Someone was asking recently if anyone has gained any benefits from taking protein powder as they never seemed to achieve any extra results from it. Here's my response.....

 "If you train a muscle group, it'll take up to 72 hours to recover. To aid this recovery your body needs a regular dose of protein (20/30g) to stimulate protein synthesis, otherwise those muscles won't recover as well. The source of protein doesn't matter as long as it contains all the essential amino acids. Meat, oily fish, eggs and protein shakes are all just simply sources of protein. Protein shakes aren't magic but the real benefits is that it's an easy available source of complete protein, easily absorbed (whey), it takes no preparation and may contain other added ingredients that you may benefit from e.g. BCAA, creatine, additional carbs to bulk up etc etc."

For the last few years I haven't supplemented my diet with any protein powders and made great gains but as I've got bigger recently and needed to up my protein intake, the powder has become a useful addition to my diet. 

Do you agree/disagree? Have you found an quick/easy alternative to protein powder?

Here's a link a previous blog as to why protein aids weight loss: http://www.samwattfitness.com/1/post/2013/09/why-a-high-protein-diet-is-beneficial-for-fat-loss.html

Most people forget how good a meat turkey is - it's high in protein and low in all the bad stuff. My lunch today contains a total of 400 calories, 32 grams of high quality protein and  plenty good fats from the avocado and seeds. The breakdown is as follows:-

• Basmati brown rice with sunflower seeds 
  
• Roasted turkey breast (not reformed)
• 1/2 avocado 
• Cranberry sauce (well - no ones perfect!)
• ...and a green juice blend to top if off