How To Pick Your Protein Powder: Step by Step

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Why would you even need a Protein Powder?

The reasons to use a protein supplement can be three-fold. 

1. Not obtaining a sufficient intake of protein from whole foods. Utilising supplemental protein can provide a convenient way to 'top-up' total intake to sufficient levels. 

2. Providing a protein bolus at appropriate times where convenience due to scheduling may make consuming a protein-dense whole food meal, not feasible. For example; post morning exercise, rushing to work and won't get a chance to eat for a few hours. 

3. A convenient source of protein that goes well with certain meals that needs a 'protein boost'. Certain meals are not well suited to the inclusion of protein-dense whole foods. For example; You're not going to put a chicken breast in your morning PB oats w fruit. Protein powder can provide the solution here. 

What to pick - Step by Step

Whey protein. The cheapest, most common and most effective with the 'most powerful' amino acid profile. Whey protein concentrate (WPC) is the cheapest and does the job just as good/better than more expensive alternatives. If you have problems mild digesting lactose, opting for the slightly more expensive, further proceeded whey protein isolate (WPI) is a good idea. Hydrolysed whey protein powders are not worth it.

Vegan / no dairy. 
If you're vegan or avoid dairy for preferences or digestive issues, a rice and pea vegan protein blend is your best bet. The blend of these two plant-based proteins provides an amino acid profile closest to the 'more powerful' protein source being dairy. Find the right one and it's still relatively inexpensive.

Probably not worth it:
Collagen protein: Collagen protein rates poorly in it's the ability to spike muscle protein synthesis to promote a net positive protein balance, which fundamentally dictates whether muscle is gained, lost or maintained. This is due to it's lacking leucine content. Research on the utility of collagen protein on joint health is mixed and not robust. Combined with the fact collagen protein is expensive, it's a gamble at best to say it's worthwhile. 

Weight gainers or 'post-workout blends'
If you're an athlete who does a lot of exercises who needs to eat well beyond hunger, if you're someone looking to gain muscle requiring you to eat beyond your hunger, and/or if you're an athlete who does very frequent bouts of exercise and needs to replenish glycogen rapidly (carbohydrate/glucose 'storage tank's). 'Weight gainer shakes' or 'post-workout protein blends' have some utility. However, they're really just (most of the time) a regular whey protein mixed with carbohydrate powder, commonly in the form of 'a powdered sugar'. They're overhyped and you're probably better off buying whey protein and adding you own carbs from whatever appropriate source you prefer. Not only is this potentially a tastier way to get in additional carbs (if needed), it also gives you the ability to adjust protein to carbohydrate ratios as per needed. When consuming ample amounts of carbohydrates, taste and palatability play a role in how easy and comfortable it is for these high intakes to be achieved.   

BCAA's: Branched-chain amino acids are just 3 of the 9 essential amino acids. They're the 3 most 'powerful ones' that spike muscle protein synthesis the most, but without the rest they're not useful. There is nothing a BCAA supplement can do that a regular protein powder can't and they're very expensive. Save your money.

Fluffy 'health' protein powders. These are the wildly expensive 'health food store' kind that your favourite naturopath or 'woo-woo wellness expert' recommended. The additional ingredients can do a few things.

• Add no additional needed benefit, vitamins and minerals to a diet that is already well rounded, whole food-centric with sufficient plant matter.

• Potentially blunt adaptations to the training stimulus that you're after through the needless inclusion of 'extra' antioxidants.

• Reduce the protein content per serve/100g of the protein supplements.

• Drain your bank account. Save your money. 

'Lean protein'. 
Basically take regular protein powder, add some fancy fluff that does nothing notable if anything to change your energy expenditure and/or Calorie intake, stick a different label on it and you have 'lean protein'. Energy balance over time underpins weight change, and the 'fat loss fairy dust' they add to 'lean proteins' is not going to change any part of that. 

Side note: Athletes & athletes in tested sports. 
As mentioned, weight gainers may have their utility in those with high exercise loads who are required to eat a dose of carbohydrates well beyond their hunger and/or have planned exercise bouts at frequent time intervals. But for the prior mentioned reasons you're likely better off using regular protein powder and adding any additional carbohydrates as per preference, the dose required, comfort and speed of digestibility and absorption. 

Safety of supplements for tested sports. 
The following applies to any supplement for use in sports that are subject to performance-enhancing drug/banned substance testing. No supplements are completely safe from banned substances. When considering the use of a supplement a risk versus reward evaluation should be conducted. To minimise risk, choosing supplements that are certified by Informed-Sport is a really good idea. Check the Informed-Sport website for certified products and proceed with caution. 

