WHEY VS. PEA PROTEIN POWDER?

WHEY VS. PEA PROTEIN POWDER?

I decided to write on this subject, because I have been using the same whey isolate for more than 5 years. I figured, why not change things up a bit? I didn’t experience any health issues and surprisingly I still enjoy the taste of my whey. I simply wanted to see how my body will respond to it. Just like we change our workouts every so often, I believe we should introduce our body new food sources, at least for a short period of time. I am always looking for best quality food and I try to do the same, when it comes to my supplements. Getting fresh produce and quality lean protein is hard in New York City and I come from a place, where we grow most of our vegetables ourselves. Looking for a clean supplements is always a challenge, because they are not “real food” and to make them taste good, brands will use fillers and chemicals to boost the flavor. When it comes to plant-based protein supplements, there is lots of sources to choose from. We know pea, rice, soy, chia, hemp, nuts, pumpkin seeds, etc. The problem that occurs with supplementing with plant-based powder is the same as vegetarian and vegan people face. How to get enough essential amino acids? We know animal products are complete protein, because they consist of all essential amino acids our body cannot produce on its own. We also know the negative effects of animal protein, from farming animals, negative effect animal protein has on our body due to what animals are fed and injected with (have you seen Game Changers?). So my question here is, can we get a plant-based protein powder that contains all essential amino acids? Yes, we can.

AA NUZEST

Picture 1: Nuzest vegan protein powder amino acid content.

RESEARCH PROCESS. Being a fitness professional, I was fortunate to have few companies send me samples. The two I would like to point out are Naked Nutrition and Nuzest. Naked Nutrition does offer animal supplements (whey, casein, goat), but has a good variety of plant protein as well. Their products seem to be the cleanest with least amount of ingredients I have ever seen in a protein supplement. I am actually a big fan of their Naked Peanut butter powder. Nuzest is company that focuses primarily on pea protein supplements and they claim to have the best premium European quality golden pea protein in their products. And don’t we all agree, when it comes to food Europe beats US? Just think of Italy and France. To decide which pea protein tasted the best, I must say that Nuzest is a winner. With variety of flavors they offer, you always have a feeling you are having a different meal. They claim to have no solvents or chemicals in their product and they get their peas from France. Can it get any better than that?

HOW IS PROTEIN POWDER MADE? To make this shorter, I will only focus on whey and pea protein powder to give you an idea on how the process differs from another. And since we are trying to compare the cleanest versions, I will compare pea protein to whey isolate (cleanest whey of them all). One of the first things I noticed, while doing my research, was that finding information on whey is relatively easy. Pea, not so much. Most likely because it is somewhat new compared to whey supplements. Whey protein, as we know, is made from cow’s milk. cowSince it contains some harmful bacteria for human body, it goes through the process of pasteurization. Simply put, they boil it to 70-80 degrees C and then instantly cool it down to 4 degrees C (39 degrees F), where most of the bacteria dies. At this point we have 20% whey and 80% casein product. Since whey is a by-product of cheese manufacturing process, that is where the important process begin. To separate whey form casein the pasteurized milk is subjected to enzymes. We are left with 2 by-products in liquid and solid aggregate state. Solid part is used for cheese. peaThe liquid portion is whey with some fat and carbohydrates. This is further processed and purified to remove fat, carbohydrates, water and minerals. Lots of machinery is involved and the whole process is natural. Now, if you would consume this powder, without additional processing to add flavor and consistency, you might get the cleanest and most concentrated version of whey. And needless to say, Naked Nutrition offer whey in its most purest form. I just wasn’t blown away by its taste (how good can purified cow milk taste?). When we talk about extracting protein from peas, contamination is usually first thing that comes to mind. They grow in soil, use oxygen from the air and get nutrients from water. All that can be heavy contaminated depending on the location they grow in. Thankfully, I was able to talk to Krysta at Nuzest and she was able to provide me more first hand information on how they make their pea protein powder. They stand behind no solvents and no chemicals in their products. After pea seeds are dried, they mill them into flour. They add water and only water. After extraction of soluble proteins and decantation of non-soluble materials occurs, they remove fiber and soluble starches. The process is followed with pasteurization and ultrafiltration. The last step is drying the product with rotary wheel spray drier.

