Whey Protein: The Healthy Choice

Healthy diets should regularly include high quality, low fat sources of protein. In order to eat healthy and stay in shape, it is definitely important to find the absolute best sources for your daily protein. If you haven’t yet, you should definitely take a look at whey protein.

Many of you may be asking, “What is whey protein”? If you haven’t heard of it before, it may seem like yet another over-hyped fad that will come and go before the next health trend hits the market. It is important to note that whey protein has been around for hundreds of years and will always be one of the very best sources of protein you can find anywhere!

Remember the old nursery rhyme: “Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet, eating her curds and whey?” Well, Curds and Whey are the two byproducts formed while making cheese from cow's milk. Although cheese is far more familiar, whey protein turns out to be a much better protein for you. It won’t stick to your arteries and veins and is easy to digest. It's also more soluble which means you can absorb more if it. That's one of the reasons why it's also the best type of protein for infants and children.

Doctors and other health professionals have singled out whey protein as an incomparable ingredient for weight loss, immune system support, infant nutrition, and particularly sports nutrition.

All Protein foods are not created equal and can vary in a number of ways including the following:

* Number and quantity of essential amino acids
* Fat content
* Purity
* Digestion and absorption rates

Whey protein is full of rich amounts of all of the essential amino acids, which makes it a very high quality complete protein. It is the richest known source of naturally occurring branched chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine). This is important because the body needs to feed muscles during exercise, and branched chain amino acids provide that energy directly to muscle tissue. Other types of amino acids are first metabolized through the liver. Many athletes have a whey protein shake or drink both before and immediately after exercise or an event to help repair and rebuild lean muscle tissue.

When it comes to a healthy diet, we all know that calories count. You want to make sure that you are getting the most benefit from the calories you consume. Compared to other proteins, whey protein delivers more essential amino acids to the body without the fat or cholesterol, so it allows you to get the most benefit per calorie.

Studies have found that individuals who exercise and combine diets with leucine rich protein foods like whey protein lose more body fat and have more lean muscle tissue. As they lose fat they are able to increase their metabolic rate and naturally burn more calories each day. Whey protein shakes have the added benefit of making you feel full, which helps to manage your weight.

With complex amino acids, low calorie fat burning power, and a fast absorption rate, whey protein is clearly a smart addition to any healthy diet.