Best Soy Protein alternative

[xxx]

Hi all.

I'm 18 years old, 6' 3", 180lbs. Been vegetarian all my life and this year I decided to take my training seriously. I was weightlifting for about 6 months last year, but was completely clueless diet-wise and did more harm than good in the gym to be honest.

 

Took the step up and became vegan this year, and I've been supplementing with Soy Protein Isolate for almost three months now as part of a weightlifting program and a fairly solid diet. Been hitting my macros consistently, with the biggest nutritional problem being excessive carb intake due to reliance on pulses and legumes. I've made good gains though and I'm very pleased with my current rate of progress.

 

The main purpose of this post is to ask what people's experiences with Soy Protein have been, and which vegan alternatives are the best.

I pretty much refused to buy into all the bigoted 'research' that claimed Soy Protein was some sort of danger to health when I started looking into vegan nutrition, with thyroid problems, increase in estrogen levels and lower libido being the main claims made by seemingly ignorant carnivores aiming to put down a legitimate source of protein for vegans.

 

Although I can safely say Soy Protein is an effective supplement, coming up to three months of consumption; it has negatively affected me. I have experienced thyroid pain, lower sex drive and some slight impotency problems in the past few weeks. As an 18 year old male you can appreciate this sort of thing is difficult to miss and quite worrying.

Decided I need to get off the stuff and I'm now looking into alternatives.

 

Hemp protein, rice protein and pea protein seem to be the only viable options for powdered vegan proteins. Hemp being the most expensive, rice being hardest to find and pea apparently tasting the worst. None of the three seem to be available in 'flavoured' options such as chocolate/ vanilla, and after tasting unflavoured soy protein isolate I'm not keen on going down that road again. All three have decent protein content, none have an AA breakdown as good as soy and all come with about 10% carbs.

 

Whilst I don't rely on powdered Soy Protein to hit my macros, financial restraints and inability to physically consume enough solid protein sources do sometimes leave me short and feeling sure I won't recover well enough. A good meal for me will be something like 40p/60c/5f.

 

Not too sure where to go next, contemplating going onto whey, but to be honest I can't justify consuming anything from an animal, despite being only a vegetarian for my last 18 years I've never been that comfortable consuming dairy. As I got older and I realised what I was actually nutritionally consuming as well as having very strong animal-friendly morals I decided enough was enough and I'm feeling so much better (mentally and physically) now I'm vegan. My diet's so clean now too, the nearest thing to processed food I consume is tofu and protein powder.

 

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

[Justin Morgan]

Thanks for that post. I had read lot's of opinions about soy protein, but nothing that really stated actual studies. It was enough to make me want to stay clear of it though.

I wouldn't say protein isn't as important, but unless you are cutting weight I don't personally feel that supplementing protein is all that essential assuming you are getting plenty of calories. I'm also 180 ibs (6' even) and when I'm wanting to put on weight I go up to the 5-6000 range in calories. Lot's of rice and beans, and when you're body is getting plenty of carbs, you don't need as much protein. Protein becomes very important in individuals that are cutting weight by reducing their carbohydrates. With the carb deficit your body is able to convert proteins that would normally be used for tissue repair into energy, so elevated protein levels in that case are necessary. But assuming you are getting plenty of carbs and calories it's unlikely that you'll be lacking in proteins.

That's just my 2 cents, but it's what works for me.

[xxx]

Sun Warrior rice protein seems like the only other viable option, at £40 a kilo it's extortionately priced, at the minute I get through a kilo of Soy pretty quickly, and that's at a tenner a kilo.

 

Pea isolate seems to be slow digesting which pretty much defeats the object of post workout nutrition.

Hemp has stupidly low protein content, and decent rice isolate is hard to source.

 

http://www.aggressivehealthshop.com/1kg-sunwarrior-protein-chocolate-618.html

 

Not sure about this, at the very bottom of the description.

 

for animal use only due to the tiny amount of stevia used in the product

[Tarz]

Presume you're in the UK?

 

There is stuff out there. This stuff tastes really good, bit pricey though:

 

http://www.planetorganic.com/biochem-vegan-protein-vanilla.html

 

http://www.planetorganic.com/biochem-vegan-protein-chocolate.html

 

If you'd prefer to purchase only from a purely vegan company, this vegan all in one has recently launched in the UK. Mint and strawberry flavours taste good. Waiting to try the toffee:

 

http://www.natures-whey.co.uk/product/ignite-ultra-v-mint-chocolate/

 

Another - cheaper - option is just to throw bananas, berries and other fruit, flavoured ice cream/yoghurt into unflavoured protein. Quite easy to disguise the tase.

[Tarz]

This company also does flavoured hemp proteins:

 

http://www.goodhempnutrition.com/good-gym-range/11-good-gym-shake-1kg-chocolate.html

[xxx]

Cheers for that mate, I might have a go with the flavoured pea protein, it's the first flavoured one I've come across.

Just received my first KG of Sun Warrior today, hopefully it impresses me but I'm not holding my breath.

 

Thanks alot for that third link buddy.

[Tarz]

Which pea protein you go for - the Biochem or Natures Whey?

[xxx]

Going to have a go on Natures Whey purely for the value, the only thing about pea protein is the carbs which I'd like to avoid, although I can work my way around that. Sunwarrior seems the purest soy alternative, so I'll be using that for pwo with my creatine and if I like that Natures Whey I'll use that to boost my macros throughout the day.

 

Cheers for the info, been scouring the web quite deeply and didn't come across that site.

[stcalico]

You can look these up yourself to verify, but in my own 'vegan research' I've read that testosterone levels will decrease if you over train. And I've also read that omega 3 is crucial in your diet for testosterone production. Just some other things to consider.