 I think just about everyone who has stepped foot in a gym has also gulped down a protein shake or should I say, protein shake for those of you gym sauna lovers. Out of my 8 years bodybuilding, I spent the first few sucking down optimum nutrition gold standard way, nature's best isopure, syntha6 to name my favorites, but even as a conventional wisdom bodybuilder, I realized that whole food protein was better as well as cheaper. Quite opted for chicken and dropped all of the supplements a few years into bodybuilding. Now how do we answer this question? What factors are at play here? The bioavailability of the protein, how well it digests is for sure the most important thing as that's the purpose of a protein shake. We need this protein for our body to build up muscle tissue. Now the availability of cooked protein isn't as high as raw protein as raw food contains enzymes that aid in digestion. That's not to say we shouldn't include cooked foods in our diet, it's just that when we consume too many cooked foods as most people do, it stresses our body's natural enzymes. The form of protein in most protein powders is whey. Whey is a byproduct of cheese making, milk containing approximately 80% cacine and 20% whey, most of the cacine ending up in the cheese, but trace amounts still make it into the whey. Depending on the process and how much they filter the whey, the concentration of whey protein can range from 80% in whey concentrate to 90% in whey isolate. So the goal of us consuming these protein powders is for the enzymes in our body to break them down into amino acids as protein itself is not absorbed properly in the small intestine. But by no means is an extensively heated and processed protein powder a reasonable thing to consider ideal. When you have a product that is raw or even just closer to its natural cellular components like a medium rare steak, it is broken down by enzymes and bacteria much easier. Something like kefir, even yogurt already has bacteria that have broken down the proteins into some amino acids and it's much easier for the body to digest and absorb. The other thing to consider is that different proteins have a different absorption based on their molecular composition. I'm sure many of you guys have heard that cashing protein takes longer to digest than whey protein so it's better to consume before bed, but that makes absolutely no sense. As we want the nutrition that is most available to our bodies, why would you want to stress your body to digest something for a longer period of time? This ties into all molecules contained in foods. Depending on the fat and protein molecules of the specific food, whether it's cooked, raw or fermented, will dictate its digestion and bioavailability. We also can't discount what the animal was eating. Every single nutrient amino acid, fatty acid contained in a food alters its digestion. And as complicated as that is, the answer is pretty simple. See what foods you digest better and feel good eating, whether it's boiled cod or salmon sashimi, figure it out. So we know from a pure protein availability standpoint that there are better options and not only for just protein, these quality animal foods like raw milk, shellfish, seafood, grass fed beef, pasture raised chicken also have the nutrients we need to thrive, vitamins, minerals, elements and fatty acids that a supplement will never be able to replicate. But what about the negatives? You could consider the extensively heated and processed protein a negative already. As we said earlier, it's stressing the body's enzymes and digestion. We also have to assume that the milk used to make this whey protein is from A1 cattle which can be an allergen to some people. Different types of animals produce different types of cacine, A1 being the most inflammatory. How much of a factor this plays in such a processed supplement isn't really known but we can't discount it. But there are other ingredients in here. Natural and artificial flavor, lecithin, salt, acylphane potassium, sucralose, yellow five and lactase. Natural and artificial flavors per their name can be made from natural things such as fruits and vegetables or artificial things such as petroleum, various chemicals. They don't list what they are using but we can hypothesize that substances are toxins causing oxidative stress, possibly inflammation. Lecithin is usually made from soy, it's an emulsifier as well as a flavor protector. It's not only full of chemicals from the extensive production process, it also contains pesticides from the growing of the soybeans. To summarize, lecithin is a toxin that is added in small amounts as a food preservative. Acylphane potassium is an artificial sweetener that has shown adverse effects in rat studies including consideration as a carcinogen, sucralose, another sweetener, is derived from sugar, not absorbed or recognized from the body, potentially breaks down into carcinogenic compounds at high heat. It has been shown to shrink the thymus glands resulting in poor immune response and enlarged liver and kidneys. Yellow five is a synthetic dye that has been shown to cause DNA damage and lactase is an enzyme to digest lactose. Likely added because the way might still contain traces of lactose. Of course these ingredients vary depending on the protein powder, the specific flavor. We took a look at banana cream from Optima Nutrition and even if you switch to double rich chocolate from the same company, the flavorings and sweeteners used are different. The point is to analyze and break down every single product. What are the positives, what are the negatives and unfortunately if we're not looking at wild quality foods, it's mostly negatives. So when you consume protein powder or really any food that contains processed ingredients, you're consuming hundreds, possibly thousands of different ingredients, we should really be calling them chemicals, considering all of the materials and processes required for each of these individual items. Now is protein powder the worst thing in the world? It's pretty simple. You're either eating healthy food or you're not. If you're drinking a protein shake, if you're cheating on your diet, if you're doing something that's hypothetically negative in any way, what are you using to justify it? What's the reason? Do you enjoy it? Is it all you have access to? Is it all you can afford? And each of those things can be addressed on an individual basis. So thank you guys for joining me. If you could please like the video, subscribe, hit that bell icon and above all guys please share the video if you can. If you guys do want to support me further, check out everything down in the description from Frankie's for your range meat, for high quality animal foods, Frankie's Naturals for minimal ingredients, minimally processed hygiene and cosmetic products. You can also go to frank-defano.com for fitness and nutrition consulting. And we recently launched our book just yesterday, The Ancestral Indigenous Diet. So check that out on Amazon as well. Thanks again for joining me guys and enjoy the rest of your day.