NOW Foods Sports Nutrition, Whey Protein Isolate, 25 g With BCAAs, Unflavored Powder, 5-Pound

I’ve been using this exact protein powder (Now Sports Whey protein isolate, unflavored) for 10 years! I take this at least once per day and occasionally twice per day. I haven’t tried anything I like better. I buy unflavored because I don’t like the artificial flavored taste. I have my own recipe that I’ve been using for many years that I will share with you... I’m not a nutritionist but in my opinion it’s a very well rounded meal replacement. This recipe taste much like a Reese cup or a no bake chocolate oatmeal cookie… In a shaker cup add 12oz of Silk Dark Chocolate Almond Milk. Add 2 1/2 tablespoons of Smuckers Natural Peanut Butter. Add 1/2 cup of oat flour. (you can make oat flour yourself by putting your unflavored Quaker Oatmeal into a food processor or blender. 2min oats blend best because they are already chopped more finely than old fashioned oats. Both will work though) And lastly, the most important part... one scoop of Now Foods unflavored whey protein isolate. Enjoy this shake along with an apple every morning. You’ll be full till lunch! It’s a lot of calories, which I’m totally okay with for my fitness goals but you may want to tweak the recipe for your own fitness needs. I say it’s well rounded because... I get my protein from the protein powder, simple carbs from the chocolate almond milk, complex carbs from the oatmeal and healthy fats from the peanut butter. It’s loaded with enough calories to carry a grown working man through the morning with having to stop for snacks. I’m also very active in the gym with free weights. Your results may vary. In closing, It mixes thin! Which I need for my protein shake recipe. It doesn’t taste terrible, even in water. (Just chase it with something with a lot of flavor and you’ll never even know you dank it.) It’s high quality with very few ingredients. It’s worth a try! Hope it work for you as well as it has me.

I ONLY buy all-natural protein (NO Aspartame/Acesulfame-k/Sucralose, NO chemicals or artificial colors/flavors/colors)! And anyone consuming protein is presumed to be inherently health-conscience, so why would anyone consider ANY protein powder with this crap in it? That is beyond me. There are 1,000 flavors (double-chocolate chip cookie dough, triple espresso fudge cake, cake batter, blue lemon truffle punch, etc...) I mean seriously? Are there millions of morbidly obese body builders out there who need their protein shake to taste like their favorite candy-bars and screw their health in the process?? Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox, but for the rest of you who don't want cancer or brain-tumors and actually care about what they shove into their bodies, then look no further than this protein powder! Ok, I've spent many days doing the research to see if I can de-throne my current protein king powder ("Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% Natural Whey Protein Powder") which I absolutely love! But wanted to see if there was something better or just as good for cheaper. Enter this product. Now, this review is to compare these two highly rated kings! These 2 powders are the best of the best when it comes to All Natural. To help with the analysis, please refer to the attached diagram. So, the bottom line is that for $1.00... NOW=39g protein, ON=30.9g protein. So, with NOW, you get 26% more protein for the same buck! Hows that for a "dollar menu" analysis. They are both highly rated and are both EXCELLENT choices... however, the difference is the ON has sugar (yes, natural sugar!) and has natural flavoring, so of course humans like sweet things so it gets the edge on taste (10/10 in my book... I literally love it just as much as a milkshake and it isn't that sweet, just enough to be lightly evident but not unhealthy). Now, the reviews for this NOW said it tasted horrible and bitter and I was really afraid to buy it but due to the $ per gram of protein and appearing an even healthier choice compared to the ON, I thought I'd try it. Let me tell you, it is totally awesome! Now, not as awesome as the sugar sweetened ON, but for having nothing in it but 100% protein (no sweetner/flavors) it is totally OK!!! Now... let me preface these "taste" statements with one thing... I ALWAYS use milk in my protein shakes (16 oz milk - fat-free / 1% / 2% / whole) with 2 