Whey protein shakes
If you have lived with a body builder, or – and this is more common for most of us regular folks – watched a television show where one appeared, you will likely have noticed that they ingest some pretty interesting and unusual concoctions. For example, television and movies from the 80’s and 90’s were filled with heavily muscled body builders rising from their beds early in the mornings and popping – of all things – a raw egg into the blender. While we do not see as many raw egg shenanigans in our popular culture today (perhaps thanks to the chances of raw eggs causing salmonella?) we do see and hear about body builders or those people interested in training for sports doing some variant of the old egg white routine, and that is ingesting protein shakes.
Today, though, instead of making protein shakes out of egg whites, modern body builders are concocting whey protein shakes. Why whey protein shakes and no more raw eggs? Apparently, whey protein shakes actually contain more protein than the previous gold standard of body builder nutrition, egg whites. Of course, to find out why whey protein shakes are so important, we have to know what whey is in the first place.
Perhaps as a child you heard a nursery rhyme that went like this, “Little Miss Muffet, sSits on her tuffet, eating her curds and whey.” If you are like many of us, you did not find that diet very appetizing and that was the last you heard of whey. And you could be forgiven for that, because whey is not something many of us find appetizing. In fact, whey is the liquid that remains after milk has been curdled and strained. Though this may not sound very appetizing to you, due to the amount of “biological value” protein available in whey, body builders and other athletes consider it the gold standard when it comes to ingesting large amounts of protein.
But why is protein so important, anyway? And why whey protein shakes? First of all, protein is important because it makes up nearly everything in our bodies. Out of our entire bodies, only water occurs more than protein. Because protein builds muscles, body builders – who spend a lot of time building a whole lot of muscles – need as much protein as they can get. Otherwise, their protein count would not keep up with their bodies and they would not be able to put on the bulk that they need to maintain their superior physiques.
Whey protein shakes are considered a wonderful way for body builders to obtain protein and absorb it into their bodies because whey protein has what is called a “bioavailability rating” of 100. The bioavailability rating associated with protein shakes means that whey protein can be absorbed into the body more quickly than any other type of protein. When digestion of whey protein shakes occurs, whey protein is absorbed through the villi, then goes on to the small intestine and then the blood stream. Soon after, body builders performing a workout begin bulking up and building the body of their dreams.
Body builders know that every time they work out, they are tearing down their massive muscles and then rebuilding them. Protein, such as protein found in whey protein shakes, is vital to that process. After all, nobody wants to break down their muscles via a tough work out and then realize that they can’t build them back up again. That causes serious health problems and should, of course, be avoided at all costs.
If you are interested in trying whey protein shakes for yourself, look for whey protein powder on your grocery store’s dietary supplement aisle or in a nutrition store.
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