How to Pick a Vegan Protein Powder to Supercharge Your Smoothies [Episode #728]

This week’s topic is: How to Pick a Vegan Protein Powder to Supercharge Your Smoothies

I’ve been consuming vegan protein powder for many years and have tried out many different things as a plant-based, busy mother. As someone that’s used protein powder over the years during my pregnancy, during just normal life, being active, being busy, I’m really wanting to put nourishment into my body in the afternoons when I can’t sit down to eat.

And there’s a really practical aspect of shakes and smoothies that I think are so important for modern life because we don’t always have that opportunity to sit down and chew really well and eat something that’s prepared and fresh. For me, being on the go, I’ve taken my smoothies in the car, running after my kids, while I’m in a Zoom meeting or whatever and fitting them into my life schedule.

I think it’s really important to have some background about what to choose and what we’re doing here, like any part of life, it all ties in together. Food remains a very important nutritional source for all of us. For all of these reasons, practically speaking, food approached from this more holistic, energetic, spiritual way can be a very powerful tool on our journeys to continue to live our best lives.

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[Question Answered]

Jody – Ohio (Food Cornerstone)

I want to start drinking an afternoon power smoothie in addition to my morning Glowing Green Smoothie. I wanted to add plant based protein power to the smoothie, but there are so many different ones, what should I look for in a protein powder.

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Transcript:

Note: The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate. This is due to inaudible passages or transcription errors. It is posted as an aid, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.

Namaste loves. And welcome back to our Thursday Q&A podcast. We have a very detail-oriented podcast today, which is important because we need to make decisions in everyday life. We wanna have all the information available to us. And so today we are going to talk about all things How to Pick a Vegan Protein Powder to Supercharge Your Smoothies. And this, of course, falls into the food cornerstone. We rotate every week, food, body, emotional wellbeing, and spiritual growth. And I wanted to focus on this very practical, very granular aspect of our wellness journey, because we wanna know what choices to make. And protein powder is something that has been the base of our power protein smoothie. For many years, I’ve been consuming vegan protein powder for many years. I’ve tried out many different things as a plant-based person, busy person, just like you mother, someone that has used protein powder over the years during my pregnancy, during just normal life, being active, um, being busy.

So wanting a really nourishing, um, something to put into my body in the afternoons when I can’t sit down to eat. And there’s a really, um, practical aspect of shakes and smoothies that I think are so important for modern life because we don’t always have that opportunity to sit down and chew really well and eat something that’s prepared in that moment fresh. So I just know for me, being on the go thousands of times, I’ve taken my smoothies in the car, or they’re next to me while I’m running after my kids, or while I’m in a zoom meeting or whatever, I’m trying to fit into my life, my schedule. So I think it’s really important to have some, um, background about what to choose and what we’re, what we’re doing here. <laugh>, just like any part of life, it all ties in together. So remember that food is important because it affects our energy.

It’s not just what we look like, it’s just not how thin we are or how fit we are, but the properties of what we’re putting into our body have a profound impact on our spiritual wellbeing, our ability to meditate, our bar, ability to feel clear, to feel joy, to feel calm. This is, these are yogi teachings that have been passed down for thousands of years. And one of the reasons that yogis have always taught about diet. So when it comes to sustenance and protein, which is the, you know, building blocks of, of your body and, and, you know, you know, really furnishing your muscles, your hair energy, this also has such an impact on your day to day experience, how good you feel as you’re moving through the day. How inspired, how connected, focused clear food is not our only source of energy. We’re also getting energy through our environment, through the breath, of course, through sleep, through our meditations, we’re able to generate energy from the inside out.

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Question around the topic of: How to Pick a Vegan Protein Powder to Supercharge Your Smoothies: I want to start drinking an afternoon power smoothie in addition to my morning Glowing Green Smoothie. I wanted to add plant based protein power to the smoothie, but there are so many different ones, what should I look for in a protein powder.

All right, so let’s get right into our topic today. How to pick a protein powder to supercharge your life would say, and your smoothies. So there’s research now. Um, we’ll link to some of this research and nutrition journal and, um, some other research as well showing that exercise performance, body composition. Uh, they were comparing in this particular study, plant-based protein in whey protein, which is what a lot of, um, consumers that are not plant-based consume, which is of course derived from cow. It’s derived from dairy. And they found that there was, um, in this study they were, they were, uh, measuring with pea protein, but they found that there was the same increase in bicep size and the same benefits from that perspective. And there is a lot of research around the benefits in and of itself. Um, you know, in a macro scale of going plant based as well. For instance, this came out of Oxford saying there could be by 2015 if everybody went plant based, including other protein powders, there would be a 70% reduction in food related greenhouse gas emissions and a seven $570 billion savings in avoiding environmental harm annually. So there is tremendous benefits. I will list a few more now before we get into the actual details of, um, of why it’s so important. I will also say the question, I do not think I said the question, I started getting right into it.

