8/9/2019 1 Powder Power

1/1

46 AUGUST 2009 MW

Protein is the most im-portant of the three macronutrients, the other twobeing carbohydrates and fat.Required for the structure,function and regulation of thebodys cells, tissues, and or-gans, each protein has uniquefunctions. It may serve as astructural material (fibrousprotein, for example, keratin),as enzymes, as transporter

(example, haemoglobin), asan antibody (for immunity) oras regulators of gene expres-sion. Proteins are essentialcomponents of muscles,skin, bones and the body as awhole. From the bodybuild-ers perspective, the mostimportant is building muscletissue, which is made up ofprotein (actin and myosin). So,its a simple fact that to buildmuscle you must consumeadequate protein.

HOWMUCH:The thumb ruleis one gram of protein perpound of lean bodyweight(i.e. 2.2 grams per kilo of lean

bodyweight)HOWTOCONSUME: Spread itout over five meals and con-sume equal portions in eachof them. Make sure your postworkout meal is a proteinshake. The other meals canbe whole food portions.

THEMEAL:A meal in fitnessterms is not your convention-

al lunch, dinner or breakfast.The concept of a meal hereis basically any portion offood you consume after afixed interval of time. So, forexample, your evening snackis considered a meal andso is your post workoutprotein shake.FORNON-VEGETARIANS: Eggs,chicken, fish and lean meat

FORVEGETARIANS: Cottage

cheese, skim milk, soy,sprouts, lentils and tofu

TIPSFORVEGETARIANS:

Vegetarians will find it quitedifficult to meet their totalprotein requirements (seetable) from food alone. Agood idea is to throw in a

scoop of a proteinpowder such asONs ANY WHEY,which is a flavour-less cookable wheyprotein, into yourdal, atta, oatmeal,etc. to automatically

boost the inherentprotein content ofyour foods. Alter-natively, consume ascoop of a proteinpowder with everymeal.PROTEINSUPPLE-

MENTSDEFINED:Remember the milkbeverage your momforced down yourthroat throughout

your school years? That wasthe original protein supple-ment. Then came the body-builders with their hunger forlarger-than-life muscle mass(a la Arnold Schwarzeneg-ger) and scientists were leftscratching their heads as tohow to re-engineer their for-mulations to accommodatethese new demands.

ENTERTHEMODERNPROTEIN

POWDER:Take the originalprotein powder your momgave you in childhood, Use

10x better protein sources,subtract the carbs, fat and so-dium, purify further , add richcreamy flavours and bingo you have you have themodern day protein powder.

TYPES OF PROTEIN

SUPPLEMENTS:

WHEYPROTEINPOWDERS:Theseare ubiquitous all over theplace. But beware! All wheyprotein powders are notcreated equal. Heres how to

choose:Brand reputation:A repu-table brand will stick to labelclaims for protein percent-ages. A lot of the newer andlesser known brands willexaggerate their label claimvalues just to measure upto the bigger brands whileoffering very low prices, andunsuspecting customers geteasily carried away thinkingthey are getting a better

value. Remember, proteinis a very expensive ingredi-ent to produce and you getwhat you pay for. Watch outfor smaller and lesser knownbrands stating unbelievablelabel values.Check whether its a multisource whey blend ora single source isolate:Multi-source whey blendscomprising a combination of

whey protein isolates as wellas concentrates are a betterbet than single source whey

isolates. You not only geta product at a much lowerprice, but the other add-onsin whey blends actuallyend up producing a moreuser-friendly product thanthe overpriced single sourcewhey isolates.Check whether whey isolatesare the primary source ofyour whey blend: Althoughthe point described above istrue, beware of the majorityof whey blends which have

whey concentrates (WPC) asthe primary protein source.These products end up add-ing whey isolates in very smallquantities just to make thelabel look impressive. Go for a

whey blend which has wheyprotein isolates (WPI) as theprimary protein source.Check whether hydrolyzedwhey peptides (HYD-ROWHEY) is a part of theformula: Check whether yourpowder has these shorterchains of amino acids calledwhey peptides. These areabsorbed much faster thanregular WPC or WPI and

are highly desirable postworkout.Digestive enzymes:Digestiveenzymes such as Aminogenhelp digest your whey proteinbetter. Ensure that they formpart of your formula.

PROFESSIONAL POSTWORKOUT

FORMULAS:These are specificproducts formulated for postworkout use. They include notonly protein, but all the othernutrients you need after astrenuous workout and thattoo in the precise ratios.

MULTI-PROTEINBLENDS: In

addition to the all-importantwhey protein, these alsoinclude other protein sourcessuch as egg, milk and caseinto give a protein powder thatcan be used at other timesof the day (such as betweenmeals, to replace a meal, pre-workout).

MEALREPLACEMENTS:Thesecontain high protein, moder-ate carbs and good fats alongwith fiber and all other micro-nutrients (vitamins/ minerals)to give you a nutritious mealreplacement alternative whenyou are travelling.

NIGHTTIMEPROTEINPOWDERS:

Used at night before bed-time, they give a sustainedrelease effect throughout theeight hours of your sleep.

FITNESS

(PROTEINS

Powder PowerThe modern protein powder is much morecomplex and effective

BYSAMITGUPTA

FOODPROTEIN

IN GM

Egg 1WHOLEEGG 6

Egg white 3

Chicken 100GM 26

Pompfret 100GM 18

Sardine 100GM 21

Paneer 100GM 18

Skimmed milk 200ML 7

Soy 100GM 36

Sprouts 100GM 25

Lentils100GM 23

Tofu100 GM 10

Samit Gupta is the Managing Director of Neulife

Store and a specialist in performance nutrition.

You may send your queries on nutrition or body-

building to info@neulife.com