Protein is an essential component required by the body. It has a huge role to play in repairing our muscles and aiding their growth. It is one of the main reasons as to why a lot of people include sources such as banana protein shake into their diets.
A glass of nutritional banana protein shake is a quick and easy way of meeting your daily requirements of protein for the day. However, a lot of people have opposing thoughts as to whether it should be consumed before or after exercising.
Let us take a deeper look into protein sources such as banana protein shake and how their consumption can be utilised properly.
How The Recommended Intake Of Protein Shakes Comes Into Play
The Food and Nutrition Board suggests that every individual consumes at least 1 gram of protein per pound of bodyweight via pre-workout shakes so as to promote optimal functioning of the body. However. This is the bare minimum intake of protein that you need to consume.
The actual intake of nutritional sources such as banana protein shake to meet your protein requirements differs from individual to individual. In the case of athletes and other sportspersons, it is recommended that they consume at least 2-3 grams of protein per kilogram of their body weight through pre workout shakes to boost the healing process of the muscles and increase muscle mass.
In order to meet these requirements in a sustainable way, you need to spread out the consumption of your banana protein shake throughout the day across three to four meals every few hours. This means that you will be needing to consume protein shakes both before and after your workouts at some point.
Understanding The Role Of The Anabolic Window
There is a common misconception that you need to consume your post workout shake within 30 minutes of your exercise to maximize the outputs of your work in the gym. This limited-time period is also colloquially known as the Anabolic Window.
While this school of thought does not seem to be all that bad, it also focuses on the fact that your post workout shake is not effective outside of the anabolic window. This could not be further from the truth.
Nutritional supplements such as post workout shakes are rich in protein. These proteins have a slow-burning thermic effect – which means that they will pretty much be burning in your stomach throughout the day.
The direct implication here is that the anabolic window is not limited to 30 minutes and could potentially last throughout the day. Virtually speaking, this renders the time consumption rules for your after workout shake or even pre workout shakes invalid.
Roles Of Pre And Post Workout Shakes
There have been a lot of common misconceptions about the proper utilisation of pre workout protein shake and post-workout protein shake as well. A lot of people think that one is better than the other simply based on their time of consumption.
The truth is that your pre workout protein shake has about the same amount of protein as your post-workout protein shake does. How your protein is utilised by your body is completely dependent on the overall quality of your nutritional intake and the exercise that you follow.
All you have to do is plan out your pre workout protein shake intake in such a way that it can be consumed throughout the day in combination with the post-workout protein shake as well.
What Really Matters
Rather than the time period during which you consume these weight gain shakes for underweight people, you should be focusing on the actual amount of protein you are consuming.
Maximising your protein intake by consuming weight gain shakes for underweight is useful for enhancing your muscle gains and improving body definition.
Apart from consuming nutritional supplements like weight gain shakes for underweight people, you can obtain the protein required to do that by consuming a wide range of both plant-based and animal-based foods as a part of your daily nutritional intake.
Both animal- and plant-based foods contain protein and can help you meet your daily protein goal. While meat-based or animal sources include foods like fish, dairy, meat, poultry, etc, plant-based sources of protein include milk, legume, nuts, soy, and beans.
You can optimise your protein consumption by utilising both plant and animal-based sources of protein. In case you follow specific diets such as vegetarianism or veganism, you can try experimenting with sources such as soy protein or pea plant protein, both of which can be beneficial for improving bone health and muscle structure.
Risks Of Consuming Excessive Protein
Given below are some of the risks of consuming too much of post workout shake:
Weight gain
While a pre workout shake can definitely help with weight loss when combined with exercise and a healthy diet, a common side effect of protein is that consuming too much of it can actually reverse the effects on your body. Protein is a very densely packed nutrient that includes a lot of essential amino acids. While these acids can get synthesised by the body, the additional amounts of protein are mostly stored in our bodies in the form of fat.
Constipation
When we exclusively consume foods such as banana protein shake that are high in protein, it also means leaving out essential dietary components such as fibre and carbohydrates. This slows down the digestion process in our gut and leads to constipation. You can try and prevent this from happening by drinking a lot of warm water and finding a way to involve more fibre rich components in your diet.
Kidney damage
Our kidneys have been designed to handle a specific amount of waste in a single go. Consuming excessive after workout shake can cause side effects such as increased saturation levels of other minerals such as nitrogen and zinc within the body, which in turn can increase the load on the kidneys and liver
Conclusion
Nutritional sources such as a banana protein shake are a healthy way to boost your protein intake for the day. While they can help you shape your body up, they are not to be used as viable replacements for meals. Make sure that a major component of your nutrition comes from natural whole foods. Always consult with a doctor before supplementing your diet with any pills.
