DEBUSTING MYTHS ABOUT VEGETABLE PROTEIN

You've probably heard a million things about plant-based protein powder (and not all of them are good): that it's only for vegans, that it's not complete, that proteins are for "those who go to the gym a lot"... But many of these claims are as absurd as saying that only vegetarians can eat vegetables. Sounds absurd, right? If you want to know the truth about plant-based protein, keep reading!

At Baïa Food, we want to debunk some of the most common myths surrounding vegetable proteins, including:

When we talk about a complete protein source, we are referring to those that have all the essential amino acids.

Let's put it simply: amino acids are the little structures that make up proteins (think of them as the building blocks of proteins). Some of these building blocks cannot be made by our bodies from the molecules we have available, but there are some amino acids (out of the 9 essential ones) that we get from our diet, and we cannot make them ourselves. Plant foods generally do not have complete protein, but we can solve the problem by combining several plant sources.

We use pea and rice protein in our Plant Protein, making them a complete vegetable protein.

We have to give this one a ''little'' reason, it has been a traditional problem with vegetable protein but... we have great news! After doing many tests in our R&D department we have achieved a very rich flavour and something very important for us, a very pleasant texture. So much so that in 2019 we won the award for the best free form organic product with our proteins at Organic Food Iberia (an award in which consumers choose the best)

This is the biggest myth we find about protein. According to the WHO, it is recommended to consume at least 0.8 to 1 gram per kilogram of weight per day, although if you do some sport, the ideal would be to consume between 1.5 and 2 grams per kilogram of weight. Therefore, muscle gain is often associated with excessively defined physiques, but nothing could be further from the truth, consuming an optimal level of protein has many benefits:

• It speeds up the metabolism , as it helps to increase and maintain muscle mass, and muscle is a tissue that consumes a lot of energy at rest.
• It helps us feel more energetic and have more strength and performance in sports and in daily life.
• Protein participates in countless reactions in the body and having an optimal level makes our body function better.

Traditionally, humans could go several days without eating animal protein, for example because they could not find animals to hunt.

Also, animal proteins have antigens, but... What are antigens? They are components that can trigger an immune response from our body. All animal proteins have them, but this is not the case with vegetable proteins, which is why more and more experts recommend eating more vegetable protein, to be less exposed to antigens and give our immune and intestinal systems a break. Even if you are not vegan, eating only vegetable protein for a few days will be very good for you, to reduce inflammation and reset your intestine.

As we mentioned before, it is very difficult to reach the optimal daily protein level simply through food. Therefore, a great ally to achieve this is protein powder. The reality is that when we talk about this type of protein, we usually think of the typical whey protein, but many times they do not have very recommendable ingredients and many people do not feel well. But the good news is that we have a perfect substitute for them: vegetable protein powder!

If we compare them with whey proteins, these are their benefits:

• It does not have sweeteners (ours in particular): Most whey proteins have many sweeteners that are harmful to our intestinal microbiota, our vegetable proteins are free of them and of "rare ingredients"
• It is more digestible, since many people have a bad reaction to whey protein due to the lactose it contains, but ours is lactose-free.

• It is a much more sustainable protein, avoiding greenhouse gas emissions and helping to curb climate change.

• In our case, we enrich them with some functional ingredient such as pure cocoa (one of the brain's favorite foods, which helps protect cardiovascular health) or maca (a Peruvian root that helps combat stress, have more energy and regulate hormones in men and women.

Have you been surprised by the truth about popular myths about plant protein?