Protein powders are considered to be the easiest and most efficient way to increase your protein intake. Choosing the best vegan protein powder means getting proteins from plants, seeds, nuts, and grains instead of animal products.
The vegan protein powders have great nutrition benefits. They are often used by athletes, gym enthusiasts, vegetarians, and anyone looking to improve their protein intake. These products contain fiber that is great for digestion. Some have vitamins and minerals that boost your overall body health. They usually have low levels of fat, sugar and are gluten-free.
We have researched the best vegan protein powders that will boost your protein intake in just a scoop and have included their pros and cons. A detailed buying guide to aid with getting the best product is also included in this article.
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Best Vegan Protein Powder
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Best Vegan Protein Powder - Reviews
KOS Plant-based is considered the best vegan protein powder for getting the most organic product for weight loss and vegans. The product has received an award from Delicious Living for best Consumer Choice because of its high quality, purity, ingredients. This organic plant-based product has a chocolate flavor infused with organic coconut milk, Peruvian cacao, and monk fruit.
KOS Plant-based protein powder contains 20 grams of protein per serving scoop. It features a protein blend of chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, Quinoa, and pea protein. The fiber contained in this product helps you remain full for a long time, which is great for weight loss.
This Organic protein powder is a complete protein meaning that it has been certified. It is gluten-free and does not contain dairy, artificial sweeteners, soy, genetically modified organisms, sugar, and color. The protein powder is readily available and comes with several flavors like; vanilla flavor, chocolate, peanut butter, and mint flavor.
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Garden of Life Organic Plant-Based Protein Powder is great for pre-workout and post-workout and is a high-quality product for gym enthusiasts. Garden of life powder has NSF Certificate for Sports and an Informed-Choice Sports Certificate showing that it has gone under third-party testing.
The Life Sport protein has a 20 g protein per serving, roughly two scoops, and 5 grams of BCAAs and grass-fed Whey protein. These plant-based proteins have 10g of fiber per serving, which makes digestion easy. Having this protein in your work ou routine will be an efficient way to boost your protein intake. It has a vanilla flavor that goes perfectly with an almond milk and water mixture.
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Orgain Simple Organic Plant Protein Powder is great if you want to live a balanced and healthy lifestyle. This plant protein comes in different flavors like; vanilla flavor, peanut butter, and chocolate flavors, and you can add to baked things, shakes, smoothies, a still tastes great.
The organic plant protein has 20 grams of protein per serving and contains digestive enzymes and fiber, which are great in absorption and digestion. It has a blend of different products like; brown rice protein, hemp protein, and pea proteins.
The product is hypoallergenic, which means it less likely to cause any allergies. The product also has all the nine essential amino acids that assist in strengthening the body muscles.
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Naked pea is the best vegan protein powder if you are looking for a plant-based protein that does not have artificial flavors, color, sugar, fat, fiber, or even sweetening. This product is sourced from the yellow pea exclusively. It is Dairy Free and is great for a person with dairy allergy or intolerance.
The Naked pea Premium protein powder has low-calorie levels per scoop and is great and easy to digest. These plant-based protein products are relatively cheaper because they are largely produced using farm-made pea. This product is more natural tasting in comparison to other products. This product does not have either vanilla or chocolate flavor because they only have one main component used to make them.
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Garden of Life Raw Organic is one of the best vegan protein powder, great for having organic components and helping with your body and weight goals. The product has vitamins and minerals that are incorporated while making it that make it great for the body. The product is unflavored and has high levels of fat absorbent.
This raw organic vegan powder contains a blend of Pea, Brown Rice Protein, Quinoa Sprout, Chia Seed Sprout, Flax Seed, Sunflower Seed Sprout, Pumpkin Seed protein, hemp protein, Sesame Seed protein, etc. It has 22 g of protein per serving. However, it is important to note that the product has a high level of sodium. The Organic protein powder is gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free, and non-GMO.
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What to Consider Before Purchasing the Best Vegan Protein Powder
1. Types of Protein
When you are shopping for vegan protein, you have to keep in mind the types of protein powder in the market and plan to get one that best meets your needs. The protein type you choose will highly depend on the fitness plan you have. The protein type you choose should be low net carbs and calories, have a boost of fiber, healthy fat, and each serving should lead you towards your desired nutrition goal.
Several types of vegan protein powders blend different ingredients like; soya, organic pea, brown rice protein, casein, hemp protein, and mixed protein powders. Some of these powders are separated from milk, while others are solidly from plans. They all have low levels of cholesterol, and they help to build your bone mass and muscles.
