Not sure it will make a huge difference. Whole natural foods are always good but whey protein probably has a better amino acid profile. Little of each maybe best.
Personally, I do not like drinking protein shakes. I never really feel comfortable with the company and the ingredients that are in them. Instead, I like to eat a diet in whole food. For protein, I mainly eat eggs and a variety of unsalted nuts like almonds, cashews, peanuts, and walnuts. I also eat a lot of veggies: mostly sweet potatoes, broccoli, butternut squash, and whatever is in raw organic salsa (I love salsa. I eat the stuff all day everyday). For fruit, I eat lots of cranberries (I make my own cranberry sauce. I just boil cranberries in a small amount of water and add honey. It’s great), bananas, and raisins (raisins are pretty high in protein and give lots of healthy energy).
I feel that if your not trying to be a behemoth and weigh 250lb, then protein shakes are unnecessary. I can attest to the power of natural foods and building muscle. I am 6 feet tall and I have not grown an inch since I stopped Fin. When I stopped taking Fin, I was 160lb. Now I weight 195lb of pure muscle. I have not an inch of fat on my body. I am now content with my weight, yet I am still able to increase my strength by power lifting. I think it has to do with my diet and my intense cardio regime (an hour of non-stop intense rowing).
To conclude, in my personal opinion, I don’t like Protein shakes, but if the positives drinking them seem to outweigh the negatives for you, then I don’t think you should have any problems.
I try To consume a protein shake after every exercise.
I stick to a sugar/aspertame free all natural protein mix and consume about 50% of the recommended dose in 2-3 cups of whole milk. The fat in whole milk is necessary for me to.
EDIT: I use only water now with my protein shakes, I no longer drink milk.
I’m wondering about the same question.
But what I can tell you is that with protein supplements, especially quality pure microfiltered whey that comes with decent amounts of L-Arginine and Glutamine (the stuff used in NO supplements body builders take), taken while I was Propecia helped with labido, mass increase, and post-workout recovery. Post Fin I’ve given up and am trying to find info on whether I should take it or not so I haven’t tried it.
I’d avoid stuff with any unnatural additives like aspartame, acelsulfame or what to make it taste better. I actually got accustomed to the yummy flavour of natural whey ;).
I now take New Zealand style whey protein daily. It’s the whey that has no hormones or medications fed to the cows, the cows eat grass and pasture. The whey is micro-filtered so it has no chemical purification, it is a isolate-concentrate mix which helps give you immediate absorbing protein and more persistent protein.
I took it because of general muscle weakness from my new diet, I didn’t think I was getting enough protein. It also helps a lot for athletic energy.
One day I woke-up feeling terrible and was having a crash. I had a wet dream that night (my second one PF) so I was in for it. After 15 min. of taking my daily scoop of whey around noon my mood/brain fog lifted and I felt better. Placebo? It seems to work consistently on other occasions, and takes 15 min. to do it’s thing. I haven’t noticed any effects on libido though.