CONCLUSION. When we compare the two, the process is not much different. They both go through the steps of pasteurization, drying, separating the good from bad. Some companies will include solvents and chemicals to this process, so it is important that you do research on supplement you are taking. The longer the process, the cleaner the product and most likely more expensive the product. But what strikes me the most is the waste of a source. With whey, the actual outcome of processing the powder from raw liquid, which is only a 20% by-product of cow’s milk, we get only 0.7% of whey protein isolate and with pea protein we have 15% of pea powder after processing. And that is concerning. At Nuzest they assured me that their waste is converted to biofuel or animal feed and all water used is purified and recycled.

Hopefully this was helpful and informative. No matter what you decide, whey, pea, goat, rice or none of the supplements, being informed is never a bad idea. And we all just have to find, what works for us and our bodies. Until next time, stay on the K Train and let me know any topics you might want me to discuss. Thanks for reading!

If you are interested in ordering products from Nuzest use coupon code KTRAIN for 15% OFF and follow this link: http://www.nuzest-usa.com?p=SkvJfksjH

WHEN ARE YOU HEAVIER? BEFORE OR AFTER THE WORKOUT?

WHEN ARE YOU HEAVIER? BEFORE OR AFTER THE WORKOUT?

As a fitness professional I get asked this question a lot. You work so hard in the gym and you can’t figure out, why the scale sometimes doesn’t do the justice to the workout you just did. Either you just did fasted sweaty cardio session or lift all the weights in the gym, you are still heavier than you were before the workout. Doesn’t make sense, right? Let’s look at what actually happens to your body, when you work out. Does it make a difference, if you do cardio or strength train? Will HIIT make you lighter after the work out?

 

DURING THE WORKOUT. Within first 10 minutes of your workout, you will notice increase in your heart rate. This instantly brings more blood to your brain, making you more alert. With stress endorphins are released. They decrease feeling of pain, lead to feeling of euphoria, modulation of appetite and enhance the immune response. Think of endorphins as natural morphine. They interact with the same opiate receptors in the brain to reduce our perception of pain. The big difference though is the activation of the opiate receptors by the body’s endorphins, which does not lead to addiction or dependence like morphine does.Screen Shot 2019 05 30 at 1.23.11 PM

Depending on the intensity and duration of your workout, your body will use different energy systems, to keep you going. Blood transfers from your liver and digestive system to skeletal muscles (up to 20 times more blood), slowing down your digestion. Hormones tell the body to convert fat into glucose. Glucose is the sugar body stores from foods we eat in the form of glycogen. Your body uses adenosine triphosphate (ATP), but it only has small stores of both, glucose and ATP, so after it runs out of it, it will require extra oxygen to create more ATP. More blood is pumped to the exercising muscles to deliver additional oxygen. Without enough oxygen, lactic acid will form instead. Muscles generate lactic-acid as a byproduct of intense exercise. As lactic acid builds up, your pH of the blood around muscles drops, which causes fatigue and prevents you from continuing to exercise. You know that burn you feel? That’s a sign your muscles need to stop contracting to effectively metabolize build-up of lactic acid. Your diaphragm is a hard worker as well. It can pull in 15 times more oxygen than at rest.