If you would like to incorporate more plant-based protein in your overall diet, you can use an all natural whole food source such as Lupin Flour which is derived from milled Lupin Beans. Lupin Flour is naturally High in Protein (all 9 essential amino acids), low in carbs, high in dietary fiber and Gluten-free. Lupin Flour would be used in addition to the Vegan powders mentioned above as it's used as an alternative to traditional flours and not a ready to mix powder.
2. Grams of Plant Protein
The protein intake should be equal to 0.8 grams per kg of the body weight as recommended by the IOM (Institute of Medicine). The IOM advises that the average intake of an inactive woman and man should have a scoop of 46 grams and 56 grams in a day, respectively.
One should use the USDA,s DRI calculator to check the recommended protein they should take. To know the gram protein you need per serving, you should get the protein per serving and then calculate using the number of supplements you are taking; this way, you will know your RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance). However, the protein amount will vary depending on the health objectives and a person's activity levels. For instance, you will need higher levels of protein intake if you are working out compared to a person who sits around all day.
3. Fitness Goal
You must first know the body and health goal you are looking to get before buying the plant-based powder. Some of these products are Post work, meaning they are used to help in muscle recovery and building muscles.
For vegan nutrition and diets, you will have to get a different product from someone who wants to build mass and bone muscles. If you are trying vegan nutrition and diet, you aim to replace a meal that would give you protein like meat or eggs.
4. Check the Ingredients and Read the Nutrition Label
Getting the best vegan protein powder is a great choice, but it is equally important to check for the nutritional label and the ingredients used to make it. When it comes to Nutritional labeling, all the proteins are made differently, and they differ across brands. Some contain BCAAS, omega-3s, different Biological Values, and different levels of calories and carbs. It will help you know whether a certain brand has nutritional value to help achieve your fitness and nutrition goal.
You must also look out for the ingredients that are used to make the protein powder. It would be best if you did not think that bit automatically has all pure ingredients because it is a complete protein. Most of them have stevia, monk fruit extract, pumpkin seed,sacha inchi, artificial sweeteners, zero-calorie sweeteners, etc. There is usually no great impact on the added sugars as long as they do not high levels of calories and carbs. The packaging also indicates the flavors of the product like; vanilla, chocolate, mint, etc.
5. The BCAA Quantity of the Protein
Branched Chain Amino Acids is commonly known as BCAA. Proteins consist of BCAAS and amino acids. BCAAs are essential amino acids that are special and are well recommended to improve protein consumption in the body. BCAAs have low levels of calories and carbs and are considered greater than whey protein to lose weight.
The best vegan protein powders consist of BCAAs. The quantities of these essential amino acids are indicated on the package. The amount should vary depending on the fitness goal of an individual because some products have more BCAAs than others.
6. Biological Value of the Protein
The BV or the Biological Value of the vegan protein powder is a crucial factor that you need to know when buying the protein powder. The Biological Value is used to measure the amount of protein consumed and used by your body. The more the Biological Value, the higher the proteins your body consumes.
However, the Biological Value is not usually indicated in most packaging because the protein powders have dissimilar BVs. Whey proteins, for instance, have high BV, which is great when it comes to muscle growth.
7. The Cost
The other most important factor to consider is the cost of the vegan protein powder. You need to keep in mind the amount of protein per gram of the protein powder you will need. Considering all the above factors we have covered, getting whey protein with high Biological Value and BCAAS will be more expensive than those without these supplements. The most vital thing is to give your body the best vegan protein powder for your health goals.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Best Vegan Protein Powder
1. Are vegan protein powders bad for your kidneys?
Large consumption of proteins can cause more harm than good to your body. This is the biggest limitation when it comes to vegan protein powders. Our kidneys are used to help our body remove the waste that is taken in. The proteins we consume have much waste during their processing. Taking the vegan protein powder in large quantities can therefore overwork the kidneys and led to straining and damaging.
2. Why is vegan protein so expensive?
The best vegan protein powders are not hard to find, even on online stores like amazon. However, the demand for protein powders has gone up latterly, which has brought about scarcity in getting the proteins. There are still products like brown rice protein and pea proteins which have continued to be produced in large amounts and are readily available. The prices of these products vary depending on the ingredients used to make the products.
3. Can you build muscle with plant-based protein?
Building muscles is mostly based on protein consumption and work out. Taking in large amounts of plant-based protein can cause you to gain and also strengthen your muscles. But you have to keep in mind the large disadvantages that come with high protein intakes.