But our question, thank you very much, Jody comes from Ohio and you write, I wanna start drinking in afternoon power protein smoothie in addition to my morning glowing green smoothie. But there’s so many different options, What do I look for? So yes, Jody, thank you so much. My love for the practicality of this. Now here we are in 2022. So I wanna, um, when I started writing about this, there, there was different options. You know, I started writing about this with the first time I wrote about the power protein smoothie was in the beauty detox solution all the way 10 years ago. So we’re gonna get into the ins and outs. But yes, I think it’s great to have a protein powder on hand in your pantry. Whether you decide to drink it all the time, it becomes part of your ritual and your routine, or it’s just there.

If you run into a bind and suddenly you’re really hungry and you need an afternoon snack, I am cyclical with my power protein smoothie personally. So when I’m pregnant nursing, I need the extra calories. I need the extra protein. I definitely will consume it every day without fail. But in summertime, I eat, tend to eat a little bit lighter, and I definitely drink it less unless I’m having a busy day. You know, it’s, it shifts and our, our routines shift now we’re coming into fall and I’m feeling my body wanting to eat a little bit heavier. So it’s gonna come back more into play, definitely fall and winter for me. So you just see how it works with your schedule. And if you’re interested in reading more about it, please do head over to mysolluna.com for the recipe and also more information about it and my recommendations.

So vegan protein powder, though in general is really great. Um, for many reasons. It’s a very efficient way for your body to intake amino acids and to build the, you know, to build muscle, to build hair, to build, you know, general, um, just all our needs for protein, which affect our energy and our clarity and cognitive functioning and so many different things. And so what I like about vegan protein powder is it’s clean with any sort of animal products, there are toxins, there are wastes and acid, and many different components that tend to bioaccumulate as you go higher up the food chain. So with vegan protein powder, we are going straight to the source. We’re taking in these amino acid and they are directly building up our bodies. Another benefit is reduced risk of chronic disease. Animal protein is definitely associated with chronic disease, premature death.

And what’s great about, like I said, cleaner sources of of protein powder and protein in general, more phytonutrients, there’s more, um, micronutrients. And it’s just a really easy choice. Even if you are choosing to eat some animal proteins right now, and this is our community, it’s not all or nothing. We wanna be more plant forward, but if you are consuming animal protein, that’s okay too. But with protein powder, it’s easy to shift to vegan proteins. It’s just a powder, right? And then when you wanna eat that piece of fish or whatever, that’s where you would have your animal protein. And then what’s great is this helps us to avoid allergies. You know, there’s a lot of allergies that people have, whether they realize it or not, with casing in way because dairy can, um, be very tricky for a lot of people’s systems. So that’s another great, um, aspect of it.

And then also just being more environmentally conscious, there is, um, the Good Food Institute outlines some environmental benefits of plant-based choices, which include, you know, up to, you know, 30 to 90% less of greenhouse gas emissions, a range of 72 to 99% less water, 51 to 91% less aquatic nutrient pollution, and 47 to 99% less land pollution. So by making the switch to vegan protein powder, there’s definitely a lot, lot of environmental benefits. So check it out for yourself. You know, again, for me, it’s something that I believe is a wonderful thing to stock in your home, in your pantry, just as you would other emergency foods or foods that are, you know, shelf stable in part, parti in an emergency. You can use them every day, but then they’re there if you really need them. So some of my other emergency foods before we get into ingredients, not to go too far for the tangent, but in my freezer, I always have gluten-free wraps.

I always have frozen fruit for ggs. Um, in my pantry, I always have cartons of black beans, chickpeas, I can make hummus, we can make different dishes. I always have quinoa, lentils, s sporadic brown rice. So these are some of the things that I keep around. And the vegan protein powder and cartons of non-dairy milk, coconut milk and so on, just so there’s always something that I could make. I also have spirulina, which I keep in the fridge. Chia seeds, sesame seeds. I mean, I could go on and on, but you get the, you get the idea. There’s certain things that I always have. So now let’s talk about the different types of protein powder. So very popular one right now is protein powder. And so what you’ll see sometimes in protein powders are sing single ingredient protein powders, which is more common with hemp.

And then you’ll see a mix. So sometimes you’ll see pea protein on its own. Sometimes you’ll see it in a mix with other protein powders. And this typically comes from yellow split pea. And a lot of, um, athletes in particular, um, opt for P protein because it tends to be higher in BCAAs, which are branched chain amino acids. And this is a type of protein which promotes muscle protein synthesis. So if you’re looking to gain muscle mass, if you’re looking to be more toned, uh, pea protein could be a really good choice for you. And it also minimizes muscle degradation. Usually contains about 15 grams of protein per serving. And again, research shows that it deliver, delivers similar muscle benefits to weigh protein. So again, you can check it out in, in formulas. Some people may have an allergy to pea protein, just like any other food on the planet <laugh>. So that’s something to be aware of. But just, you know, you could be allergic to weigh, you could be allergic to pea protein, just, you know, notice in your body, just like anything, what, how your body responds to any sort of sort of food.