 

RIGHT AFTER THE WORKOUT. One of the biggest factors in weight gain immediately after the workout is fluid retention. If you lose 4oz of sweat per workout and drink 20oz of fluids, you will have excess of 16oz in you. Eventually, if you are not dehydrated, your body will get rid of the access water, but it might not happen right after you stop working out. Another cause of water retention can be dehydration too. pexels photo 1342529If you don’t drink enough fluids, your body will trigger survival mechanism and retain the fluids you already have in your body. But all that should go away, within the next few days. And then there is DOMS. Delayed onset muscle soreness. It is soreness you feel 24-48 hours after you workout. During the workout, you tear your muscles, which is necessary in muscle growth process. Those little tears in your muscle fibers can cause slight swelling, resulting in water retention within the muscle. Immediately after the workout your body will try to get to a resting state as quickly as possible. The fitter you get the faster this process is. All the body functions that slowed down during the workout, will now speed up (including your digestion) and vice versa. Interestingly, during this process there is typically an over-reaching effect, where the body doesn’t just go back to “normal” pre-exercise levels, but it actually overcompensates. For example, when you exercise your heart activity is elevated as well as resistance within the blood vessels, which results in increased blood pressure. However, after the workout some people can experience “post-workout hypotension” (low blood pressure). 

 

FEW WEEKS AFTER STARTING REGULAR EXERCISE. Over the next few weeks, you’ll slowly start to build up production of mitochondria via a process called mitochondrial biogenesis. Mitochondria are the parts of your cells that convert carbs, fat, and protein into fuel that your muscles use to do their job. After six to eight weeks you can increase your mitochondria by up to 50%. With more mitochondria in your cells, you’ll start to feel fitter and your endurance will increase. This means running three miles, will no longer feel as difficult as it did during that first week. It takes about 2 weeks to start seeing some results, if you follow a healthy nutrition plan. But since we are all very unique, some people might see it before others. After one year of regular exercise, your bones will be denser, which reduces your risk of osteoporosis. In fact, researchers have shown that regular resistance training, when combined with aerobic exercise, can actually reverse the effects of osteoporosis after 12 months.

 

Now find that workout routine, that makes you happy and enjoy all the benefits of exercising. And don’t step on the scale immediately after, expecting lower number on the scale 😉.

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FAT…TRENDING TOPIC OR TABU?

FAT…TRENDING TOPIC OR TABU?

How do you feel about fat? Overwhelmed with information? Eager to tell your friend all you know about it? Or are you one of those people who just doesn’t want to talk about it. Well, I am someone who kills fat for a living and my clients love and hate me for it. I am here to tell you more about this nutrient that society still can’t decide whether they like or not.

What is fat?

You hear so much about it. It literally went from “Public enemy number 1” to “All you should eat is fat” approach. Ketogenic diet, ketosis, paleo diet, body fat, fatty acids, etc. All these words are bombarding our phones, TVs and magazines (if you still read them). But do you really know what fat is and why do we need it (or don’t)?

Fat serves functions like insulation, cell structure, nerve transmission, vitamin absorption and hormone production. Fat is also a major fuel source for the body. If we break it down to calories, fat has the highest amount of calories at 9cal per gram, which makes it almost 38kJ (compared to protein and carbohydrates  at almost 17kJ). Kilojoules (kJ) are measures of how much energy body gets from food or drink. And it looks like fat will give you the highest amount of energy per gram. And I am talking energy because we eat (and drink) food for energy, so we can conquer the world one step at the time.

All the myths and truth

• “Eat fat. It won’t make you fat.” For decades we thought, if we eat fat, we will get fat. Now we hear, all you need to eat is fat to lose weight. How can two totally different sentences become our reality? Harvard did research and concluded that low-fat diets are not more effective in long-term weight loss than higher-fat diets. Problem becomes, when you eat low anything, your body will make you eat more of something else. And if that ends up being refined carbs and sugar, you will gain weight. Fat has this great trait we often forget about: Satiety, the feeling of fullness. How? The presence of fat in small intestine triggers the release of the hormone cholecystokinin. It stimulates the release of gastric inhibitory peptide and secretin, which decreases gut movement and slow digestion. Eating a low-fat diet will make you eat more of something else. It is how our bodies work.

