Protein shakes are popular – but are they that useful? Should you take protein shakes if you’re not working out?

Today we’re going to briefly look at the ingredients and benefits of protein shakes, whether you should use them when you’re not working out, and the most important questions about protein shake use. Let’s get started with why they’re popular and what they offer you.

Protein Shake Use

Protein shakes are useful for athletes because they support better recovery and support a wide range of important processes. We all have these natural health processes that require protein – but how useful are protein shakes and supplements without working out?

The main use of a protein shake as a performance enhancer and source of muscle growth as well as recovery might over shadow the other benefits. While these supplements are typically associated with bodybuilders, there’s a lot of nuance to nutritional supplementation. 

As a staple in the diet of fitness enthusiasts, bodybuilders, and Olympians, protein shakes have a wide appeal. Despite their often-confused reputation, they’re beneficial to everyone: we all have protein-rich tissues that need support!

Protein Shake Popularity: It Sells Because It Works!

The popularity of protein shakes in all walks of life speaks to the convenience and health benefits that they offer. Whatever your goals, your methods, or your starting point, there are things we all need to improve – protein intake, vitamins and minerals, and sleep quality to name a few.

Protein shakes are a way that we can easily add protein to the diet, which can have a wide range of benefits (we’ll get to those in a minute!). These benefits aren’t limited to just performance, but health, wellbeing, strength and long-term quality-of-life.

Protein Shake Ingredients – How Can They Benefit You?

The main and obvious ingredient in protein shakes is protein. The supplement is built around an increased protein content and makes it easier to get your required protein, since you’re going to be drinking it, making it easier and more convenient to consume.

Protein rich foods can also not be the easiest to cook and prep. Especially with plant foods, the cooking process of beans and other foods can be prohibitive during busy days, when dealing with family, work, studies, or any other time obligations.

Protein shakes are not only rich in protein, ideally from a blend of plant extracts but also a convenient choice. They’ve become so popular because they’re easy to use, rich in protein, and can be combined with a wide range of ingredients in a blender to make nutrient dense smoothies.

The protein itself may come from a variety of sources – pea, hemp, soy, and rice are the most common forms of plant protein powders. 

Benefits of Higher Protein Diets

The main benefits of a protein supplement or having a slightly higher protein diet may include:

(But remember, increasing your protein content slightly is fine, but you can also more on to the other extreme of having TOO much protein. Something to be aware of and ensure we do not try to just add and add more and more protein when we do not need it).

• Muscle recovery and growth: Protein improves the recovery and growth of muscle mass, whether you’re working out or not.
• Improved metabolic health: Protein is an important regulator of your metabolism, maintaining hormone-metabolic wellbeing and controlling body composition change.
• Easier, better fat loss: Fat loss is easier with higher protein diets, as well as being higher quality, less muscle lost, and more fat burned.
• Supports bone and tendon health: Non-muscle tissues like bone, ligament, and tendon depend on healthy intake of protein.
• Filling and thermic effect: Protein is filling and reduces hunger, while the thermic effect makes it very calorie-efficient for better health, wellbeing, and dietary control.
• Performance outcomes: Almost all performance outcomes for exercise and activity are better in higher-protein diets, making for great all-round support.
• Co-ingestion benefits: Protein that is co-ingested with carbohydrates have better energy-replenishing effects, especially after workouts.

Secondary Ingredients: Can Protein Powder Support Better Results?

Some protein powder products may include additional, secondary ingredients in order to improve performance in any of the prior benefits. These may be BCAA supplementation to improve muscle-building and muscle-protection.

It could be a digestive enzyme and electrolyte blend, which improve the function of protein powder in the body and support muscle health (respectively). It could be the addition of piperine to improve absorption through the gut or similarly, the absorptive benefits of Astragalus and/or ginseng.

These secondary benefits are commonplace and provide a wide range of benefit-boosts (synergistic effects). Others simply add new benefits, adding turmeric to a protein powder can boost the health effects and support digestive wellbeing, independently of protein intake. 

These are useful but not as effective since they can easily feel irrelevant in the supplement itself. Make sure your secondary ingredients offer benefits you actually care about or you may be paying for things you don’t need or want.

Should you take a protein shake without working out?

Yes, if you’re using protein supplements, you should aim to use them consistently. The dosage per day is not super important, but the average protein intake of your diet is more important. You should aim to use a protein shake daily to maintain consistently high protein levels, more so if you struggle to meet your protein requirements with food alone.

This gives your body all the best benefits mentioned above, where consistency is very important. This is especially important in hormonal, metabolic, and tissue health changes. For muscle growth and recovery, this is also a great way to maintain health and performance.

