The nutritional section of a pharmacy, vitamin store, or grocery is filled with different dietary supplements including protein shakes and diet shakes. Do you know the difference between the common diet shake and a shake designed to improve your physique?
Protein – The Building Blocks of Muscles and Your Metabolism
The number one difference between traditional diet shakes and protein shakes is the amount of high quality protein included in the drink. As a comparison, here are the amounts of protein in a few of the most popular diet shakes:
- Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – 10 grams
- Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – 15 grams
- Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – 15 grams
- The take a moment to compare the amounts of protein in popular protein shakes:
- Optimum Gold Standard Protein Shake Double Chocolate – 24 grams
- Isopure Protein Beverage – 40 grams
- Pure Protein Vanilla Cream Shake – 35 grams
- Nutribiotic Rice Protein Vanilla – 12 grams
As this comparison shows diet shakes and protein shakes are targeting two distinct levels of protein. The high amounts of protein in the second list are designed to aid in retaining or building new muscle. They give you the protein necessary to rebuild muscles after strenuous resistance training. The rice protein fills a specific need we will cover shortly. There is one other important difference to watch in these shakes.
Carbohydrates – Power for Energy or Added Fat
Carbohydrates must be watched carefully as you select your meal replacements. It is critical to have enough high quality carbohydrates to give you energy and fuel your body. It is just as important to avoid an excess of carbohydrates to ensure you do not begin storing added fat.
Going back to our examples we can take a quick look at how they compare on carbohydrates.
- Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – 23 grams of carbohydrates
- Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – 24 grams of carbohydrates
- Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – 1 gram of carbohydrates
- Optimum Gold Standard Protein Shake Double Chocolate – 3 grams of carbohydrates
- Isopure Protein Beverage – 0 grams of carbohydrates
- Pure Protein Vanilla Cream Shake – 1 gram of carbohydrates
- Nutribiotic Rice Protein Vanilla – 1 gram of carbohydrates
As you can quickly see, the protein shakes trust you to eat real food to provide yourself with the proper amounts of carbohydrates. Their focus is on providing you the building blocks for rebuilding muscles. The Atkins drink is equally low in carbohydrates, but for a completely different reason. The Atkins diet focuses on weight loss through carbohydrate restriction.
The important lesson you should learn from these comparisons is to choose your diet or protein shakes based upon your goals. If you desire to lose weight look at the overall mix of carbohydrates, sugars, protein, fiber, and vitamins. Use the shakes to keep you fully nourished while you restrict calories. If your goal is to improve your body through exercise and resistance training choose your protein shakes based on quantity and quality of protein included in the shake.
Protein shakes are not all created equal. Shakes can use a variety of sources for their protein. You need to be aware of the different sources, which include:
- Soy
- Egg
- Natural Whey
- Rice Powder
These 4 comprise the most commonly used forms of protein with whey and soy being the most popular in shakes and supplements. Whey is protein extracted from milk it is a dairy product. The protein is extracted from milk and transformed into powder. Whey and eggs are considered to be complete proteins encompassing a wider range of amino acids which can be beneficial in fast muscle growth.
Rice and Soy proteins are high quality plant based proteins. They are lower in fat and a perfect supplement choice for any vegans or vegetarians desiring to improve muscle size and strength. Rice has the added advantage of reduced allergic reactions for some people.
Diet shakes and protein shakes use a variety of sources to hit their protein targets. Let us return one more time to our comparisons and see what sources of proteins they use.
- Slim Fast French Vanilla Shake – Whey and Soy
- Slim Fast High Protein Extra Creamy Chocolate – Whey and Soy
- Atkins Milk Chocolate Delight – Milk Protein Extracts (Whey) and Soy
- Optimum Gold Standard Shake Double Chocolate – 100% Whey
- Isopure Beverage – 100% Whey
- Pure Vanilla Cream Shake – Milk Protein Concentrate
- NutriBiotic Rice Vanilla – Rice
Depending on your goals and lifestyle choices any of these diet shakes or protein shakes may fit your needs. Choose the right balance of carbohydrates and protein to help maximize your health.
