Protein powder. Everyone loves it. Everyone takes it.
And it’s totally understandable. You can make tasty protein shakes and choose from a variety of different tastes and forms.
You just gotta shake it up and you have all the protein you need in seconds
Now you just have to take it every day and you’ll be building pounds of muscles and shedding fat in no time. Right?
Wrong! The truth is, protein powder is probably making you sick and having the exact opposite effect you desire.
In this article, you will learn why most of the protein powder on the market is pure garbage, why you probably shouldn’t take it and what alternatives you should consider instead.
Protein Powder Makes You Sick!
Most of today’s supplements are filled with toxic ingredients. They contain harmful chemicals that you definitely don’t want in your body.
Protein powder is no exception. Most of the protein powder you can buy comes from the same source and it’s only repackaged differently before it’s finally sold to you.
These protein powders contain harmful ingredients like aspartame, artificial flavoring, gluten, soy, preservatives, and tons of other additives that disrupt your health and many of your vital bodily functions like your metabolism, your hormones, and your digestion.
Everybody who is a regular Next Level Rebel reader knows how much I pay attention to optimizing things like your testosterone and your metabolism.
That is because your hormones, your metabolism and really every vital function in your body is key to your health, mental- and physical well-being and being high-energy.
If these things are not in check you will experience problems like lack of energy, motivation, low libido, skin- and hair problems, joint pain and suppressed immune function.
Stop Constipating Us With Your Protein Farts
Most people don’t do well with protein powders.
They get gut problems, constipation, stinky protein farts, acne, they pull water and get a puffy face.
The reason for that is that most people, even though they aren’t really aware of it, don’t tolerate dairy and with whey protein, it’s even worse because your body has an even harder time digesting it.
Add to that that most people buy the cheapest low-quality protein powder they can find and you run into digestion problems and constipation very fast.
Whey protein itself is actually just a waste product of cheese manufacturing and is only being sold to you because some smart dude found out that he can sell that waste to you and get even more money with that.
Now that in and of itself isn’t necessarily a problem but if you keep in mind that most people have trouble tolerating dairy and couple it with all of the additives in low-quality protein powders and you got a recipe for disaster coming.
You know how important gut health is, right? It’s literally the foundation of your health and if your gut is out of whack, so will be your whole system.
If your gut is inflamed and that is what happens when you eat something you don’t tolerate well, your body actually shuts down the surrounding muscles like your deep abdominal muscles. This process is called visceral-somatic-inhibition.
The muscles of your deep abdominal stabilize your spine and keep everything tight. They actually have a corset effect on your waist and make it smaller and stronger. If these muscles are shut down, you will experience loss of strength, a protruding gut, and an anterior pelvic tilt.
Stay Away From Protein Powder!
As you can see, such a seemingly harmless thing like protein powder can majorly impact your gut health and even mess up your posture.
Who would’ve thought that? You have to look at the body as a whole. Your whole body and all its functions are connected together and influence each other.
If one thing is messed up, chances are pretty high that other parts will be messed up too, and they will end up having to compensate for each other.
That’s why I highly recommend you to remove things out of your diet that negatively impact your digestion or your hormonal production and protein powder is one of these things.
The alleged benefits of protein powder aren’t worth your health.
It’s a lot more important that your body and your health are operating at it’s highest level. You will have a much easier time building muscle, getting stronger, leaner and achieving the body you always wanted when your body is healthy and working well.
Your mind will be a lot sharper too and you will quickly experience just how much untapped potential lies within you that is just ready to be used to create the life of your dreams and achieve your goals!
If we look a little further, you will quickly see that these alleged “benefits” of protein powder aren’t even worth it.
Protein Powder Is Worthless
Everybody who works out a little takes protein shakes. They think that drinking protein shakes will make their bodies build muscle and burn fat literally overnight.
But that’s not the case. The truth is protein powder won’t do anything. Nothing.
As I explained in the last post, the supplement industry is scamming you into buying their products and they don’t actually build muscle or burn fat. Any substance that really helps you build pounds of muscles and burn the fat of your body is illegal.
The thing with protein powder is that it’s just that, protein. Nothing more. The same thing you can get from your chicken and your eggs.
Its only purpose is to supplement your nutrition in case you don’t get enough protein in your diet.
The problem is that most people think it’s some magical substance that will help you achieve your dream body. But if you get enough protein through your diet, you don’t need protein powder at all.
Now I understand that sometimes, you just can’t get all the protein you need because you are on a tight schedule and you have a busy day.
Isn’t a protein shake better than nothing then? Well, kinda.
Here’s the thing with protein powder. On top of the negative effects on your body, like messing up your digestion and your hormones, it can’t really be absorbed by your body that well.
It’s just not that bioavailable in this pure form and your body can’t really use it. It sits in your gut like cement constipating you and your gut gets inflamed and has to deal with its digestion.
So, in the end, it’s useless and you are actually harming your body.
When you take into consideration that most people buy the cheapest protein powder available with the worst quality possible, it only gets worse.
That’s why it’s important to only buy the highest quality protein powder. You shouldn’t skimp on your health.
And if you are broke? Don’t buy it. Invest your money in high-quality real food that is going to give you a lot more bang for your buck and actually help you fuel your body with energy.