The timeline for muscular recovery and growth is around 1-4 days (depending on exercise) and you may not be properly recovered on your rest days. This means that protein intake should remain higher across that whole 1-4 day period. Just improving your average daily intake is the best way to get the best results from your protein.

Protein Powder and Diet FAQ

Can you drink protein shakes every day?

Yes, you can use protein shakes every day if you need them to improve your total protein intake. It’s a healthy and effective way to support better total nutrition. The recovery and growth of muscles, for example, is around 36-48 hours after exercise or intense activity.

Equally, you’ll not take in a huge amount of calories through protein shake intake. This means there’s no real downside to drinking protein shakes daily, while there may be significant benefits for the things we’ve mentioned already: metabolism, recovery, dietary control, and hormonal function.

Can You Drink Protein Shakes On Rest Days?

Yes you can and should drink protein shakes on rest days. The most important factor for muscle growth and other health factors is consistent protein availability. The daily average is the most important factor and individual, day to day changes in activity level shouldn’t dictate your protein intake.

While you may change your carbs up and down based on short-term activity levels, protein is more consistent. Higher protein diets should be rich in protein every day. If you’re using protein shakes for this purpose, you can use them everyday to get the best health and performance benefits.

How Much Protein When Not Working Out?

You should consume the same amount of protein every day when you’re not working out, rest days are no exception. The benefits are medium-term, while the body always needs protein for things like bone health, muscle protein turnover, and maintaining a healthy metabolism.

Consistent protein levels from day to day are the most scientifically effective way to maintain these health benefits. They are based on protein availability over time. While the short-term benefits of protein intake are useful, the best results come from consistently high intake!

Best Time To Drink Protein?

The best time to drink your protein will typically be after exercise or intense activity. You don’t have to go to the gym to become nutrient-sensitive for protein, just anything that has challenged your tissues, especially prolonged or intense movement.

Plant-based proteins also have a longer average absorption speed and sustained release than their whey counterparts. For example, a good plant protein blend has a similar peak to whey protein, but sustains longer into the future to maintain high protein levels over time. 

Conclusion

You should drink a protein shake even if you’re not working out on that day. Rest day protein intake is proven to be an effective way to maintain long-term results from exercise, while non-exercising individuals still get all the same benefits from the use of protein powder on a daily basis.

The best benefits, the increase in metabolic rate and regulation, the improvements to digestive speed, and the recovery benefits to tissues, are not timing-specific. While you may get more benefits from the use of protein shakes with exercise, you’ll be able to make progress and improve health with nutrition alone.

This is especially true when losing weight. Even without working out, higher protein intake can drastically improve a weight loss diet. Higher protein diets improve fat loss, support muscle maintenance, and prevent the decline of important energy-regulating hormones during weight loss!

Author bio

Rohan Arora is a personal trainer and sports nutritionist, and has been actively involved in the fitness community for over 8 years. Together with his team at GainingTactics, he has helped hundreds of hardgainers gain healthy weight and live a healthy lifestyle.

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There are so many arguments about what are the best foods to eat before and after a workout, and there are so many people with a set idea of eating or drinking certain things after working out with no room to change or try anything different. You don’t have to change everything you’re doing, if it currently works then carry on, but do not be afraid to try something different and experiment.

Here we will have a look at the different foods and drinks that you can consume before and after a workout and what could work best.

We must also remember that your specific goal, be it muscle building or weight loss, as well as YOUR own body type and weight will determine what you eat and more importantly HOW MUCH of each macro-nutrient you eat, not only for your pre and post workout meals, but also for every single meal you eat throughout the day.

Pre workout Nutrition

Let’s start with pre workout nutrition. When you weight train you exert a lot of energy, and thus your body will need energy, so do not be scared to eat some carbohydrates before training, even when dieting down.

Photo credit: Your House Fitness 

There are 2 types of pre workout meals, depending on the time of day you train. These are:

1. Your first meal of the day, i.e. breakfast. So if you workout first thing in the morning this will act as your ‘breakfast’ pre workout meal.
2. If you train in the afternoon or evening, then the meal you eat directly prior to your training will be your ‘during the day’ pre workout meal.

For both options, the best is to have a balanced meal containing protein, some complex carbohydrates as well as some fat about an hour or an hour and a half before you workout. You do not want to have too big of a meal and anything too heavy which will cause your stomach discomfort while you exercise.

You could alternatively have a protein shake, but the reason I wouldn’t recommend taking a shake or any liquid form of food before working out is so that you can keep fuller throughout your training. I have experimented with both and tend to become very hungry during my workout if I have a protein shake (even with some carbohydrates) and this can sometimes affect my energy and strength levels.