“All you should eat is fat!” Now, before you stock up on avocados, nuts, jars of olive oil and almond butter, let me stop you. Keep reading. Once your body gets enough fat to sustain and effectively do its essential roles in the body (read above), all the extra calories you consumed with fatty foods will “unfortunately” stay in the body. Any fatty acids NOT IMMEDIATELY NEEDED by the cells pass to the liver, where they are repackaged and sent to adipose tissue, where they are stored as fat. And excess of anything means weight gain. Now at 9 cal per gram, eating too much fat can be more detrimental than eating too much protein and carbs (4 cal per gram). Bottom line is, you should get 20-30% of your calories from fat to give your body sustainable fuel.

• Fat-free or low fat? Now that’s another question people get confused about and pulled in all directions. What’s better? Healthier? If you take something out of the food that you are eating, it will lose it’s flavor. Manufacturers do a great job at replacing fat with artificial ingredients, sugar or salt. And if they don’t, taste will be compromised, as well as something more important. Absorption of vitamins and minerals. For example, when you opt-out for fat-free salad dressing, you might not fully absorb the fat-soluble antioxidants (lycopene and beta-carotene) found in vegetables. But then again, you can also add olive oil or avocado and get the same effect and avoid any artificial ingredients dressings can have :). The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who gravitate towards full-fat dairy products may have lowavocado 829092 480er rates of diabetes (probably because of that sugar manufactures add into your fat-free food). The body also needs fat to go along with vitamin D, calcium and the nutrients in dairy to get their full benefits. So feel free to reach after natural, full-fat state of foods, but be aware of your portions.

Fat as fuel or Keto diet

Fat is the best fuel. But is it? Here is where I break into the world known as Ketogenic diet. I write “World” because they actually really should have their own planet :). Only 10% of calories is consumed from carbohydrates and up to 75% from fat. Keto advocates believe that this will induce a physiological shift, where a body in motion is more efficient at burning fat during exercise. They believe it provides a bigger reserve of energy to push through long training bouts than loading up on pasta, pancakes and bagels before big races. Loading on carbohydrates inhibits fat utilization and can lead to premature fatigue and brain fog. But is that true? In 2016 The Journal Metabolism found that marathoners and Ironman participants, who consumed a high-fat diet (70% fat, 10% carbs) for 9-36months, burned fat at much greater rates during a 180min run at 64% VO2max, than those who followed lower-fat diet (25% fat, 59% carbs). But before you indulge that guacamole, ask yourself, “Are your workouts 180mins long? Are you signing up for next Ironman? Maybe you’d like to become professionals marathoner?” If you answered “Yes” to one of those questions, you have my permission to eat that guacamole :).

But, if you are a regular gym goer, that likes to take HIIT classes, you might want to keep reading. HIIT classes are usually shorter than 180mins and way more intense than 64% VO2max. I’m sure you sometimes feel like you will have a heart attack :). Fact is, carbohydrates require less chemical reactions in your body to be converted into useful fuel, which makes them faster available for you in the intense short bouts of work you are doing during your lunch hour. All of a sudden carbs are good, right?

 

What about saturated fat?

Screen Shot 2018 10 10 at 11.36.26 AM

If you are at least a little bit in the know of nutrition, you can say for certain that saturated fat is bad for you. And you are right! You might have heard opposite, but remember that “Lack of harm is not the same as being good for you.” Saturated fat in still linked to cardiovascular disease and higher risk for heart conditions than unsaturated fat (mono and poly). But good news for all my chocolate lovers (myself included :)). Not all saturated fat is created equal. Stearic acid in chocolate and lauric acid in coconut oil might be more innocuous than those found in beef and diary. But unfortunately, they are still not proven healthier than nuts, avocado or seeds. Dark chocolate covered almonds anyone?

Experts advise not to eat more than 10% of your daily calories in saturated fat. They actually recommend to avoid it, if possible and try to substitute it with less harmful unsaturated version.

