Finding the needle in the haystack when it comes to protein shakes

We all know that moment when you finish a killer workout and your muscles are starting to feel sore straight away. Personally for me, I enjoy a nice, hot bath to relax my sore muscles but as it goes for time (and money as well), it doesn’t grow on trees…unfortunately. So integrating good nutrition and supplements into your daily diet is necessary when you’re asking the max of your muscles during a workout.

Some of the benefits when taking protein shakes:

• When taking a protein shake right after a workout it will heal the so called ‘micro-tears’ in your muscles immediately
• Increase of muscle mass and development
• Easier fat loss while it increases the amount of calories your body burns to digest it (the so called thermic effect)
• Greater strength gains from training
• Better sleep due to optimizing the chemical transmitter balance which makes us energized during the day but sleepy at night

A few months ago I decided to integrate shakes of whey protein into my daily diet. Proteins are essential when it comes to recovering and maintaining healthy and strong muscles. Over a longer period of time it helps you to gain and maintain more strength and prevents injuries due to overpressure. Since I was working out quite often at the 640 Gym it was a necessity to add protein shakes in my daily nutrition intake.

Protein shakes are available in a large variety of different tastes and can be used in all kinds of food applications. While there is a huge market for protein shakes it can be difficult to find the right one for you. As a ‘strong and independent’ (doing a little queen Bee) newby myself I decided to just experiment with a couple to find out what suits me and my lifestyle the best. Soon I noticed big and positive improvements in the healing process of my muscles and I was able to workout more often and regularly because of the decrease of muscle pains. YAY!

Unfortunately though, like any other steady ‘relationship’ there appeared to be something that I wasn’t really happy about. Throughout time I got more and more stomach problems and an ever lasting bloated belly which made me look like I was working out for a pie eating contest instead of slimming down a couple of sizes.

It took me a few hours of research on the internet to understand that the physical problems I got were most likely caused by using protein shakes. And soon it became clear that due to the fact I am lactose intolerant I got most of the problems. As a lot of brands are promising to sell pure whey protein they still have added E-numbers, artificial sugar and preservatives into the products they sell.

In this article I will help you out a bit by introducing you #fitgirls to a new kind of a plant based protein. It’s a pretty good solution for people who are lactose intolerant or rather use plant based protein.

Enjoy Natural is a new and innovative brand in the field of offering protein shakes. They distinguish themselves from other competitors by their social economical approach (Naturally from Africa) and providing sustainable plant based proteins. Enjoy Natural allows African farmers to produce these products for a fair price and sharing the profit they make out of selling their products. Enjoy Natural also engages in sustainable harvesting of the plants and processing. This way they want to contribute to the economic development in Africa. They offer three different plant based blends which contain ‘biologic powerfoods’ as Moringa, Baobab and Cacao and are free of additive sugars, e-numbers, gluten and are ‘non GMO’.

From now on I will start taking these plant based protein shakes daily and share my experiences with you of this natural product. My main goal is to feel less bloated, have less stomach cramps while still having the positive effects of taking protein shakes. In addition, you are also supporting a social purpose by giving the economy in Africa a chance and let local farmers harvest in a fair and dignified manner.

So what kind of proteins are you using to maintain healthy and strong muscles? Do you have any advice, tips or questions regarding protein intake? Or having troubles implementing proteins in your daily diet? Stay tuned as I will post delicious protein based recipes soon!