scoops protein, blend 20-seconds, drink. I thought I'd have to mix half/half of NOW/ON but I really don't. The NOW tastes just neutral, like I'm just drinking milk (which I love) but the same or even a little better than just plain milk. Now, given that NOW has no sugar/flavoring, it is a "more" natural choice compared to the ON.. and on top of that, has 26% more protein per $1.00 spent... I'm totally sold! If I'm in the mood I can flavor it with vanilla, honey, chocolate, peanut butter, bananna. Or, it tastes neutral enough to where I don't feel I have to drown the flavor out with any of those things... because at least with milk, it tastes great just by itself!! Plus, the NOW has the added benefit of being flavor-neutral for usage in recipes (w/o inadvertantly adding sweet/flavored(vanilla/chocolate) flavor to your favorite recipes. Another fringe benefit worth noting is that the NOW is still a 5.0 lb jug. It is not trying to sneakily down-size to 4.8lb (like the ON)... this is how manufacturers do it slowly so you're still paying the same $50/tub but the tub is now a wee-bit smaller... evil, evil, I say. Anyway, both of these are my absolute favorite proteins, but taking a deep-dive into the nitty gritty details... there has emerged one-clear winner to rule all of the natural proteins out there (IMHO). Thanks for reading and I hope this helps you (I took out 3 hours on my day off to put this review together for you!). Let me know if this was helpful to you or if you have any questions. thanks!

Thorne’s whey isolate was my favorite protein but I needed to find a more cost effective, SNAP eligible alternative. I have IBS-C so I have to be careful about ingredients and there’s nothing for me to worry about in this one so I tried it. It is amazing, absolutely no flavor— a few people have mentioned a milky taste but I can only really smell that, not taste it— I’ve mixed it primarily with chocolate almond milk and in fruit smoothies and it goes down incredibly easy. So glad I found this!! No bloating at all for me because it’s just one ingredient- high quality whey isolate, no whey concentrate, sweeteners or fillers, which in my experience are all triggers for my IBS. Also LOVE the versatility of being able to mix it into any drink. 10/10 highly recommend, this is a game changer for me!!!

I'm posting this to help educate some folks who are new to protein powders. It seems like most protein powder ads (hence information) is geared toward people who work out and want to build muscle. That's not me. I am a middle aged woman, and added protein powder to my diet because it was brought to my attention that some of my weight and hunger issues were due to insufficient protein in my diet. This turned out to be accurate. The older we get, the less efficiently our bodies process protein. I found an online calculator that takes gender, age, height, weight, activity level and so forth into account and spits out the average macronutrient count for someone like you. So first, after doing scads of reading, I chose whey protein because it is "complete," meaning it has all the amino acids that make for a full protein, and I've tried both the isolate and the concentrate. I just finished a 5 lb container of concentrate (Naked Whey), and have decided to go back to isolate. But that's just me. Isolate requires a smaller amount of powder (one scoop) to get the same protein as concentrate (two scoops) but there are some other differences that might matter to you. A couple I'll mention are (1) if you're lactose intolerant (I'm not), the isolate is your go to product, and (2) the concentrate apparently has more "bioactive peptides." If you want to understand all this before deciding, here's a good place to start: [...] Now, what I really want to address is the confusion around taste and mixability. First let's start with "taste." Obviously, if the product has been flavored, it will taste like the added flavor, but I'm talking about "unflavored" product. All that is meant by that is that no flavoring has been added. Although the unflavored version's flavor is relatively underwhelming, there is no such thing as taste-free whey. If you've ever tasted dry coffee creamer powder, it has a taste similar to coffee creamer but less sweetness. If you hate that taste, you will not like the flavor of whey - isolate or concentrate. I happen to like the flavor of coffee creamer (confession: i'm pretty sure my freshman 15 was because i ate coffee creamer out of the jar in college - but that was a long time ago). On the other hand, the flavor is not overt. Many flavors either compliment it or are strong enough to cover it - fruit, avocado, coco powder, peanut butter, yogurt, rice pudding, oatmeal, creamy soups, etc. I've even mixed protein powder into guacamole without being able to taste it over the other flavors (avocado, lime, green chilis, cilantro, garlic). I've mixed protein powder into egg omelets (the concentrate) with the added advantage of stretching the eggs into the most fluffy omelets you've ever seen. Mostly though, I mix it into yogurt and toss a few berries on top. On the other hand, there are things you definitely don't want to mix it into, and these are things that are "thin," like water, iced tea, lemonade, miso and other clear broths, etc. For example, people here have asked whether you can blend protein powder into your iced tea. If you like your iced tea asian style, creamy with milk, then possibly. But if you do not like thickened, creamy tea, no way. Mixing: Blender or fork or whisk? I use a fork because it's easier to clean and faster to grab. But unless lumps are something you enjoy, you still have to put some energy into it. Isolate is easier to mix into your liquid. It just is. Maybe because half the quantity takes half the energy, or maybe due to property differences in the products. If anyone knows, please do tell. Concentrate, is most easily mixed into creamy or thick things like yogurt. If you're a body builder and need constant protein in the form of shakes, beverages, etc, a blender is recommended. If you hate cleaning your blender then I'd probably go isolate. Whey - both types - mixes better into cool liquids than warm ones. However, I've discovered that you can overcome this problem by "tempering" your whey mixture the way you would temper eggs. Thoroughly mix your whey into a cool liquid first, then slowly mix in a little warm liquid until the the temperature has warmed up, and then add the warmed mixture to your hot liquid. I used to do that to add whey and milk into my tea (I learned milk in tea in Nepal) but in the end I rejected this because whatever it is I personally like - pretty sure it's the fat content - of putting milk into tea is undermined by the presence of the whey. So now I just dump my morning whey into yogurt and drink my tea the way I like it. I hope this information about the two types of whey, their taste and mixability is helpful to some of you.

Let's hit all the aspects: mixing, taste, and effectiveness. MIXING: This protein mixes very easily in my blender bottle. It is a little tougher to mix in a regular cup or glass just because you can't be vigorous enough with a knife or spoon without making a mess! If you don't have a blender bottle, I say pick one up immediately. TASTE: As others have noticed, taste is a little different. I would just call it natural. Another user noted that it tasted like powdered milk. This is definitely true. It isn't so much "sour" or "rotten" as some stated. However, it's all natural with no artificial sweeteners or other junk to cover it up. What did you expect?! On top of that, it's a dried product isolated from milk (the water left over from cheese production actually). If you've ever smelled cheese being made, then you should expect this flavor. Anyway, mix a half scoop with peanut butter and a chocolate powder of your choice and boom, delicious. I personally mix with milk and ovaltine (the original European formula is sugar free: Ovaltine Malt Beverage Mix 400g - Pack of 2 Jars ). So I say order some ovaltine to go with it if you can't handle it and maybe add some peanut butter. You can use less of the powder with the added protein of peanut butter and make the tub last even longer. EFFECTIVENESS: So far, so good. I will update if I have any issues. OVERALL: All natural whey protein.. it's exactly what it sounds like. The taste isn't fantastic, but can easily be masked by any flavors you like. The quality seems to be very high. I am switching over from ON products, which do taste incredible, but I couldn't be happier with my purchase. If you're putting this stuff in your body on a regular basis, then go all natural and get some quality peanut butter and cocoa powder from your local farmers market. You'll be glad you did!