Bottom line

Fat shouldn’t be a tabu nor the only thing you eat. It has to be a trending topic so we can all learn more about it. It is necessary for our well being. Let’s all focus more on quality of food we are eating every day and not how many percentage come from each macronutrients. A well balanced diet in abundance of whole foods is a recipe for long, healthy life. And at the end of the day, a trip to Whole Foods and getting a trainer or gym membership, might be cheaper than your medical bill. Try it!

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any topics you’d like to know more about, feel free to send a message and I will do my best to write on it in my next flog.

WORKOUT? WHY?

WORKOUT? WHY?

Question you may ask yourself daily, weekly or monthly. It doesn’t matter, at some point it does come up. Either you’re a regular at the gym or someone who gets annoyed just when, they hear a word “gym”. I was both. Someone who thought will bulk up, if I lift a 10lbs DB and someone who couldn’t think about going into the gym and use a machine, that I didn’t even know how to use. Today I am someone, who finds a different reason, why I workout almost every time I go to the gym and I can’t imagine my life without it.

 

Basics

You hear your friends say “Let’s go to the gym! It’s fun! You’ll feel great afterwards.” But in your head, all you hear is your inner voice telling you “It’s boring. It hurts and I don’t see a single fun thing, while doing it.” And that’s OK, you are not the only one. I’m here to talk about very good reasons on why you should get involved in some kind of physical activity. There are scientific researches done, that prove exercise will increase your energy level, reduce risk of chronic diseases, increase your bone density, improve your skin and you might lose some weight on the way, too. There is more, but do you really want to hear more? 🙂 You have to master the basics first in order to become an expert.

Endorphins. You probably heard of them before and you know they release during exercise. But how does that really happen? Endorphins (endogenous morphine) are hormones naturally produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland. The principal function of endorphins is to inhibit the communication of pain signals. That pain, that you didn’t want to feel, when your friends invited you to go with them. Endorphins will interact with the receptors in your brain that reduce your perception of pain. Vigorous aerobic exercise can stimulate the release of β-endorphin, a potent μ-opioid receptor agonist, in the human body, which contributes to phenomenon known as “runners high”. Now, this may explain, what your friends were talking about. Endorphins can even cause a feeling of euphoria. And you probably thought they were on something :).

Chronic disease. We often hear this, but do you really know what it is, how it happens and what are their symptoms? Chronic disease is a condition you can control with treatment for months, years or even a lifetime. Usually, doctors use term chronic for disease that lasts longer than three months. Asthma, diabetes, cancer and depression are common examples. Often, they don’t have a cure, but you can live with them and manage their symptoms. The disease can also go through cycles of growing, shrinking and staying the same. But how can exercise prevent this or make symptoms less present in every day life? Very common reason for most chronic diseases is intra-abdominal fat. That is a layer of fatty tissue that surrounds your organs. Getting regular, moderate-intensity exercise may be critically important, if you want to reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease and other chronic diseases. Where you tend to store body fat is an important determinant of future health. Weight gain in the abdominal area (apple shape) doubles the risk for coronary heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and stroke, compared to individuals of the same overall body fat who tend to store fat in the hips, buttocks, and thighs (pear shape). The reason for this difference seems to be that fat in the abdomen is more easily mobilized and sent into the bloodstream, increasing the disease-related blood fat levels. Reducing intra-abdominal, or visceral fat, is important because in addition to increasing the risk of cardiovascular disease, among other conditions, such fat can raise insulin levels, which promotes the growth of cancer cells. Abdominal circumferences of greater than 40 inches (102 cm) in men and 35 inches (89 cm) in women are considered strong indicators of abdominal obesity.

Bone density. Osteoporosis. The most common chronic disease in elderly. About half of all women and a quarter of all men over the age of 50 will break a bone due toosteoporosis. By the time a woman reaches the age of 70, she may have lost as much as 30% of her bone density. How can wyoga 1434787 480e make our bones thicker and what actually happens during the exercise? Impact is what makes our bones thinner. The bone senses these small changes and can grow dramatically in order to reduce the risk of breaking. For example, the racket arm bone of tennis players can be 20% wider and contain 40% more bone mineral than their other arm, while sprint runners have up to a third more bone in their shin bone than people who don’t exercise. Swimming and cycling will give you healthy heart, lungs and muscles, but bones will not be much different from people who do not exercise. We seem to need high impacts to produce big enough muscle and impact forces to make our bones change.

