Are protein shakes bad for you? The answer is yes, but is of best interest to explain to you why this is one of the meal replacement shakes you need to avoid. Sure enough, modern research has yet to prove its definite role in the likes of muscle building and strength performance. Hence protein shakes have become a golden ticket for most multi-billion supplement companies, especially when people have made it as part of their daily lives. It has evolved into a kind of milkshake flavor smoothie that is so simple and easy to advertise. Well, take into consideration the fact that companies have gained boatloads of money selling protein shakes. Nonetheless, as what bodybuilding experts would say, protein shakes are really not that effective, contrary to popular belief. It doesn’t really help in building quality muscle, as it only contributes to making you fat – let alone it adversely affects your health. Ouch.
True enough, protein can be deemed as something as the building blocks of your body. Besides, bones, skin, muscles and other tissues are all made from protein, aside from the fact that you need varied amounts of it in order to stay fit and healthy. The thing about protein shakes is that most people don’t have the time (or they’re plain lazy in a sense) to prepare their own meals, thus they opt to drinking shakes that think are both handy and healthy.
So really, is protein shake that bad? Or is it just getting a bad rap from people who see it as a counterproductive supplement?
Well, the answer (again) is yes – protein shakes are unhealthy. Heck they are deemed as a kind of meal replacement shakes that are unnatural. Over the course of years, we as human beings relied heavily on natural food sources for sustenance and/or nourishment. Although our ancestors are fond of eating meat, grains, fish, nuts and eggs, among others, their diets certainly did not include protein shakes (the thought of them having blenders is even a joke). The notion that protein shakes are made of natural ingredients is superficial and thus mislead people to believing that it does them good.
One of the most popular protein shakes are made from either whey or casein, both of which are milk derivatives. However, they don’t really exist in milk, as they don’t naturally exist without the presence of other nutrients – an epitome would be vitamin supplements. Although you can take an expensive vitamin tablet so as to ensure your consumption of essential minerals and vitamins, they simply cannot be absorbed as vitamins efficiently. Why? That’s because plethora of chemical compound that naturally exist in grains, meats, fruits and/or vegetables are not there.
Indeed, there is a very strong relationship between us and the food that are responsible for our survival, because our bodies have learned how to extract vital nutrients over the course of time. In reality, you really don’t need to hear from well-muscled dudes making outrageous clamors about making an apple on a tree appealing; what you need is something that can make an impressive public relations campaign in order to come up with an idea of liquid proteins pleasant to the general public – and this is exactly how modern marketing has become successful since day one.
Remember: Liquid proteins will never ever share the kind of relationship that we have with real food – it is even doubtful that it ever will.
Protein Shakes Can Really Make You Fat
Scary, but true! The protein found in today’s shakes are predigested, which means they chemically changed to allow faster absorption. When talking about supplying protein to your needy muscles, it could sound like an excellent idea – most especially after a hard day’s work at the gym. However, it is not. A lot of studies have already confirmed that protein ingestion can increase an individual’s metabolic rate of up to 30% more compared to other food sources. This increase is basically called the thermic effect, which is a key factor in acquiring an effective body fat reduction. Also, it is one of the reasons why high protein diets are suitable for promoting fat loss.
However, when you drink protein shakes, it will be consumed faster than natural, real food. This rapid assimilation will result to significant decrease in the thermic effect, thus proteins are pre-digested. The rapid ingestion of high calorie protein shakes can also result to bloating, diarrhea, and may have an adverse effect on your eating behaviors. After which, the skills required for weight loss (which is by eating consistent real, healthy food) are thrown out of the door, as protein shakes are now used to replace meals.
Protein Shakes Will Give Your Body Difficulty Detecting Calories
Indeed, there is a growing proof that your body is unable to detect calories when drinking liquid food like protein shakes. Remember that the human body has evolved so that we can be satisfied with solid food, and since protein liquids, for example, don’t have steadfast satiety properties, they don’t really suppress hunger. In fact, you may tend to eat even more calories, as you are not satisfied by liquids in the way that solid food does it. Therefore, you overeat and weight gain has again become a huge problem.
They Contain Artificial Sweeteners
Since protein shakes are packed with artificial sweeteners, becoming fat in no time is as easy as walking in the park. Millions of evolution have given our bodies the ability to detect the sweet taste that insulin secretion brings – be it actual sugars are present or not. It even sets the same motion in metabolic process that would lead to ingesting a high sugar and high calorie food. What is even more alarming? There is a find that sucralose, a popular nonnutritive sweetener utilized in protein powders, has been shown to dramatically decrease the levels of good bacteria found in the gut. This basically triggers an inflammation process in which increases your resistance toward insulin and fat storage.
It is really ironic to think that a product used health-conscious individuals to contain the same negative metabolic effects found in junk food, something that most active people try to avoid. Moreover, not only nonnutritive sweeteners make the taste of protein shakes better, they are also one of the factors that keep you buying because they are in one way or another addictive. Hence a lot of people have been having difficulties trying to veer away from protein shakes, leading to a huge hike in sales. Apart from all of these, nonnutritive sweeteners is proven to make you eat more, as well as making you consume more sugary food. To think, none of which makes sense especially you are trying to lose weight or stay on diet.
On second thought, if your belief is that other brand are instead using added sugar – regardless of the source – are not really part of a natural diet. The same goes for cane sugar, as it is no different from the sugars found in junk food.
They Are Unregulated and Contain Ingredients Harmful to Human Body
‘Pharmaceutical grade’ is a typical element on various protein supplement containers; however, truth is, FDA regulations don’t necessarily require protein drinks to undergo a certain kind of process that ensures safety and the likes. With that in mind, it is no wonder that a recent review by Consumer Reports found out that almost all protein shakes tested contained at least one sample containing arsenic lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury – all of which are something you wouldn’t want to be in your body!
These kind of studies should be taken seriously, as heavy metals like cadmium, when accumulated by your body, can mean extensive harm into your kidney. They also have the tendency to stay in the body, something that can take as long as 15 to 20 years to remove just half of the cadmium that you have absorbed today! Basically, cadmium raises a concern because it can damage some parts in your body, which is the same damage that excessive protein consumption does.
Apart from the aforementioned harmful metals – which are due to poor manufacturing conditions and bad regulated ingredient supplies – know that the very ingredients you try to avoid, if you are really serious about your health, are very much available in all the popular protein shakes that we have come to know nowadays. In fact, five out of the ten top selling protein shakes and/or powders present high fructose corn syrup as an integral ingredient; while some of them have deemed cookie crumbs as an ingredient. With all of these in mind, it should really be difficult for you (and others) believe all the claims about protein shakes being beneficial and healthy to your body. Note that almost all brands have either “artificial” or “natural” flavor as an ingredient, something can really be anything from a chemical artificially synthesized or an extract from anything that is yeast to tree bark.
If you really are serious about your health and weight, you should start considering the facts about protein shakes. It really presents a serious issue to your body, contrary to what companies say in their marketing ads and campaigns. Therefore, be cautious and don’t take the facts for granted.
What are your thoughts about protein shakes being one of the meal replacement shakes to avoid?
