Yo,
Is Pea Protein Powder good for you? Yes
Well the short answer is yes.
A long answer: Depends on how you use it.
Pea protein powder is one of the many available protein powder options. If you’re reading this, you’re certainly curious about this specific option and for good reason.
I will go through five reasons as to why pea protein powder is good for you. They are as follows.
– Helping your protein needs
– Fat loss
– The additional Nutritional benefits
– Convenience
– It can be for everyone
Don’t just look at the words ‘protein powder’ and believe it can only be used by the gym rats and it’s only purpose is for muscle growth. We will explore all the reasons as to why pea protein powder is good for you. It’s good for almost everyone.
It has numerous benefits, but you may not know if they’re applicable to you (hence you reading this my friend).
Alright that’s enough talk, let’s get into why pea protein powder is good for you.
Helping Your Protein Needs
So at it’s core, pea protein powder is a ‘protein powder’. Protein powders are designed to provide additional protein to your present diet. Don’t think just because it’s not a whey protein powder or a mass gainer, for example, that it’s somehow not designed for protein.
It’s still a protein powder, so don’t worry. You’ll still be able to boost your protein intake.
So, why is this important?
The first major point is that pea protein powder will enable you to maintain your muscle. This isn’t because your consuming your pea protein powder, but rather, the additional protein that your adding to your diet because of the pea protein powder will help you to maintain your muscle.
Protein is an essential nutrient that is required to maintain your muscle. If you’re not having enough of it, you’ll struggle to keep all the muscle you worked hard to build. Therefore, if your protein intake is already slightly low, and you add pea protein powder to your diet, that will be a great help to maintaining your muscle. “Is pea protein powder good for you?” In this instance, yes.
Similarly with maintain muscle, pea protein powder will help you to grow your muscle. Yes, it will help you packing on mass.
The best way to grow your muscles is by entering a caloric surplus. This means you’re eating more calories than your body needs to maintain it’s weight.
For example, you need 2400 calories to maintain your weight. If you eat in a surplus of 500 (maximum surplus I would recommend), meaning that you are eating at 2900 calories, you will gain weight.
“is the weight muscle or fat though?”. This is where your pea protein powder comes in. Pea protein powder has calories, whilst not that many, it has some. Additionally, it provides protein, as mentioned many times before.
So, to ensure that most of the weight you’re gaining is muscle, you want to ensure that the foods you’re eating are high in protein, whilst overall having a balanced diet.
Simply adding pea protein powder will not magically make you only gain muscle, but it is an elite option to add to your diet, for your caloric surplus. It’s high in protein and good in calories. “Is pea protein powder good for you?” Yes, it’s great for your caloric surplus.
(I also believe you’d benefit greatly if you learnt more about the nutritional breakdown of pea protein powder, which we’ve created a post on for you)
Weight Loss
You read that correctly.
Pea protein powder can be an excellent tool for weight loss. Protein in itself reduces hunger.
This is because it reduces the level of a specific hormone; the hunger hormone known as ghrelin. Combined with this, protein also increases the level of peptide YY.
Guess what that hormone does?
Well, it’s a hormone that makes you feel full.
So, protein reduces the hormone that makes you hungry, and boosts the hormone that makes you feel full.
This is great for weight loss, as it prevents your cravings and overeating the calories.
Let’s bring it back to pea protein powder as a whole now. Pea protein powder is not too high in calories, and it’s concentrated in protein.
This means that a standard serving of pea protein powder will: Leave you feeling full, give you a great amount of protein and not provide you with excess calories.
Is pea protein powder good for you? For weight loss, absolutely, there is no question about it.
Beyond Protein
Pea protein powder is also rich in minerals and vitamins. Let’s go through them now.
Pea protein powder contains vitamins such as Vitamin B6 and B2, zinc, magnesium, iron, niacin and folate.
Interesting isn’t. Most people, including myself sometimes, simply look at the protein and base their decision off that. However, pea protein powder, among others, have their own little benefits that we may not even realise.
Anyway, pea protein powder has those 7 vitamins and minerals in them. They’re all useful as well.
For example, Vitamin b2 helps the body to metabolize carbohydrates, fats, and protein into glucose, for energy.
It is also a complete protein, meaning that it has all 9 essential amino acids. For context, not many plant-based protein powders have all 9 essential amino acids, so this is very important to consider.
Finally, pea protein powder can be useful for your recovery. For muscle recovery, protein is required for muscle repair and rebuilding. Adding pea protein powder to your diet can boost your muscle recovery overall (assuming your protein intake already required an additional boost. If you’re already eating a sufficient amount of protein, pea protein powder may not be required)
Is pea protein powder good for you? Again, the answer is yes. Those additional benefits are quite nice if I do say so myself.
Convenience
Now this isn’t exclusive to just pea protein powder only, but it’s still highly relevant.
Pea protein powder, let alone protein powder itself, is highly convenient. It’s a powder that you could mix with anything for added protein, calories or the provided vitamins and minerals.
You could mix it with water, you could mix it with milk and even fruits to make a smoothie.
Moving away with what you could mix it with, let’s talk about when you could have it.
It could be in the morning, having a protein shake on the side with breakfast. You could have it before training, or after training and whenever.
The point is, you can have it whenever you want, because it’s convenient, versatile and flexible.
Is pea protein powder good for you? Most likely. The convenience is great.
Almost everyone
Last, but certainly not least, pea protein powder is suitable for almost everyone.
It’s vegan and does not have any dairy products. On top of this, pea protein powder does not have many of the common allergens.
However, if you’re not sure if you are allergic, I recommend contacting an expert.
Therefore
As a whole, pea protein powder is probably going to be good for you. It’s convenient, good for protein, can help with weight loss, provides vitamins and minerals and for almost everyone.
Always ask yourself, however, “Do I really need pea protein powder? Are there better alternatives for my protein intake?”
I hope you were able to learn something today my friend. Thank you for your time and I hope to give you something of value again.
Until we meet again.