There are two major proteins in the supplement world; *Whey* and *Casein*. We will talk about whey. Whey protein comes in 4 major forms: concentrate, isolate, hydrolysate and native whey. *Concentrates*: The lowest quality of all the whey protein forms. Around 30%-90% protein by weight, but generally 80%+. Concentrates have a significant amount of fat, cholesterol and carbs in the form of lactose. Most protein blends have a significant amount of concentrate and it’s fairly cheap. Whey concentrates are typically more complete and generally has more bioactive components. *Isolates*: Isolates are processed to remove the fat and lactose. Around 90%+ protein by weight. The purest protein source. While highly pure, many of the bioactive components are broken down during processing. Very high quality. Perfect for lactose intolerant individuals as there is no lactose. More expensive. Also perfect for those who want strictly protein and not additional carbs. *Hydrolysates*: Predigested (long chains of amino acids that are broken down into single aminos). Because of this process, it is assumed that digestion would be absorbed quicker. Mainly in bodybuilding supplements for this reason. However some studies have shown that because protein is already quickly absorbed in its original form, predigested hydrolysates does not necessarily lead to faster absorption. (Power O, Hallihan A, Jakeman P. Human insulinotropic response to oral ingestion of native and hydrolyzed whey protein. Amino Acids. 2009.) *Native Whey*: Considered the purest form of whey. Native whey is extracted from skim milk and is not a byproduct of cheese production. I used to add whey concentrate based protein powder to my shakes as my morning and evening protein shakes and always ended up with terrible gas! And sometimes I had to take the browns to the superbowl too early in the season. Little did I know that being lactose intolerant was the cause for the whey not cool bodily affects. First, I started to take lactase to combat this, but soon discovered protein isolate. What a godsend. I enjoy NOW Foods Whey Protein Isolate because not only are they lactose free, they are unflavored as well. Which means I can throw a scoop into my favorite drink without affecting the flavor. Another reason why I trust this product is because this protein was not part of the amino acid spiking scandal that many protein supplement companies were and still a part of. Many popular supplement companies have been adding taurine, glycine, glutamine and creatine to protein powders to raise the protein (dietary) levels of their protein powders even though they are not nearly as beneficial as real food based protein. This is allowed due to the FDA’s loose definition of protein. While legal, companies manipulate consumers by counting nitrogen based bonds from acids (glycine, glutamine, creatine, or in taurines case; an acid in the amino family) and add it to the ‘protein count’ thus effectively misleading consumers to think that the 24g of protein they see on the nutrition label is derived from whey, but in fact, 5g+ grams are from one of these acids, but still count as a ‘protein’ because they are a part of the amino family. All for the sake of trying to pinch a few pennies. There is a class action lawsuit against Body Fortress, GNC and a few others because of this. I hope you Google it for yourselves and educate yourselves. So people out there, remember, NEVER buy protein that has added one of these ingredients to its formula. Stay away from special “proprietary blends” of protein and always stick to the purest form (isolate that is unflavored, unsweetened, with nothing added, especially artificial sweeteners like sucralose, aspartame and other unnecessary ingredients. If you want the cleanest, purest protein for your buck! Always check the labels for added ingredients!

Outstanding Protein Powder!! I am 59 and have never felt better . This Protein powder mixes great with Coffee as a pre workout Protein caffeine lift. It blends smoothly. My son recommended this ( he is a exercise physiology, training and certified nutritionist. Not only is the quality fantastic, but the price breakdown per serving is fantastic. Also, the container is filled to the top, not half way like most other brands. You won't be disappointed. 5 stars 🌟