We want to make sure our clients and community are making informed choices when it comes to where they spend their time, effort and money to make sure they are getting a worthwhile return on investment. We review products based on their effectiveness and based on what the research says.

To learn how about how our team of coaches and nutritionists can help you make informed decisions by improving your knowledge and understanding of nutrition, contact us today.

Beyond Meat Review

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Whether you are vegan, vegetarian, recently watched game-changers plant-based, pescatarian, primal, paleo, meat-only, meat-less, keto or intermittent fasting the world of fake meats is now more than ever a successfully growing industry. The largest food chains in the world are now endorsing the plant-based alternatives to meat on their menus and it is creating a trend in the meat-less industry as to who can create the closest to meat meat-less product possible.

Beyond meat co. are a company from the United States who pride themselves on having the world's first burger that "looks, cooks and satisfies like beef without GMOs, soy, or gluten".

They are found in the meat aisle, so no smidgen of convenience is missed for you the buyer. 

Beyond burger patties (they also make a few other products which I will mention in a little bit) are kosher (meaning the way the food is made/prepared to satisfy the requirements of Jewish law) so they cater for a particular crowd and have 20g of protein per burger.

The protein in the beyond meat co. is burger is derived from that of pea and rice protein. The ingredients list is interesting, the first thing you can notice is that the burger is predominantly water-based, the second ingredient is pea protein and the third is canola oil. Of those three main ingredients, the level of oil is quite a concern as canola is the lowest of the low on the list of the ideal oil because of its high levels of trans-fats and it also brings up the total fat content to 18g per serve, this is almost on par with the burgers protein level itself making digestibility a slight issue as fats slow the digestive process down, making the meal feel heavier on the stomach.

Taste and cooking

The burger for taste test purposes was cooked in a pan, no oil was used as the burger itself has plenty. The smell of getting the burger out of the packet was a strange one. It was hard to describe but I can best put it down to a plastic smell, maybe due to the manufacturing process? The burger cooks and looks like a regular burger, and has a fluid that comes out in cooking that resembles blood (probably the pomegranate powder). The taste test came after the burger was cooked completely through (as suggested on the box), it wasn’t exactly what I expected and still had that plastic/artificial taste, was also quite greasy after the first few mouthfuls. 

When looking for a plant-based alternative to have as a protein substitute in a meal what should we look for? 

• a start would be at the actual protein content per 100g of the product itself. Most proteins (chicken, beef, fish) are of equal protein value at 100g, this is about 20g. Beyond meat, co have nailed this portion of the product, with exactly 20g in a single-serve. 

• But where they are off-track is having a nearly equal portion of fat in the product. The product includes the use of two oils, coconut and canola.

• As an alternative to the oils being included in such high quantities, the alternative binding agent used cannot be the typical egg which is used in many burgers as the binder, some alternatives that would be suitable for the crowd and also satisfy a lower fat content would be flax meal, bread crumbs or ground chia. 

Comparison 

Beyond meat co burgers retail at $10.60 for two burgers, in comparison to other vegan burgers, these are quite expensive. Not the most expensive but still on the pricier side.

The other competitors 

• Quorn do a vegan range of burgers with multiple flavours for $7.56 with a protein content of 20.5g per burger, and fat content of 13.3g.

• Unreal co do $5.60 for a 2 pack of Italian beef burgers with a protein content of 12.6g, and fat content of 12.3g.

• Veef Plant-Based Burger Patties are 2 for $6.50 at 15.9g protein and 20.9g fat per burger.

• Next Gen2 Plant-Based Burger retails at $8.00 for 2 patties and contains 14.9g protein and 19.2g fat per burger. 

• Harvest Gourmet Plant-Based Incredible Vegan Burger retails at a more expensive $12.00 for a 2 pack, 17g protein and 9g fat per burger. 

• Vegie Delights Not Burger at $4.50 for a 2 pack has 13.5g protein and 10.2g fat per burger.

• Unreal Co Chicken Sliders $7.00 per 2 pack, has 15.5g protein and 10g fat per burger. 

• Naturli 100% Plant-based Minced $9.00 18g protein and 10g fat. 

I thought I would throw in a comparison to a regular beef burger, Grasslands Beef Burgers which retail at 9$ for 4 beef patties and have 21.9g of protein and 7g of fat per serve (125g). The flavour of these are great, they taste like any good beef burger should, just the right amount of fat throughout the burger without leaving a greasy coating an aftertaste. 

