The protein shake is suitable for everyone: for those who want to lose weight, for athletes, for children, and pregnant! It can be prepared in many different ways, according to tastes and needs, and eaten for breakfast, as a snack between meals, and sometimes even instead of a meal! Very easy to prepare and inexpensive!
Why supplement your diet with a protein shake
The proteins are large molecules made up of amino acids linked together, which perform numerous functions all ‘inside of our organism. They are essential for building lean mass (i.e. muscles), for the balance of our metabolism, for the replication of our DNA, for the immune response, and much more. In practice, they participate in every cellular process.
Proteins are synthesized by our body starting from amino acids: about 20 types are known, which are used in particular sequences depending on the protein to be synthesized. However, some of them, called essential, cannot be formed by our body and must be taken regularly through food, such as for example phenylalanine, methionine, or tryptophan.
The daily protein requirement of our body, on average, is about 50-60 mg / per kg of body/day.
The benefits of taking protein shakes
As we said, our bodies need protein to keep muscles, bones, and cells healthy and to produce energy. If you think you are not getting enough, especially given the hectic pace of modern city life and the always limited time dedicated to meals, a great way to supplement them is protein shakes.
Regular intake of well-made protein shakes will lead to several benefits:
- Helps Lose Weight: Taking them between meals as snacks will increase your basal metabolic rate, while drunk in the evening before bed, improve sleep, and stimulate growth hormones to burn fat
- it will provide energy throughout the day, reducing the sense of hunger, especially if taken at breakfast
- it will provide all the amino acids necessary for the production of proteins in our body, avoiding that their possible deficiency leads to damage to our muscular and bone system
- taken before or after sports training, it will give energy and allow you to build lean mass (i.e. muscles) faster
- The building blocks for a good protein shake
Depending on your tastes and needs, you can prepare many types of smoothies, however, the basic ingredients that should never be missing for a good smoothie are:
- The milk. Any type of milk is fine but if you follow a low-calorie diet you have to choose the completely skimmed one, from which the fats have been removed. A normal cup has 8 mg. of protein, while the skim one only 3 mg. If you are intolerant to milk, you can use soy, perhaps flavored with vanilla which has the same properties. If you prefer it sweet, use a cup of almond milk.
- Yogurt . Better if the Greek one which has a good acidic consistency and is lean. It alone contributes 12 mg of protein. Instead of yogurt you can opt for lean unsalted ricotta, which will give density to the preparation.
- Egg white , possibly from organic and pasteurized eggs. On the market there are packages of egg white or egg white powder, often more practical but much more expensive.
- Bitter cocoa : 10 g provide 2 g of protein
- Fresh fruit : a choice according to your taste, including apricots, kiwis, raspberries etc. However, banana should never be missing, both because it is very protein and because it gives a creamy texture to the smoothie. If you prefer, you can add dried fruit, which contains more protein.
Pour everything into the blender for about 1 minute, and the smoothie is ready. Enjoy your meal!