I'm no expert but I feel like this is one of the better Whey proteins out there. No added junk, just pure whey. Others have reviewed the nutrition merits so I'll go into consumption. When taking this I recommend only 1 cup of water per scoop. If you add more water I think it tastes worse. When I first started taking this I didn't like the taste and needed to add a spoon of my hot chocolate mix to it for taste. Now I actually really like the taste of it with nothing added. If you didn't know Whey is actually the protein from milk. It doesn't taste like milk but you get maybe a hint of that taste. I can't really describe it. Another trick I use is if you mix 1 cup of fruit punch and 1 scoop of Whey you get something that tastes like a delicious berry smoothie. This will also give you a 1:1 carb / protein ratio in itself. If I'm not working out at home I take one of these drinks with me so I can take it immediately after my workout or hockey game. Now just some tips I've picked up since you're looking to get Whey - muscle bulked up. (keep in mind I'm on that route but I'm not all muscle yet) Carbs are you energy - I recommend getting your carbs in the morning, before your workout so you have enough energy to get through it, and post workout to help restore energy. Half of a PB&J sandwich is my go to energy carb right now. White bread gets absorbed and converted to energy very fast and it works well for me. Carbs are needed to get the protein where it needs to go so don't go cutting them out completely. Update - Sounds odd but don't neglect fat - you want about half as many grams of fat or less (preferably unsaturated) as you do protein. You will suffer if you don't have any fat in your diet. Sunflower seeds, nuts, peanut butter, avocados all have some fat you can use. I'm trying for somewhere around a 2:1:.5 to 1:1:.3 grams of carbs:protein:fat per pound daily. When to take your Whey? There's some debate on whether to take Whey pre-workout or post-workout. Some say both. I used to go post but I recently switched to taking it pre-workout when I take my carbs (simple carbs around 45 minutes before workout) - logic being the protein will already be in your system for muscle repair. I haven't practiced it enough to say which way is best though. I also take a scoop in the morning. If you go for the daily recommended 1 gram per pound you'll be taking it throughout the day. Burning Fat: I'm a fairly skinny guy - however I've always had fat over my lower abs. I want abs so that had to go. I've lost almost all of that fat and here's how I did it. To lose weight you simply need to burn more calories then you take in. First, small meals / I make half sandwiches instead of whole ones now - when you go out to eat take home some of your meal in a doggie bag rather than forcing it all down. I only eat when I'm hungry, wait for your hunger pangs and fight them a little. If you're preoccupied with other things you can ignore hunger pangs easier. If they get too bad go make make yourself a small meal. If you fight hunger pangs for too long your energy levels will drop so go eat some carbs and it will pick them right back up. I'd take a multivitamin to make sure you're getting everything you need. Do this and watch fat go away - it doesn't take long, I can see / feel a difference in my stomach every day. When I do have a cheat day - sometimes the stomach wins or peer pressure and you just want to eat - the extra fat added on my belly is noticeable - but don't fret, you can burn it off in a day or two. Doing the above routine I lost a lot of fat eating a small bowl of cereal in the morning and a homemade hamburger for dinner. So honestly I don't think what you eat matters so much as waiting for and resisting the hunger pangs a bit. The end goal is to just burn more calories then you take in - so simply taking in less is an easy way to do that. Eating healthy: Recently I started eating healthier. It's a lot easier then you think. Vegetables, low fat meats, egg whites. Spend some time in the produce section of the grocery store and you'll find a lot of good, quick finger food you may have not considered before. My lunches are mostly all vegetables now. Cherry tomato's, broccoli, mushrooms, baby carrots, lettuce. All things you can just grab out of your fridge and snack on. Hard boil some eggs, put them in a bag in your fridge and you'll have egg whites whenever you want. Tuna, mackerel, sardines, frozen tilapia fillets (microwave for 1:30 or so) for fish protein. Skinless chicken breasts or whatever - marinate them in Italian dressing - sprinkle some Weber Gourmet Burger seasoning on right before cooking - cover in tin foil and pop in the oven at 350 degrees for around 40 minutes - delicious. I cook extra to refrigerate and microwave later. Not as good as out of the oven but still good. I've never been much of a chef - just picking up stuff along the way. If you have other healthy foods you like please share. I'm always looking to add to my menu. Workouts: Why the heck is this last? Hah, I'll just say I've been doing the p90x routine, I'm on week 5 and loving it. I find it helps to have something guide you rather than just going to the gym and doing whatever you feel like. When you're working out you get exhausted and don't want to think so I would find a good complete routine that switches things up, allows rest days, keeps you motivated, and is easy to follow. Of course take that with a grain of salt, as I said I don't have huge muscles yet - this is just what I've learned so far.