Overall rating of Beyond meat co burger pattie 5/10. Good (enough) for what it is supposed to be but there are better, more flavoursome and nutritious burgers out there that don’t moo. 

If you’d like to learn more about plant based nutrition for your individual preferences and goals, contact us today.

The passata plant sauce hack

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Increasing your intake of plants is one of the easiest, biggest bang for buck, lowest barrier to entry methods to control your Calorie intake, create a Calorie deficit and achieve weight loss. So if fat loss is the name of the game increasing your intake of plants is almost certainly a good idea.

At FNC we often encourage our clients to increase there intake by providing daily targets which can be difficult to meet at first.

Often the issue is not that 'it's just too much', it's actually not being aware of the ways you can make plant consumption a far easier and more enjoyable daily habit. The key is to look at the 'how' part of eating plants.

Integrated plants into meals in different, potentially novelty ways, enhancing taste and softening the texture and consistency are all examples of how you can turn eating plants from a chore to something you look forward to.

For the sake of your attention, one of the best plant 'hacks' is to make vegetable sauces using a base of passata and any vegetables you can get your hands on.

All you need is a bottle of passata (pureed tomatoes in a bottle), a blender and a bunch of whatever cooked vegetables you can get your hands on. As mentioned the vegetables need to be cooked, and for best results cooked well so they're nice and soft. It doesn't really matter what that cooking method is even if they're roasted vegetable dinner leftovers from the night before.

What you're going to want to do is toss all the vegetables into a blender with the desired amount of passata, and any herbs and spices you feel like including.

Blend it up and you have yourself a large portion of your daily veg intake disguised as a soft, and tasty soupy-like sauce that can be added to any of your meals as you please. Use it as a pasta sauce, perhaps add it to stir-frys. It's not only going to enhance the taste of your food but it'll add a decent amount of plants to your daily targets without it being hard or a chore.

To learn more simple and effective ways to improve your nutrition to help you move towards your goals, contact us today for more individual guidance.

Protein Bar Review

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I love protein bars. Yes they don't taste as good as a real cookie, or chocolate bar. But knowing they're providing protein towards my daily totals and somewhat lower in Calories compared to something really 'naughty' just makes them taste that much sweeter to the point I am willing to admit I sometimes enjoy them to the level of a legitimate cookie.

In combination with that, protein bars can be a great snack than can almost serve as a meal replacement which is perfectly fine provided the overall healthfulness of the diet is good, whole foods are high, and fruit and vegetable requirements are met. They're a useful tool for buys people as an alternative to reaching for the office kitchen cookie tin.

I'd consider myself a 'protein bar connoisseur'. I've been buying and trying protein bars for a while now and have even had streaks of 'must try all the flavours'. I don't think there would be many protein bars on this planet I haven't tried. So I think I'm a pretty good person to make a few recommendations.

So over time, I've developed a bit of a top 'hit-list'. Here it is.

But before I dive in, IMO the factors that make a protein bar great are as follows.

1. Calories per bite

2. Protein content

3. Taste & texture

4. Digestive comfort

5. Quality of ingredients

Typically protein bars lie on a spectrum of 'full of low quality protein and ingredients that will likely upset your guts', through to 'fake health hipster bars' (the 'raw-natural' kind) that are no better than the 'unhealthier' ones despite the fact they're marketed as being 'natural', and free from 'bad things'.

So here is my pick of the bunch

ALL-TIME NUMBER 1: Smart Protein Bars
Uncooked and free from sugar alcohols making them easy on the guts. The protein quality and content is great and the Calories per 60g bar are the lowest I've seen. The fact they're hard to find and have a questionable texture isn't enough to rid them of my number one spot. They're also not the best tasting bars, but it's a small trade-off and I think they still taste pretty damn good. Unless it’s the coconut flavor, certainly avoid that one.

Number 2: MRE bars.
Probably my favourite tasting bar with fantastic ingredients that are easy on the guts. Only second to the SPB because they're slightly higher in Calories which would be okay if protein content was the same, but unfortunately, they match the SPB at 20g protein meaning the additions in Calories are coming from carbs and fats. Not really a bad thing, but a lower Calorie bar means you can eat more other stuff later on.

Number 3: ONE bars
Up there in taste, not too bad on the Calories but can and do cause some gastric distress. Also, get a point off as they're not available in Australia as far as I understand. If they were they'd be a fair few points in front of Quest bars.

