Most of my smoothie recipes contain protein powder so today I want to explain to you how to choose the best protein powder.  Whenever I am buying a new one, I look to the label for the following criteria:

1.  >20g of protein

Any less than 20g and you won’t be full for very long.  Ideally you could get up to 25g of protein per serving, but I would say 15-20g is a minimum.

2.  <5g carbohydrates

Not all protein powders are <5g carbohydrates, and it’s not necessarily bad if they are higher than 5g, depending what ingredients are in it.  Often, it’s straight sugar that’s making it have over 5g carbs, in which case you definitely want to avoid that.  In general, you want the lower carbohydrate amount so as to not spike your blood sugar at all.

3.  Stevia or monk fruit sweetened

Most protein powders are sweetened, because otherwise they would be pretty gross.  The key is to understand what they’re sweetened with.  First of all, you don’t want it to be straight sugar (per the carbohydrate point above), but you also don’t want it to be artificially sweetened with something like sucralose, aspartame, or acesulfame.  Stevia or monkfruit are the best options, as they are natural sweeteners.

4.  Plant based

This depends on personal preference for taste, but there are a variety of different foods the protein can be derived from.  I prefer rice or pea based.  Hemp is great nutritionally, and if masked with other ingredients, works, but I find the flavour to be pretty awful, so I stay away from it.  I do like adding the full hemp hearts instead though as protein, and find the flavour much more palatable.

Whey protein has a good nutritional profile, however if dairy bothers you, which for so many it does, I would not recommend that either.  Lastly, there are some protein powders out there that are soy.  As for soy based, this depends.  If it’s organic, and you aren’t consuming it all the time, soy can be a good source of protein.  However, soy on a continual basis (and it’s a filler in a lot of packaged foods too) is a no-go in my opinion because repeated soy consumption can mess with your hormones, and nobody needs that!

5.  Pronouncing the ingredients

This is probably a given, however you’d be surprised at how many additives and icky ingredients can be in some protein powders.

My favourite brands of protein powder are below and can be found at the majority of health food stores or online:

• Sun Warrior Classic Rice Protein (get 15% off with the code HEAL15)
• Genuine Health Fermented Organic Vegan Proteins+ (get 20% off with the code HEAL20)
• Botanica Perfect Protein
• Progressive Harmonized Fermented Vegan Protein
• Coast Protein
• Manitoba Harvest

What are your favourite brands of protein powder?