What is the best breastfeeding protein powder?
Written by Jack Schrupp and reviewed by Ella McGonagle, M.S. Nutrition
drink wholesome is the best breastfeeding protein powder. It is additive-free, dairy-free, and made with real foods, not protein isolates – 99% of supplements fail to meet at least one of these criteria. This makes it perfect for breastfeeding moms, as well as for moms just looking to boost their protein intake without the processing and added junk. Order samples to see if our protein powder is right for you.
★★★★★
“It has ingredients you can actually pronounce and is freaking delicious.”
-Kallie
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drink wholesome is the best breastfeeding protein powder.
Can I take protein powder while breastfeeding?
What is the best protein powder for breastfeeding?
Why drink wholesome?
Can you have protein powder while breastfeeding?
Research suggests that the maternal diet may impact breast milk macronutrient composition. In other words, the foods that the mother eats while breastfeeding may make a difference in terms of the nutritional content of the breast milk. Maternal diets high in protein, for example, have been associated with higher protein and energy contents in breast milk. This means that the infant is getting more protein and more calories, both of which are essential for growth and development.
Eating enough and eating a balanced diet is the best way to promote healthy breast milk production. Eating enough is important because breastfeeding mothers burn more calories than most women. (They are eating for two.) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) therefore recommends that breastfeeding mothers consume an additional 330 to 400 calories per day.
Eating a balanced diet is important because it is the only way to ensure that the infant is meeting its nutritional needs. Remember, nutrients are transferred from the mother to the infant through breast milk. Mothers should therefore try to eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, and protein at every meal. According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), half of the plate should consist of fruits and vegetables, and the other half should be made up of grains and protein.
Most mothers should be able to get all the nutrients they need from normal food. That said, getting enough of certain nutrients, like protein, can be hard for some women. Breastfeeding mothers need 1.7–1.9 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day. This means that a 150 pound breastfeeding mother needs to consume over 100 grams of protein per day, which is a lot of protein! This is where protein powder comes in handy.
Adding protein powder to your diet is an easy way to boost your protein intake simply because it is easier to drink your protein than it is to chew it. It is also easier to make a protein shake than it is to cook a meal. Before you start using protein powder, however, you should know that not all protein powders are good for you (or your baby).
What is the best protein powder for breastfeeding moms?
If you Google “breastfeeding protein powder,” you will come across a number of brands that target breastfeeding and postpartum mothers, but that use ingredients that breastfeeding mothers should not be consuming. Take Milk Dust, for example, one of the most popular brands of protein powder for breastfeeding. It claims, on the homepage of its website, that it uses “non-GMO, clean, organic ingredients.” This is misleading because they use food additives like guar gum and natural flavors.” How can a company claim to use “clean” ingredients if it also uses food additives like these???
Guar gum is a heavily-processed thickener, and “natural flavor” is more or less a catch-all term for everything that a manufacturer would rather not spell out on the ingredient list. While food manufacturers are required to disclose their ingredients, natural flavor manufacturers are not. They can add solvents, preservatives, emulsifiers, carriers and other additives to a flavor that qualifies as “natural” under current regulations.
Majka, another one of the most popular brands of protein powder for breastfeeding moms, also uses food additives. Its flagship protein powder, for example, contains natural flavors and silica. You just learned what “natural” flavor really means, and silica (silica dioxide) is a heavily-processed food additive used to prevent clumping. Keep reading to learn more about why you should avoid ingredients like these.
Why drink wholesome?
drink wholesome is additive-free.
One of the reasons why we make the best breastfeeding protein powder is that we do not use food additives. Most protein powders, on the other hand, are full of food additives.
Food additives may improve characteristics like taste, texture, and shelf stability, but they can also cause uncomfortable side effects and long-term gut damage. Basically, because they look nothing like real food, food additives are hard to digest. They therefore sit in your gut for longer than food should, which gives your gut bacteria more time to eat. As they eat, these bacteria produce gas, causing bloating and stomach pain. Gas also slows colonic transit (the amount of time it takes food to travel through the colon), which can lead to constipation. Over time, food additives can add up (especially if you drink a protein shake every day), and disrupt regulatory pathways in the intestine. Eventually, this can lead to the development of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and systemic inflammatory disorders.
When buying protein powder, one additive to avoid in particular is artificial sweeteners. Artificial sweeteners are among the most harmful food additives in the long term as they alter the composition of your gut microbiota. This can lead to serious, chronic GI problems, widespread inflammation, and permanent damage to the gut microbiome.
Some sweeteners, especially sugar alcohols like xylitol, are poorly absorbed by the gut, meaning they feed your hungry gut bacteria. They can also cause diarrhea because they draw water into your intestines. Now you may finally have something to blame for those post-protein shake trips to the bathroom!
Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein powder:
acacia gum, acesulfame potassium, artificial flavors, aspartame, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dextrin, dextrose, erythritol, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, “natural” flavors, maltodextrin, rice syrup solids, soy lecithin, silica, sucralose, sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum, xylitol
When it comes to identifying food additives, go with your gut. 😉 As a rule of thumb, additives are ingredients that you cannot pronounce. Food additives are not the only thing to avoid when buying protein powder, however. There are several other ingredients that can upset your stomach.
the alternative:
Protein Matrix Comprised of (Whey Protein Concentrate, Whey Protein Isolate, Calcium Caseinate, Micellar Casein, Milk Protein Isolate, Egg Albumen, Glutamine Peptides), Polydextrose, Sunflower Creamer (Sunflower Oil, Corn Syrup Solids, Sodium Caseinate, Mono- and Diglycerides, Dipotassium Phosphate, Tricalcium Phosphate, Soy Lecithin, Tocopherols), Natural and Artificial Flavor, MCT Powder (Medium Chain Triglycerides, Nonfat Dry Milk, Disodium Phosphate, Silicon Dioxide), Lecithin, Cellulose Gum, Salt, Yellow 5, Sucralose, Acesulfame Potassium, Papain, Bromelain.
*This is the actual ingredient list of one of the best-selling protein powders in the United States.
drink wholesome is dairy-free.
Another reason why we make the best protein powder for breastfeeding for beginners is that we do not use dairy-based proteins. Many protein powders are made with whey and casein, which are byproducts of cheese and yogurt production, and known to cause digestive issues. This is especially true for people with lactose intolerance and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
Over one in three Americans are lactose intolerant, and the prevalence of IBS is somewhere between 10 and 15 percent in the United States. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a poorly understood condition, and it is unclear why dairy triggers symptoms. Lactose intolerance, on the other hand, is clearly understood. People with lactose intolerance are unable to fully digest lactose, the sugar in dairy. As you just learned, partially digested food feeds the bacteria in your gut, which produce gas and cause side effects.
drink wholesome is made with real foods.
A final reason why we make the best breastfeeding protein powder is that we do not use protein isolates. Most protein powders, on the contrary, are made with protein concentrates and/or isolates, foods stripped of everything but the protein. They appear on the ingredient list as “pea protein” and “whey protein” as opposed to “peas” and “whey.”
I will not go into the details, but protein concentrates and isolates undergo heavy mechanical and chemical processing before becoming protein powder. Sometimes, manufacturers use chemical solvents like hexane to isolate (separate) the protein from the food. This means that what you end up putting into your body looks nothing like real food.
If you think about it, your gut was designed to digest naturally occurring foods, not laboratory formulated imitations, so if you feed it anything but real food, it might get upset. The long term implications of eating processed foods are still not well understood, but more and more research is finding that it can alter the composition of your gut microbiota, and lead to permanent damage to your gut microbiome.
Your gut does more than just help you to digest food; it protects against pathogens, educates your immune system, and affects directly or indirectly most of your physiologic functions. Disruptions to the gut microbiome have therefore been linked to the development of many chronic diseases. It follows that it is in your best interest to avoid protein powders made with protein concentrates and isolates.
Instead of using protein concentrates or isolates, we make the best protein powder safe for breastfeeding with whole foods like egg whites and almonds. Egg whites are simply pasteurized and dried before becoming protein powder. Almonds are just roasted, pressed to remove some of the oil, and ground. Whole foods like these are an easy to digest, gut-friendly alternative to protein concentrates and isolates.
Whole foods contain a variety of enzymes and other digestive aids that help to break down the food, making it easier for the body to absorb the nutrients. Protein isolates and concentrates, on the other hand, have been stripped of these digestive aids, making them harder for the body to digest and absorb. Moreover, minimally-processed plant-based foods like almonds are rich in fiber, which helps promote healthy digestion and regular bowel movements.
Unless you have a sensitivity or allergy to eggs, egg white protein is the best protein for your gut. Egg whites are low in fiber, low-FODMAP, naturally alkaline, and have the highest protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score (PDCAAS) of any whole food. Our customers have experienced fewer digestive issues with egg white protein powder than with any other type of protein powder. If you cannot eat eggs, try our vegan almond protein powder. We prefer almonds to other plant protein sources because they are more gut-friendly. Research suggests that almonds possess prebiotic properties that can improve the diversity and composition of the gut microbiome.
★★★★★
“I’ve had Crohn’s disease for 20+ years and it’s always been hard to find a protein powder my stomach can handle. I’ve had no problem digesting drink wholesome AND it tastes great. I highly recommend this protein powder if you have IBS or Crohn’s.” – Jesse
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drink wholesome is the best protein powder safe for breastfeeding.
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This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. drink wholesome is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.