Finding The Perfect Protein Powder
I know. Protein powder is kinda part of the whole fitness game right now. I get it. It tastes great, it’s easy and fast to use and not many people reading this are going to stop drinking their protein shakes because some dude on the internet told them to.
Well, even if I really want you to at least give it a try and stop taking protein powder for a couple of weeks, here are some of the things you should look for in a good quality protein powder that will minimize the harm you get.
A good quality protein powder has to have the following traits:
- quality: high amount of high quality, absorbable protein
- ingredients: least amount of ingredients, no toxic ingredients (gluten, soy, lactose, additives, synthetic sweeteners)
- affordable: relatively inexpensive, even though you shouldn’t be cheap on that
What You Should Look For When Buying Protein Powder
These are the most important features your protein powder should have.
It should be high in quality, shouldn’t have any unnecessary ingredients that make you sick and it should be as affordable as possible.
How do you find out which protein powder fits these things?
You check the labels.
That’s right. Next time you are in the store or order online, you will check the fucking labels. You will put in a little bit of extra time and effort into researching and compare the different protein powders and then you will choose the best one.
Don’t buy the overpriced garbage the sales guy on commission tries to sell you and don’t buy the Amazon bestseller that is all hip and trendy.
But hey, today is your day. Because I have already done all the dirty work for you and found a couple of protein powders that fulfill the above points and fit the criteria.
Which Protein Powder Is The Best?
I searched long, I compared tons of different protein powders and these are the top brands I found.
I always kept the 3 points in mind. Quality, ingredients, and price. So it might not be the most popular protein powder but one that is going to serve you better.
You will notice that I always recommend using the tasteless version of the product.
That’s because adding the taste alone gives the protein powder a shit ton more ingredients and less available protein per scoop. So you are actually paying more for less.
I know that the different tastes are one of the selling points for protein powder and tasteless powders aren’t really tasteless, they still have a certain aftertaste.
If that’s a problem for you, I suggest sweetening your shakes yourself. It’s pretty easy, cheap, tastes even better and gives you more real food and calories.
Just take fruits, berries, honey or cocoa powder. Get a little creative. You’ll find something you like.
On top of that, all of these are protein isolates so they contain more protein per serving. They also come from pasture-raised cows.
These are the protein powders I recommend:
  | Natural Force | grass-fed cows, paleo, gluten free, few ingredients, natural |
  | Naked Whey | 100% pure whey protein with nothing to hide, only one ingredient, grass-fed |
  | Raw Organic Whey | USDA-certified, grass-fed, no-gmos, cold-processed, undenatured, big package |
  | DoVitamins Wonder Whey | grass-fed from california, gluten free, Non-GMO, certified |
These aren’t the only good protein powders available of course. You have many options and there are a lot of manufacturers coming out with organic whey protein powders because more and more people are becoming aware of the toxic ingredients in commercial whey proteins.
As I said, just check the labels and research a little next time before you buy.
Healthy Protein Powder Alternatives
Now this hate article on protein powder wouldn’t be complete if I wouldn’t at least give you a couple of effective and healthy alternatives for additional protein and supplements.
Don’t forget: Diet should always be your number 1 concern and you should always try to get all your protein from real foods.
Now if you need something to add extra protein to your diet I recommend Great Lakes hydrolyzed gelatin. It’s not a complete protein source but it’s great for your git health and has a multitude of positive benefits for your overall health like hair, skin, nails and even teeth.
If you are vegan and you can’t use dairy protein I recommend the Sunwarrior protein brand. Do not use soy protein! It will slowly make you sick and emasculate you.
Don’t Fall For The Protein Powder Bandwagon
Ok, now you know it. You know that protein powder isn’t the harmless miracle muscle building supplement it’s often claimed to be and it’s not necessary either.
Protein powder is a waste product that can’t really be used by the body and it often times includes many harmful and toxic ingredients that damage your body and make you sick.
With this knowledge, you are far more educated than the average Joe that chases every trend and searches for every shortcut magic pill that will get him to his goals.
I challenge you to use this knowledge and not fall for the mainstream bandwagon.
Don’t be the guy who is just taking protein powder because everybody is doing it and it’s just part of the fitness lifestyle.
Be the guy who takes care of his health and tries to optimize every area of his life so that you can become the person you always dreamed off.
Having a protein shake every now and then won’t kill you of course, but don’t make it a habit and if you are going to use it, go get yourself some high-quality protein powder.
Excellent post Dan!
I feel the exact same way (whey? haha) about protein powders.
Most are toxic garbage laced with dangerous crap.
I used to be a huge consumer of whey, but I’ve since cut down and only use quality protein sources (grass-fed beef, chicken, turkey, some milk), including whey powders just like the ones you listed.
I’ll be checking back bro, thanks!
Thank you Sonny! Quality protein sources from real food like the ones you listed are the best!
Man… the protein powder is a real shit. When young I ALWAYS use it to gain weight. It worked… but my bathroom didnt like me [let’s put this way kkkkkk].
Later I stopped and only eat real food. What a diference in my gains and physique. Lean and mean and strong.
Nowadays I’m stopped. Sometimes the laziness hit us hard. But I’m backing to the gym and never ever will use again these powder. No need indeed.
btw, awesome guide !
Thank you! Keep up the work and stay disciplined!