So another type of protein, vegan protein that’s really common is brown rice protein powder. And this is not as high in BCAAs as pea protein, for instance, but it’s really great for people that tend to have allergies or a sensitive stomach. Um, so those that don’t do well with pea protein typically turn to brown rice because it’s said to be a little bit more easy on the tummy. So again, just look within different formulas. There’s different combinations, different percentages of, um, these different proteins. But that’s something to be aware of. Now, another type of protein that’s very common in the plant-based world is soy. And this is very high in, in protein, 90 to 95%. It could have 20 grams of protein per serving. It is soy is also a complete protein. It has all the essential amino acids and a lot of athletes, um, may choose soy for these reasons.

Now, the downside of soy, which I know has gotten a bad wrap over the years, it can be allergenic for some people. People may experience bloating or um, inflammation from it. If you are choosing soy, it is essential that you do cho choose of course an organic non GMO soy, so it will not be genetically modified. And you wanna make sure, I think with soy of all types that you rotate it. So personally speaking, I do consume Tempe on a weekly basis. I really like Tempe. Occasionally I will consume organic tofu. Occasionally I will consume organic soy milk because I very much do like the taste, but it’s not like all the time crazy amounts. Different institutions like the Western Price Institution, for instance, have definitely, um, contributed to soy being this really problematic food. They, they do support animal protein consumption. Side note, we wanna see who’s, you know, really behind some of these claims.

And also if you dig underneath, and I’ve had this conversation with, um, Dr. Neil Bernard, who has founded the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and other researchers. He does a lot of his own researcher research and physicians, you would have to eat an enormous amount of soy. We’re talking about pounds and pounds of soy to really have some of these trips. Enogen blocking effects or, you know, estrogen effects for men. There’s way more estrogen effects on men. For instance, eating dairy and much smaller quantities of dairy eating pizza, for instance, The cheese on the pizza can contribute to man boobs far more than eating tons and tons of tofu. So when I wrote the Beauty Detox solution 10 years ago, there was a section about soy and I was much more soy phobic. And since then, as I’ve continued to look deeper into the research and experimented and just read a lot, researched, I have found that a moderate amount of soy organic, non GMO soy works really well in my body and in my children and with my family.

Not crazy amounts. I do not consume soy protein personally, but I think it can be okay and it can be worked in soy protein powder. I, I consume, I rotate my protein powders and I consume mixes usually, although sometimes I will come and just consume hemp protein, which does have a more flavor dominant, um, just constitution. It has a nuttier flavor. It is higher in fat, It is not as high in protein, so I don’t tend to, in the past, there’s times where I would rotate that in. I don’t consume straight hemp protein all the time because I consume a lot of hemp seeds. So I get hemp seeds and I put them on my kale salad, my salad. So I’m getting a lot of that hempy taste anyways. So, but that is also an option out there. Some other ingredients that you may find in protein powders besides the ones I mentioned are chia seeds, flax seeds, and quinoa. And so the advantage of these mixed formulas is you’re combining different varieties of proteins which have different mixes of essential amino acids. So your body can uptake different quantities.

So sometimes you’ll see, um, other ingredients emulsifiers that are used to just really help round out the formula. Things like garum, which comes from the seed plant and less a thin, um, which can come from different forms. So you just wanna make sure that your formula doesn’t have a lot of added sugars. Of course, artificial colors and sweeteners. Um, you wanna make sure that no, no, some, some brands like Vega for instance, have a really high content of protein, but then there are these enormous scoops. So then you know, you just see also personal preference taste wise. Of course we all have different tastes that we gravitate towards. So remember that the p in the rice protein powders tend to have more of that because they have more, or the p per in particular has more. Um, but hem protein powder has double about double the iron content of rice protein.

So that’s something to consider as well, especially for, um, you know, women. My, my Beauties out there that a little bit, um, vulnerable need to build up iron or during pregnancy, postpartum or, you know, wanting to get enough iron for sure. So the plant based protein powder is really great in that way. So lots of different information here, lots of different choices. There are a tremendous amount of different brands out there. Like I said, I personally rotate different ones. I like doing that. I don’t like having the same one, um, year after year. So there’s different ones I try and um, I do like the hemp proteins. I also like the Vega, uh, protein as well. Sun, Sun Warriors one I used in the past. It’s been outta my rotation now for a while. So this is a lot of information <laugh>. But the general gist is that a vegan protein powder, it’s a great thing to keep around at home for emergencies, for daily use, for periods where you feel that you do need extra protein.

Pregnancy periods where you’re working out more, periods where you’re really busy, you just feel it in intrinsically intuitively. You just need more, more oph, a little bit more density to your diet. So check out the different ones, you know, um, based on some of the recommendations and the tips that I made today, you may try getting two or three in your home and rotating them, which is typically what I do. And of course, please go to mysolluna.com for the Power Protein Smoothie recipe, what I like to pair with it, different ingredients that I also keep on hand, such as Al Sayi, the spirulina, what I use when <laugh>. So you can also get some additional information there. And of course many other recipes, many other, um, recipes in general, meditations, articles, podcasts that I will link to. So thank you so much for tuning in. As always, I appreciate you so much. Please keep your questions coming. I’m always listening. I’m always here for you, sending you so much love. I’ll be back here Monday for our next interview podcast. So that, till then, take care and sending you so much love. Namaste.

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