which Protein Powder is best?

When I first got into working out during my freshmen year of college I went out and grabbed “The absolute essentials to gettin’ JACKED!” as the GNC employee said. This consisted of a bottle of “fat burner” pills (even though I was 6’1” and 145lbs of wirey tendons and fat burners are a scam…that rant is for another blog post), a tub of X-TREME pre-workout with enough caffeine to make you hear colors, and a barrel of protein powder with dissolving capabilities of rubber cement.

I left the store feeling confused about half of the words he used but nonetheless equipped to become absolutely huge. After realizing all that fat burners and pre-workout had done for me was a high level of anxiety and shaky hands (I do use pre-workout but we will get there another day).

Everything I knew about lifting was to go to the gym and that I needed protein. Now as a certified macro nutrition and fitness coach through NASM, AFAA, and ISSA, I know that supplements are exactly what their name suggests…supplemental. While I love my protein powder and I will give my honest reviews here shortly I want to say that you should prioritize your protein coming from whole sources and use protein powder or any sort of supplemental protein as a helpful resource and not the sole provider of your protein intake. I say this as someone who consumed protein powder in shockingly large amounts.

But as I perused the protein powder selection online, at GNC, at the store I felt overwhelmed by my options. Who knew there were so many brands and different types of protein?

There were massive bags of whey gold standard, pea protein, soy protein, plant protein (not sure how it was different from soy or pea), bone broth protein, collagen peptides, and others. So which one was better, which tasted good, and which one has the best nutritional stats? How do they stack up against each other?

While I will tell you my favorite today I will also share about other ones and what they consist of and what to look out for as well as finding the most cost-effective.

I will only be reviewing and comparing ones I have bought and tried myself. Have no fear that list is not small.

Let’s start with the king on the mountain of protein powder:

Whey Gold Standard Optimum Nutrition

Whey Gold Standard Optimum Nutrition is one of if not the most recognizable protein powders. The iconic black tub boasts a variety of flavors from Vanilla to Banana Cream, Double Chocolate to Rocky Road and so many others. The overall flavor is hard to beat especially when mixed with a milk product.

What is Whey Protein?

Whey protein is protein from the whey (the watery part of milk that separates from the curds when making cheese.)

It is a dairy byproduct so it is not a good choice if you are someone with dairy sensitivities or intolerance.

Overall this is a great protein powder. Nutritionally whey is very low in fat and carbs and high in protein, giving you the best boost for your protein intake without adding too many calories. It is one of the lowest amount of calories per scoop out of other protein powders with 120 calories per serving.

It’s no secret that this protein powder has stood the test of time and tends to be a best-seller year after year. Even Amazon reviews show this averaging 4.7/5 stars on almost 206,000 reviews.

Coaches Opinion: I highly recommend this protein powder to anyone. While whey does not sit as well with my stomach it does not make me hesitate to encourage others to try it out. With a list of so many flavors, you are bound to find one you enjoy.

ORgain Organic Protein

Orgain Organic Protein Powder is one of if not the highest-selling plant-based proteins. It is a protein that gets its protein from Peas and brown rice. This is a great option for anyone but especially those with a dairy intolerance/sensitivity or who are vegan.

I have coached clients who have tried this protein and truly enjoy it. It is highly reviewed and is an Amazon bestseller and boasts a wide variety of flavors from Churro to Chai latte, peppermint hot cocoa and fruity cereal, and many more. It averages 4.6/5 stars on Amazon out of 53,000+ reviews.

Nutritonally the calories are higher by about 30-40 calories with more fat and carbs which is to be expected when using solely plant-based sources. It is also one of the cheaper protein options.

Coaches Opinion: If my clients were using it I figured I would buy it and try it. Upon my initial use, I found it was a little more difficult to mix in with drinks resulting in some pockets of powder that were not mixed, resulting in a flinch from the unexpected dry boba experience. After getting it mixed I enjoyed the flavor but noticed a more earthy aftertaste than its whey counterpart. Overall I liked it more than I thought I would and noticed it was easier on my stomach. While I won’t use this product on the regular for myself I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others especially those who can’t use whey.

Ghost Protein Powder

Ghost Protein Powder while not new on the market has been growing at an exponential rate over the past few years. This company has the corner on playful nostalgic marketing. This company like the previously mentioned makes many products from pre-workout to energy drinks protein powder and hydration mixes.