 

 

Better skin. When you exercise your heart works faster and requires more blood flow to keep up with your pace. By increasing blood flow, exercise helps nourish skin cells and keep them vital. But how? With more blood, comes more oxygen and nutrients to working cells throughout the body. Blood won’t just bring nutrients, it will also carry away waste products (free radicals aka cellular debris) from working cells. Unfortunately, I have to tell you exercise won’t detoxify your skin. This job belongs to our liver. Stress has been linked to skin in some researches and studies have shown that the sebaceous glands, which produce oil in the skin, are influenced by stress hormones. So lift that dumbbell for an extra glow and carry on :).

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Weight loss. To lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. It is that simple. Forget about all the diets, because even, if you follow a restricted diet, if you eat more calories than you burn throughout the day, you will not lose weight. A lot of times is not about, what you eat, but how much you eat it.

 

 

 

 

What now?

You’ve learned your body is capable of a chemical reaction to make your workout less painful, you know how your bones can get thicker, how to make your skin glow and lose some pounds, but you still find yourself with no motivation, desire, energy or plain good reason to workout. If nothing above motivates you, you will have to dig a little deeper into what your reason will be. Because hey, don’t we all live life with some kind of purpose and reasons to get out of bed every morning? You will have to find, what matters to you and I can assure you, you will see that exercise can improve it. Unless you wake up every morning to be unhealthy, because at the end of the day, if you eat donuts and pizza, that is your reality. After you find your reason, you made a first step to potentially starting your workout routine. But, if I’m completely honest, now it’s the time, when you will get to know how determined and consistent you can be as a person.

How to start?

For the sake of this discussion, let’s say that your reason is simply to “be healthier”. I have heard this many times in my personal training career and it is just a little better start than “I don’t know.” Because quite frankly, you need something more specific. The more specific you get, the more chance you have to be successful. When you have your reason, it’s time to make the next step. Exercise. Just a thought of stepping into the gym and asking a front desk employee about their membership options is horrifying. And on top of that, you will probably be able to retest your anatomy knowledge, just by looking at them. There is lots of options out there on how to start your workout routine, but I have to say, going into the gym is the most common and convenient, since there is probably one 5mins from your house. You can also ask one of your “crazy” friends that workout regularly, if they know any trainers or people at the gym, to give you a more private approach, so it won’t feel so intimidating. After you get a basic knowledge on how to use a treadmill and how to hold a dumbbell, it is time to find YOURSELF in this fitness world everyone is so crazy about. Your one and only goal in the beginning has to be to find something, that will make you happy and you will look forward to coming back to (to some extend :)). You might try 10 different workouts/classes, before you find something you like. Kind of like finding a partner. Very rarely you marry the one you have the first date with :). But if you did, I envy you. My experience show that, getting a trainer is probably the best bet in the beginning. Having undivided attention, someone with broad knowledge of different workouts and definitely a few certifications under their belt, will give you an opportunity to find what you like.

All this can apply to all my regulars as well. You might have determination to workout 5-6 days/week (1 day for recovery is a must), but you are not enjoying your workouts anymore, you hit plateau on the way to your fitness goal or your reason from 5 years ago just doesn’t apply anymore because you’ve lost the 20lbs already. Stepping outside of your comfort zone will open the doors to a better you. And isn’t that what life is all about, to be better than you were yesterday?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any topics you’d like to know more about, feel free to send a message and I will do my best to write on it in my next flog.

Katja iz Nuzest.si

Običajno odgovori v roku 1 ure.

Trenutno nismo na voljo, lahko pa nam pošljete sporočilo.

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