal products that you can use. For instance, I will tell all of my personal trainers that the best way to gain muscle is to drink whey protein. It is a low calorie and very easy way to get maximum protein in your diet. However there are other vegetarian forms of protein that you can use. One of my personal favorites is pea protein and green peas. The reason that I like to tell my personal training clients to eat green peas is that I always like to get protein from whole foods. Among the whole foods that are high in protein and are also vegetarian, one of my favorite options are green peas. You can use green peas in a variety of ways. There are green pea salads that you can eat cold, and you can always eat green peas in the classic hot side dish variety. And if you are looking to cut calories and do not want to use butter or olive oil, then you can use something such as salsa. Best of all green peas are cheap. You do not have to spend a lot of money on green peas. You can get a big bag of them frozen at Costco and most other big box stores. If you drink coffee, then you might notice that your teeth are changing color. It sounds a bit extreme, but that is what is happening. If you look at your teeth every day, you might not notice. Coffee, and other beverages including wine, stain teeth. Many people find out that they have coffee stained teeth when they see a photo of themselves. It looks like they have yellow teeth. The good news is that this is not irreversible. There are ways to get rid of the stain. Here are some ways to get ride of coffee stains. Special Toothpaste The first line of attack is toothpaste. There are lots of special toothpastes designed for people with stained teeth. These toothpastes are specially designed to handle coffee and wine stains. They are not meant for everyday use. If you use it everyday you can hurt your teeth. Paint Your Teeth Yes, you can paint your teeth and remove coffee stains. Not with paint, though. What you will do is buy a liquid stain remover that needs to be "painted" on. It will then "sit" on your teeth and remove the stain. Stick on Strips: Tape For Your Teeth The next step is to get stick on strips. These are like tape. They peel off and you stick them on your teeth. Unlike the toothpastes, they don't take months to work. They are a quick fix method. You use the strips for a few nights and then see results. It is important to follow the directions. You don't want use strips beyond the suggested timetable. As long as you follow the directions you should not have a problem. Brush After Drinking Coffee, But Not Too Soon You should brush your teeth after you have finished drinking coffee. But, not immediately after. Coffee is an acidic beverage and if you brush your teeth while the coffee residue is fresh on your teeth you can actually damage your enamel. Studies suggest waiting at least a half an hour. Dentist: For Hard To Remove Stains The best solution to stained teeth is a dentist. A dentist can eliminate stains in a single session. What they do is apply a gel and use a laser that works in tandem with the gel. The dentist might also make a custom mouth piece which you can bring home and use. You can fill the mouthpiece with the whitening gel and leave it in while you sleep. . Vegetarians are always looking for ways to get enough protein. That's reasonable since vegetables on average has less protein than meat. One of the best ways to get protein into your meal plan is to add nuts. But a lot of people have called me up or texted me and asked if nuts are really a good source of protein. The answer is a yes and no type of answer. First, yes, nuts have protein. They are an easy way to get protein. There are some healthy bars that feature nuts as their primary source of protein. Peanut butter is a big staple in the bodybuilding world because it's a fast and tasty source of protein. But some people don't like to eat peanuts because they aren't the healthiest. One problem is that peanuts are not even nuts. Also, peanuts can sometimes have a fungus or mold that is really unhealthy. So, be careful with peanuts. My suggestion to people I train is that they eat whole nuts or make their own nut butter. Nuts that are healthy include walnuts, pecans, almonds, and other nuts. But the main caution I also mention to people is to be careful about calories. Nuts are very calorie dense. This means that you will really overshoot your daily calorie allotment if you aren't careful. Here is a good visual of what 100 calories in nuts looks like. It will totally surprise you. I suggest that if you are using nuts as a main protein source, then what you will want to do is locate a good calorie counting app. These can be a game changer when it comes to keeping track of how many calories you eat in a day. In the old days you might have had to deal with an Excel spreadsheet or pad and pen, but now you can just use an app. Most people like the apps made by companies such as MyFittnessPal. This is an UnderArmour product, and has captured the market. Most trainers and athletes who are aware of their diet and want to track their macros use it. It's free, so you can try it out and see if you like it. But you can still create a simply daily menu using a free calorie counting calculator that is available online. Just figure out your daily calorie need, then create a menu. If you use these apps, you will start to see that nuts are really loaded with calories. What I suggest for everyone is to add a few nuts to salads. This does two things. First, when you are eating a salad without a salad dressing, you can add nuts because the salad is so low in calories. So, the nuts are balanced out by the low calorie salad. Secondly, the other main reason that nuts are so good is that they have healthy fats. Especially when you choose nuts like Almonds, Walnuts, and Macadamia nuts. The first thing people ask me when they hear I'm a vegetarian trainer is if Vegan protein powder is any good. First, I tell them that as a vegetarian I can take any protein powder. Protein powder is not made from meat. Unless you are getting a protein powder that has added things like collagen, which is not vegetarian. Protein powder comes in a few different sources. There is Whey protein Powder. This is made from Milk. This type of protein powder is fine for people who are vegetarians. Not vegans though. This sort of protein comes from dairy cows. It's popular because it is easy to mix with water and it's easy to absorb. There is Soy Protein. This is fine for vegans. It is made from the same thing that tofu is made from, soybeans. Some people do not like soy, so they might want to avoid taking too much soy protein. The other type of protein that is vegan is simply called Vegan protein. It can be made from Hemp seed protein, or more often, it is made from pea protein. It's great for anyone who is looking to stay away from dairy based proteins. It can be grainy, but it provides all of the protein that you need. My recommendation for vegetarians is to use Whey protein because it's more affordable and easier to blend or mix. But I do say to make sure you get a good brand. Some of the off brands might have junk fillers or even some banned substances. Read up on the brands on a forum such as Bodybuilding. com Chocolate is probably the most popular flavor in the world. And it's one that vegans and vegetarians can enjoy as well! That's what makes it great for protein shakes. My ideal protein shake will be cold, protein packed, and delicious. You can add chocolate to your regular protein shake by buying a good brand of cacao powder or just sticking with the chocolate flavoured protein powders that are sold by most of the major brands. Here's a link to a really good homemade chocolate protein powder. If you read their recipe, you notice the addition of peanut butter. That's what gives the shake it's creamy texture. If you use a regular plant based protein powder and just regular almond milk, it might have a bit of a dry taste and texture. That's why I always tell people I train to add peanut butter or almond butter to their protein shakes. Another way to add creaminess to a shake if you're vegan and can't add yogurt, is to add a thicker nut milk. For instance cashew milk is creamier than almond milk, so i recommend that to people who want a creamy shake. One thing that I always tell people I train is to watch out for the calories. When you are eating nut butters such as peanut butter or almond butter, they have the tendency to add a lot of calories to your diet. If you don't watch out, you can end up adding several hundred calories to your protein shake. So be careful unless you are bulking and looking to add weight. In that case, nut butters are great! |