BUT on the other hand there are many people who would rather not eat anything before their workout as they become uneasy and their stomach does not handle the food well while they are training. If this is you, don’t worry, maybe try a protein shake or some form of liquid shake and see if you can manage that to start off with.

For the first option, the breakfast pre workout meal, here is an example of a meal you could have:

• 2 slices whole-wheat toast/Bowl of oats
• 1 banana
• Small protein Shake/1 Tsp of peanut butter

This is a great combination of protein, amino acids, vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and fat to get you started for the day and get you going for your early morning workout.

For the second option, the during the day pre workout meal, we will assume you would have eaten at least one or two other meals already throughout the day. So in an effort to not complicate things, an example of a simple meal could be:

• 1 Apple
• A portion of chick peas/butter beans
• A portion of rice/Sweet potatoes/Cous cous

Post workout Nutrition

After a strenuous and intense exercise session, your body (and muscles) needs nutrients and amino acids to help them repair and recover, so the sooner you feed your muscles after training the better.

For post workout, I recommend a liquid meal FIRST (straight after your gym session). The reason being the liquid will digest quicker than a full meal, and you want to get the nutrients to your muscles as quick as possible to start the recovery and growth process. Then about an hour and a half to two hours after your liquid meal, you can eat a whole food meal consisting of protein and carbohydrates.

So lets start with the liquid meal. The easiest option is to take a protein shake. Mix some whey protein with some water or even better with some milk. To this you can also add some simple carbohydrates, such as apple juice or just plain glucose. There are many studies showing that taking in a simple carbohydrate source will ‘spike’ your insulin, driving more nutrients into your muscles. But honestly I believe you can use almost any carb source, even a low gi source like oats. There is also a few studies showing that, by consuming your protein first, then after a few minutes, taking in your carbohydrates, will elevate your growth hormone levels. Something to think about.

Experimenting

I have experimented with a few things regarding a post workout meal. I wanted to see if I would experience any different or beneficial results by consuming different things.

I tried each of these for a few months:

1. Whey protein with glucose

Versus

2. Whey protein with oats

I never saw or felt much of a difference, thus the reason I stated you can use almost any carb source.

I then tried this:

1. Whey protein

Versus

2. Plain organic full cream milk  (about 500 – 800 ml)

Versus

3. Whole food meal (Rice/Potatoes and Chicken/Fish)

With this, I really wanted to see if the benefits of this ‘post workout whey shake’ would over power drinking just plain milk or eating a normal whole food meal after a workout. Again I never saw or felt much of a difference.

The one problem with marketing nowadays is that many people have been bombarded (by supplement companies) with the idea that after training the ONLY thing you MUST consume is a protein shake.

Has it ever happened that you came home after gym, and forgot you had run out of whey protein? With all hell braking loose, you jumped in your car and raced to the nearest pharmacy to pick up some whey protein in order to have your ‘post workout shake’ in time, so you do not miss that perfect ‘window of opportunity.’

The Conclusion

By all means if you can get your hands on some rice/pea protein, it’s a good thing to have post workout as it does contain all the branch chain amino acids you need as well as glutamine to help you recover. But if not or if your whey suddenly finishes, do not worry so much and run around screaming, just blend your own smoothie with fruit and peanut butter (you can use soya milk or almond milk with it) OR alternatively just eat a whole food meal.

After training, your muscles have been severely strained and broken down so they will absorb a lot of what you feed them, even if you think it’s going to take ages to digest. Too often people tend to over complicate things. Keep things simple.

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The post What Should You Be Eating Before And After Your Workouts? Pre And Post Workout Nutrition Explained Simply appeared first on FitNish.com.

Here is a recipe for a mouth-watering, nutritious, high protein smoothie which can be used ideally after an intense workout out, or even as a snack in between meals.

Just a small tip, if you want to make a sweet smoothie and have it thick and milky like a milkshake, opt for low fat plain cottage cheese instead of ice cream. High in protein and low in sugar!

The best smoothies are nutrient-dense, providing vitamins and oils necessary for good nutrition. Fat is required for biological functions and burned by your body for energy; a good smoothie should have some dietary fat. Simply blending a banana with ice and skim milk does not make a good smoothie; there is almost no fat for the body to use in assimilating the vitamins, and there is little nutritive content at all. A healthy smoothie contains egg yolks, coconut oil, cream or other nutrient-dense foods. Smoothies are a great, simple way to get in the extra nutrition you need. [1]

Reference:

[1] FACTS ON THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF SMOOTHIES

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