They have eye-catching designs and flavors that bring me back to my childhood. Flavors like nutter butter, chips ahoy (with real bits of cookie in it), Cinnabon, and cereal milk (reliving the Saturday mornings of cartoons and cereal then capturing the flavor of drinking the milk out of the bowl afterward.)

The whey protein also contains 25g of protein in only 150 calories, making it one of the highest grams of protein per scoop as far as protein goes.

While I rave about the product there are a few drawbacks. One is that it is more expensive than other protein powders. While not crazy high it should be noted. It is also not as reviewed as the first two powders mentioned but still has a 4.5/5 star rating with almost 9,000 reviews on Amazon.

Coaches Opinion: As far as flavors go I would rank this as one close to the top of the list. It is a whey protein (although they have vegan protein powder I have not tried it and therefore cannot review it) which does not sit well with my stomach as mentioned earlier. I think their protein powders bring an exciting and lighthearted spin to a market saturated with hardcore, muscly, intimidating marketing. If you are looking to mix it up and maybe get excited to get protein in your day-to-day this is a great product.

Just ingredients Protein Powder

Fanboy alert! I love this product.

Disclaimer: I’m not an affiliate with this company. I gain nothing from this review. Just here to share my opinion to hopefully help!

Just Ingredients Protein Powder is produced by a small family owned company. My wife and I have used products from this company for a while and love their care and attention to detail in all aspects of what they do. Their mission statment is to “provide health and wellness products made with only real ingredients.”

The protein powder is delicious and made with a blend of different proteins (whey protein, pea protein, pumpkin seed protein, chai seed protein, and collagen.) This makes it much easier to digest. Even with other plant-based proteins in it, the nutritional stats are very good. 24g of protein per serving and only 140 calories. Over time they have expanded their flavors and often have limited-release seasonal flavors like (egg nog or peppermint chocolate in the winter). It is the only protein powder I have found that I both feel 100% confident in the ingredients and also enjoy the flavor. Before it felt like this was the trade off.

It’s no secret that this is my preferred protein powder. But I want this review to give you every angle so here are the drawbacks: Being from a small company with higher quality ingredients the price tag reflects that. You are paying more per bag. While my wife and I subscribe we save a certain percent on each order but without subscribing it is $59.99 per bag. The other downside is the scoop size per serving is bigger than the other protein powders, resulting in fewer servings per bag.

Coaches Opinion: I love it. I enjoy how I feel after using it and I like the flavor a lot. I am more picky about when I use it based on the price and number of servings per bag. It’s not a supplement I use as frequently as I did when I consistently was buying the others. While I think anyone who tries it would love it, it’s not as accessible as the others.

Note: They are trying to expand into storefronts which could change some of these drawbacks in the future but this is just speculation from me.

Premier Protein Powder

Premier Protein Powder is a very budget-friendly protein powder with a minimal amount of flavors. I found that reviews on Amazon are more encouraging than mine are. While it boasts an incredible 30g of protein per serving and a low price tag, I would encourage a closer look at the ingredient label. It has a serving size of two scoops and can be a little harder to mix in with a drink. I used to only mix it with water so my flavor review is skewed from the others.

Coaches Opinion: I would not recommend this to clients. I felt very bloated from using this product. While whey normally is harsher I believe the other ingredients contributed to overall bloat and gas. It was also very difficult to fully mix in a blender bottle.

WRAP-UP

This is only skimming the surface of protein powders out there but is a good spread across the different types. I won’t sit here and tell you this is the exact one for you to choose, I wanted to bring some info about each one to help you make your own decision. I will tell you that I think others in this list like the Gold Standard and Just ingredients proteins are better in most categories than the others (unless you have a dairy sensitivity). That being said I am still on my quest to test and try more protein powders to help you so that you do not feel like younger me trying to figure out this supplement stuff alone.

I hope this is helpful! Stick around for more articles!

Disclaimer: Each of the protein powders can be found through the link attached to the name. For all of them except the Just Ingredients powder, I am using an affiliate link through Amazon. This doesn’t mean you have to buy them through that link or at all but if you did, it would help support more articles like this in the future as I continue to bring free information to those who want it.