If you are like me, you pick out a pair of shoes like you are buying a house. I thought of this as I raced to my second job and realized that I am just as picky as what I put in my body as I am about what I put on it (you should see my makeup collection!). A staple in my diet is protein powder, particularly when I am trying to lean out. If you are relatively new to dieting as a lifestyle change; allow the credible sources at bodybuilding.com helped me to guide you through where to begin in terms of protein powder. Fear not, I will not make you drink a glass of raw eggs, at least not right away. Just kidding! Sort of. But there is a lot to think about, I mean, if you are deciding to take better care of your life and body, it is a safe assumption that you are starting to look a bit more carefully at your choices of food and vitamins.

If you do not like the idea of taking protein powder for whatever reason; please rest assured that it is more than harmless. I am not a nutritionist, I am not a doctor, but I am instead someone who is all too familiar with the struggle of finding the right kind of meal replacement. There are many advantages of using a protein powder, the more obvious ones being convenience. If you have a busy day, you need calories, and I am with you there. I never have the time to meal prep, so it is my saving grace to mix a shake real fast to feed my muscles and me for the next two to three hours before I get my hands on my next meal. There are a lot of natural ways to seek out protein in your natural diet. By all means, however, if you want to grab eight egg whites and six chicken breasts a day – it’s not impossible. Difficult, definitely, but not impossible by any stretch. Just take a few tips from yours truly to pick and choose the ideal protein powder and supplements for your needs.

First and foremost, the advantages of making these supplements a part of your everyday life are not to be glossed over. The convenience alone is enough, I cannot tell you how many times I took a little longer in the morning, and refused to skip breakfast. This week, I am going to teach all you guys how to read a label. If you had a morning like I did and you know it would be another good two or three hours before you eat. In that case, you should look for a whey protein concentrate, for my vegetarian and lactose intolerant friends, they have soy protein (See? I’m looking out for you guys too!). The foods I mention before, they contain complete proteins. Basically, there is more protein in these foods than anything else, which is what you want.

There are two kinds of protein in the whole foods we eat, in the foods I listed above; fish, chicken, eggs etc. these are what are known as “complete” and “essential” proteins. What we are going to be focusing on this week are supplementary proteins. The kind to give you a real boost in terms of muscle recovery and conditioning. Supplementary proteins offer you a range of twenty to twenty five grams. Muscle gainers, tend to offer more of everything.

There are three kinds of protein powder; there’s Casein which you should take before you go to bed at night since it is for a slow release of amino acids. Taking it before you go to bed keeps feeding your muscle through the course of eight hours; during sleep is the ideal time for it to work. There is the type that I mentioned before which is called a concentrate and that is handy for a meal replacement. Then finally there is the one that everyone is a bit more familiar with, that is a whey protein isolate that is something that you are going to want to take about thirty to forty minutes before a work out and within about ten to fifteen minutes after your workout. Time is essential in the fitness game, in particular when it comes to nutrition.

Knowledge is power when it comes to a label. You do not want to just throw the first thing that proclaims to be high in protein in your face. That is my next point; a lot of the time, less is more. If you are looking to lean out or lose weight, you want to pay special attention to your calorie deficit. So, if you are trying to lose weight; go for anything with a calorie count of 90 up to 110 calories. This is important if you want to mix it with Almond Milk, if you are mixing it with water go on the high side. Next up, watch the sugar, you want something under five grams, if you are having this multiple times a day it will add up believe me. Combine that with the natural sugars from the fruit and the good carbs that you should be eating. So you are going to be totally fine in terms of sugar intake. Then there’s carbohydrates –quite possibly the most delicious word in the English language- since it’s summer you are going to want to lean out so keep the carbs to a minimum. Keep them under ten grams tops when you look at a label. Speaking of which the bread and butter of this whole endeavor? The Protein. Anything that has less than twenty grams, walk away. Fast. That is wasting time and money. In a supplement you want maybe twenty to thirty grams a glass. While you are examining it, look at the fiber. Does it have more than five grams? If so, throw it out, get your money back because it is basically useless. Fiber sticks to your system, it is very hard to digest and can sit there and turn into fat which is very counterproductive in this case.

Ladies, there are a few differences in terms of men and women’s protein intake. It is a relatively small one, but it is a big one as well. Try and go for something with a lot Vitamin B6 and Folic acids. Other than that, if you are a woman and you want to use a man’s protein powder-you will be fine. It will not make you bulky, I will explain that in next week’s article. If I left anything out, I use bodybuilding.com for any questions I have, I steer clear of WebMD before I do anything. This week I got to use myprotein.com because I had several questions on whether or not it made a difference if the consumer was a man or a woman. So let me know what kind of proteins you use; my favorites are Quest, Eat the Bear, Phase8, and I just a got a shipment of IdealFit powder that I will be reviewing for you guys next week. Happy training!