Number 4: Quest bars
Probably the brand that defines the protein bar, they're common, easily obtained, taste pretty good, are decently low in Calories and provide the upper industry-standard of 20g protein. However they can be a little rough on the guts, so proceed with caution. They're very close IMO to the ONE bars but are slightly edged out due to taste. The best part about Quest bars is that they're available almost everywhere!

Chobani vs Coyo

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Now I love the idea of a vegan or at least a vegetarian diet. My own diet is far off being vegetarian these days and I really enjoy vegan food (especially in Bali). But what I don't love about 'veganism' is some of the dumb shit that, lesser-educated, potentially bias vegans say.

Whenever I see dairy yogurt getting slammed because of it's 'bad saturated fat content' only for Coyo to be proposed as a healthier alternative I really scratch my head.

Like hello guys, the Coyo you push as a 'healthy' alternative, is not only worse off in terms of Calorie density and protein content. But it's basically all saturated fat.

It's worth noting that saturated fat is not bad in small to moderate amounts. But too much is almost certainly not a good idea and unsaturated fats should almost certainly make up the majority of our total fat intake. But that aside... The balance of robust evidence shows dairy is not only fine for health, but it's also actually been associated with better long term health. [4,5,6,7] and most importantly dairy might help you get a bit more jacked, and maybe a bit leaner. [1,2,3]
So considering the above, unless you avoid dairy yogurt for ethical or preference reasons, Coyo is far from a 'better' or 'best' alternative.

To become more aware of current nutritional diets, fads and trends whilst understanding the principals required to help you achieve your goals, contact us today.

[1] Tang et al; (2009),

[2] Hartman et al; (2007),

[3] Abargouei et al; (2012),

[4] Kratz et al; (2013),

[5] Elwood et al; (2004),

[6] Mahshid et al; (2018) [

7] Lago-Sampedro et al; (2019)

Fat loss vs fat burning with Carnitine supplementation

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First off, fat loss and 'fat burning' are not the same things. In the context of definitions within this blog post, fat burning refers to fat utilisation or fats being the primary fuel source of the body at a given time. This does not equal fat loss!

If you're ingesting more energy (Calories) than you expend over time you will not achieve fat loss or the lowering of your body fat percentage. Period.

Carnitine is a popular supplement often marketed towards fat loss. However it in actual fact is a perfect example of how supplement companies mislead their customers and twist research to increase sales.

The reality of supplements and fat loss is that there are no well-researched supplements that have consistent definitive evidence to show they work, that are also legal to buy and poses.

Caffeine: it's worth mentioning.
With that said an argument for caffeine can be made as a thermogenic aid which just means it increases your energy expenditure making that 'Calorie deficit' everyone talks about more likely. If you think about it logically it makes sense. Caffeine is a stimulant and stimulants make you move more. Move more and you'll expend more... ENERGY! So it's not magic.

The point being with this blog is that fat loss supplements are a scam, and that certainly applies to carnitine.

Carnitine may promote 'fat burning', not fat loss.
That's right it won't promote fat loss, but it may promote fat burning. It may increase your capacity to use fats as a preferential fuel course over glucose (carbohydrate) [1]. It's worth noting that preferentially burning fats isn't better or best for the most part. If you take part in a sport that works at high intensities a.k.a something that is more 'sprinty', or 'quicker burst' focused that endurance, steady-state activities then glucose (carbohydrate) utilisation is your best friend.

However, if you're an endurance athlete...
Encouraging fat utilisation as a preferential fuel source has it's potential benefits as fueling activity with fats spares the use of glycogen (fancy name for stored carbohydrates) for when higher intensities are required at which point there will be ample stored carbohydrate reserves to tap into.

So the instances where carnitine may be useful are not common. To make the case for carnitine even worse. For an effect to be noted consistent co-ingestion of carnitine with a decent amount of rapidly digesting carbohydrate (sugar) over several months is needed to see the said effect. [1]

Even still supplements, if they do work (which is rare), the magnitude of effect they'll have is minimal at best. So for almost all folks, thought, attention, effort and money is better dedicated elsewhere.

The final word on carnitine supplements.
For those looking to maximise endurance performance, carnitine supplementation may be a worthwhile consideration. For everyone else, it's a classic example of supplement company 'scamery'.

At FNC we want to educate our clients and wider community on the principles that work and that are going to give you the most “bang for your buck”. Supplements are a little rock, a one percenter that tends to be a waste of time, effort and energy in the grand scheme of things. We try to help our clients lay a strong foundation of nutrition and educate our clients on how to move towards their goals in the most effective manner.

To learn more about how we work with our clients, contact us.

[1] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233916868_Chronic_oral_ingestion_of_L-carnitine_and_carbohydrate