What is the best low calorie protein powder?


drink wholesome is the best low calorie protein powder. It is also a great choice for people looking to boost their protein intake without the extra calories. Order samples to see if our low calorie high protein powder is right for you. 

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drink wholesome is the best low calorie protein powder.

Written by Jack Schrupp & endorsed by Baylee Reller, RDN

What is a calorie?


A calorie is, to put it simply, the unit of energy in food. Your body use calories to perform all physiological functions.

Some foods have more calories per gram than others. For instance, a 1 kilogram watermelon has less than 400 calories, whereas 1 kilogram of Swiss cheese has more than 4,000 calories. Understanding what calories are, and knowing how many are in the foods you eat, is an important part of building a healthy diet and managing body weight.

What does low calorie mean? 


According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), in order to be labeled as low-calorie, a food must have less than 40 calories per serving. Very few protein powders meet this criteria.

Protein has 4 calories per gram, which means that a protein powder with 20 grams of protein per serving must have at least 80 calories per serving. In other words, this is the lowest possible number of calories possible for that amount of protein. Some protein powders have 4.4 or 4.3 calories per gram of protein, but only because they are made with protein isolates.

Protein isolates are foods stripped of everything but the protein. They appear on the ingredient list as “whey protein” and “pea protein,” instead of as “whey” and “peas.” Although protein isolates seem great from a nutritional standpoint, they are not something you want to eat. 

Firstly, protein isolates have an unpleasant chalky aftertaste. They can ruin a smoothie and turn a baked good into a hockey puck. Second, protein isolates look nothing like real food, which is bad for your gut health (more about that later).

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Why use low calorie high protein powder? 


A low-calorie diet is an eating plan used to help people lose weight. Many people looking for a low calorie protein powder are on a low calorie diet. A low calorie protein powder can help with weight loss because it contains a lot of protein per calorie.

Increasing the percentage of your calories that come from protein will help you lose weight because it is the most satiating macronutrient. It keeps you feeling full for longer than fats and carbs, which can help prevent cravings and overeating. This, in turn, allows you to eat fewer calories than you burn.

You have to burn 3,500 more calories than you eat to lose a pound. To lose weight at a safe rate – 0.5 pound per week – you need to eat 1,750 fewer calories weekly, or 250 calories daily. Replacing a meal, or part of a meal, with a low calorie protein shake can help you do this. 

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Why drink wholesome


If you are looking for a low calorie protein boost, you have come to the right place. With only 90 calories per serving, our unflavored egg white protein powder is the lowest calorie protein powder. As you can see in the table below, egg white protein has fewer calories and more protein per calorie than both whey and pea protein.

g protein/calorie

You can add unflavored egg white protein powder to smoothies, oatmeal, and your favorite recipes for an easy, low calorie protein boost. If you prefer to mix your protein powder with just milk or water, try our vanilla protein powder with maple sugar. 1 serving contains 15 grams of protein and only 100 calories. Keep reading to learn more about what makes drink wholesome the best low calorie protein powder.

drink wholesome is additive-free.

One of the reasons why we make the best low calorie protein powder is that we do not use food additives like gums, lecithin, fake flavors, and fake sweeteners. Even in small quantities, added ingredients like these can trigger painful side effects, particularly if you have a sensitive stomach.

Food additives do not look like real foods, making them hard to digest. They therefore spend extra time in your gut, feeding your hungry gut bacteria. While they eat, gut bacteria generate gas, which can cause bloating, flatulence, and stomach pain. Gas can also slow colonic transit – the time it takes for food to traverse the colon – resulting in constipation. Moreover, partially digested food additives can cause your colon to absorb in extra water, which can give you diarrhea.

Here is a list of the most common food additives in protein powder:

acacia gum, artificial flavors, carrageenan, cellulose gum, dextrin, dextrose, gellan gum, guar gum, gum arabic, inulin, locust bean gum, “natural” flavors, maltodextrin, rice syrup solids, soy lecithin, silica, sunflower lecithin, xanthan gum

Over time, regularly eating food additives can disturb regulatory pathways in your intestines, causing inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other systemic inflammatory conditions. Some additives, namely artificial sweeteners and sugar alcohols, can also disrupt your gut microbiome – the collection of microorganisms that live in your gut. An unhealthy gut microbiome is a common cause of inflammation in the body, and has been shown to trigger the onset and progression of several chronic diseases.

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

drink wholesome is dairy-free.

Another reason why we make the best protein powder with low calories is that we do not use dairy-based proteins. Whey and casein, which are byproducts of the making of cheese and yogurt, have a reputation for triggering stomach troubles. This is particularly true for people with lactose intolerance, which affects more than one-third of adults. If you are lactose intolerant, your body cannot fully process lactose, the sugar in dairy. This can lead to painful side effects.

chocolate protein powder 28 servings lifestyle image 1
vanilla protein powder 28 servings lifestyle image 2

drink wholesome is made with real foods.

A final reason why we make the best low calorie high protein powder is that we do not use protein concentrates or isolates. Basically all other protein powders are made with one or both of these protein sources, which are foods stripped of everything but the protein. They are called “pea protein” and “whey protein,” as opposed to “peas” and “whey.” Making concentrates and isolates requires heavy mechanical and chemical processing. Sometimes, manufacturers use solvents like hexane, which means that what you put into your body looks very little like real food.

Your gut is designed to handle unprocessed or minimally-processed real foods, not artificial or refined ingredients. Eating anything other than real food can cause side effects. Moreover, mounting research shows that regularly eating processed ingredients like protein isolates can change the composition of your gut microbiome. This a huge problem because your gut microbiome does more than just help you to digest food. It also protects against pathogens, educates your immune system, and influences, directly or indirectly, most of your physiology.

unflavored protein powder lifestyle image 1
unflavored protein powder lifestyle image 2

Instead of using protein concentrates or isolates, we make the best tasting lowest calorie protein powder with egg whites. Egg whites are simply pasteurized and dried, making them a more natural alternative to protein concentrates and isolates. Egg whites are also low fiber, low FODMAP, and alkaline, making them an incredibly gut-friendly source of complete protein. In fact, our happy customers report fewer digestive issues with our egg white protein powder than with any other type of low calorie protein powder.

★★★★★

easy to digest

“I’m a huge fan of drink wholesome and I’ve had all of the other flavors. I gave the unflavored a try not expecting to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised. It really doesn’t taste like much at all. I add it to my smoothie with banana and peanut butter and it’s like it’s not even there. 90 calories for 20 grams of protein is impressive too. Really good product.” – Thomas

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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.

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