Micah Stanley
Protein shakes are more popular than ever. Whether to promote muscle building, to lose weight quickly, to regenerate after illness, or simply as a dietary supplement – almost everyone can find a reason to grab a protein shake from now on. We present healthy vegan protein shakes with many delicious recipes.
Protein shakes – rarely vegan, rarely healthy
Protein shakes are usually mixed at home. You buy a protein powder, add water, juice, or (vegan) milk – and the quick protein shake is ready.
Conventional protein shakes usually consist of a mixture of animal proteins. One reads on the list of ingredients e.g. B. calcium caseinate, whey protein concentrate, milk protein isolate, whey protein hydrolysate, and egg white powder. The first four types of protein all come from cow’s milk, the latter from chicken eggs. Sometimes the protein mixtures contain a soy protein isolate in addition to the animal proteins.
Since there is almost never a reference to organic soy, one can assume that it is conventional soy, which may well be genetically modified soy.
There are also emulsifiers (mostly soy lecithin – again non-organic), flavors, thickeners, sweeteners (aspartame, sodium cyclamate, saccharin, sucralose, acesulfame-K), and synthetic vitamins.
Vegan protein shakes: Whey protein is no longer necessary
If you finally find a purely plant-based, i.e. vegan protein shake, it usually consists of soy protein isolates (not organic, of course). In the meantime, however, there are also numerous other vegetable protein powders, such as rice or pea protein powder, both of which not only have a high protein content of at least 80 percent, but also a high biological value.
The latter can be improved even more if you combine rice and pea protein in the right ratio of 7:3, with the smaller amount being the pea protein. The biological value of this mixture is even said to come close to that of whey protein.
It is therefore no longer necessary to use animal proteins for protein shakes. You can choose purely plant-based protein shakes and still enjoy all the desired effects that you want from a protein shake – muscle building, regeneration, optimizing nutrition, reducing body fat – and all this in animal-friendly, vegan, environmentally friendly, and healthy quality without any unwanted additives.
Vegan protein shakes – the effect
Studies have long shown that you can achieve excellent health effects with purely vegetable proteins – which often even surpass those of animal proteins.
For example, when it comes to weight loss, a 2011 study showed that a pea protein shake was better at helping you lose weight than a whey protein or egg protein shake.
Other studies show that you can achieve the same athletic performance with vegan protein shakes as with whey protein – we have already reported about it here: muscle building works perfectly with a vegan diet. The study described there had shown that vegan protein shakes made from rice protein led to the same athletic performance as the usual whey protein.
Who benefits from protein shakes?
Examples of people who can easily improve their performance and well-being with protein shakes are:
- athlete
- people with stress
- People with an increased protein requirement (e.g. also with a low-protein diet)
- People with a generally increased need for nutrients (the need for nutrients increases in some stressful life situations, e.g. when breastfeeding, in times of increased psychological stress, e.g. in a phase of mourning)
- People who follow a low-carb diet
- People who want to lose weight if they are overweight
- People who want to gain weight if they are underweight
- People in a regeneration phase, e.g. B. after an illness or pregnancy.
Pea Protein: Ideal for vegan protein shakes
The pea protein is a vegan middle-carb protein with over 80 percent protein and only 8 percent carbohydrates. It also shines with high arginine levels of almost 7 grams of arginine per 100 grams. Whey protein, on the other hand, only contains 2 grams of arginine. The amino acid L-arginine is known to improve endurance, increase performance and increase potency.
The pea protein also provides high BCAA levels. BCAA are the branched-chain amino acids needed for muscle building.
The high lysine values mentioned ensure that the pea protein promotes bone health, as lysine increases the absorption of calcium. Lysine also supports the formation of collagen, an important protein for bones, cartilage, skin, and tendons. Lysine is also needed to produce carnitine. Carnitine is responsible for burning fat, so it helps with weight loss. Anyone who consumes 20 g of an 80 percent pea protein (e.g. from Maskelmän) daily has already covered their daily lysine requirement with this protein dose alone.
Those who cannot tolerate dairy products or are lactose intolerant often cannot tolerate protein shakes made from animal proteins. Pea protein, on the other hand, is hypoallergenic, meaning few people have allergies.
Pea protein is also an excellent source of iron. If you mix one serving of it into your protein shake every day (20 – 25 g), you will be getting 5 mg of iron. That’s a third of the iron requirement of women and half of the iron requirement of men.
Rice Protein: Perfect for vegan protein shakes
Rice protein also provides over 80 percent protein and, with less than 0.5 percent carbohydrates, is one of the vegan low-carb proteins. The levels of arginine and BCAA in rice protein are similar to or higher than those in pea protein. The rice protein is, therefore – just like the pea protein – a perfect protein for strength and endurance athletes.
Rice protein is considered a medium-fast protein. In other words, it is absorbed in medium speed. It is interesting, however, that the amino acid leucine is absorbed more quickly by rice protein than is the case with whey protein. Leucine is one of the most important amino acids that directly activate muscle building.
The vegetable protein powder of your choice (or a mixture) is simply mixed with water, rice drink, or juice to make a vegan protein shake. However, a blender is not necessary, a shaker is enough, so the shakes are ready to use anywhere – at school, after a workout, while climbing, biking, or wherever you need your protein shake.
But it could be that you would like to make something special out of your daily protein shake and enjoy creating vegan protein shakes just as much as we do. Therefore, we are presenting our current recipes for vegan protein shakes, which are extremely rich in vital substances.
Vegan protein shakes – recipes rich in vital substances
Of course, you can also use pure rice protein, pure pea protein, or other vegan protein powders that you have at home in the following( recipes, such as hemp protein, almond protein, or lupine protein.
Have fun and bon appetit!
- For the green peach shake, peach is mixed with almond milk and a protein powder. The green color gives an algae powder, but you can also omit it.
- The protein smoothie with matcha green tea is for all those who love the kick of matcha tea. Here you mix the protein powder with water, cucumber, avocado, and a superfood green powder to a real vital substance bomb.
- The natural rice protein powder is used in this special protein shake with kale and fruit. A special feature is the addition of kale, whose bitter taste is masked by berries and almond or rice milk.
- The healthy kale is also integrated into the pineapple and kale protein shake. Apples and pineapple as well as a protein powder with vanilla let the green cabbage appear almost exclusively through its color. You can no longer taste it.
- For a basic protein shake, you take a lot of green leafy vegetables (corn salad tastes very good), lupine protein, which is considered basic, a fruit of your choice (e.g. pineapple), and of course water to the desired consistency. Then there’s tangy lime, a date or two to sweeten (without the stone!), and turmeric and ginger for an extra portion of health.
