“They used to make a vegan real whey protein powder made from bacteria instead of cows. It was so tasty. . . . They cancelled it because the market for that was basically just me.”
This is a huge issue with animal product substitutes that I’ve noticed since becoming (sort of) vegan. There was a product called “Bored Cow” that was basically synthetic cow’s milk. It didn’t taste as good as real cow’s milk, but was indistinguishable when used as an ingredient in other things (coffee, smoothies, baking, etc.). I loved it. Pretty sure it’s off the market now because I guess I was the only one.
It’s really dispiriting. Synthetic animal products have long been my hold-out hope for veganism actually making some real growth. But it seems like I better hope that demand for the best synthetics will be astronomically higher than it is for these pretty good synthetics - or I’ll need to rethink my theory of change.
Even for non-vegan lifters, I think it's worth saying that there's absolutely no reason to increase meat intake to meet protein needs. Protein powders are just as good nutritionally. (Plus I vaguely remember that whey is a byproduct of cheese production so it must be much better than meat environmentally).
Yup my impression is that whey is one of the least harmful animal products all around relative to how beneficial it is health wise. I'm consistently vegan mostly as a form of protest about the animal situation, but if I were to eat some animal products I'd probably start with whey.
“They used to make a vegan real whey protein powder made from bacteria instead of cows. It was so tasty. . . . They cancelled it because the market for that was basically just me.”
This is a huge issue with animal product substitutes that I’ve noticed since becoming (sort of) vegan. There was a product called “Bored Cow” that was basically synthetic cow’s milk. It didn’t taste as good as real cow’s milk, but was indistinguishable when used as an ingredient in other things (coffee, smoothies, baking, etc.). I loved it. Pretty sure it’s off the market now because I guess I was the only one.
It’s really dispiriting. Synthetic animal products have long been my hold-out hope for veganism actually making some real growth. But it seems like I better hope that demand for the best synthetics will be astronomically higher than it is for these pretty good synthetics - or I’ll need to rethink my theory of change.
Nice touch putting the links at the top. Classy
Even for non-vegan lifters, I think it's worth saying that there's absolutely no reason to increase meat intake to meet protein needs. Protein powders are just as good nutritionally. (Plus I vaguely remember that whey is a byproduct of cheese production so it must be much better than meat environmentally).
Yup my impression is that whey is one of the least harmful animal products all around relative to how beneficial it is health wise. I'm consistently vegan mostly as a form of protest about the animal situation, but if I were to eat some animal products I'd probably start with whey.
Great posts - thanks for writing. Creatine seemed to make my face fat(ter), which was annoying and the reason I stopped.
Thank you! Yeah big main issue with creatine is the bloating. I'm just taking the hit.
Thanks, Andy - this is very thorough and honest.
Greatly appreciate the emphasis on protein. I harp on it a lot.
https://www.mattball.org/search?q=protein
Take care.
https://bayesianbodybuilding.com/the-myth-of-1glb-optimal-protein-intake-for-bodybuilders/
seems like you only need about 0.8g/lb regardless of bulking/cutting
Jury’s a bit out here imo, I usually eat a bit more to be safe
Not available in the US :( My followers... please lmk if you have any US recs