Is It Necessary To Have Dairy In Your Recovery Drink? No Whey!

Dear Nell,

I have really been enjoying my Paleo Lifestyle, but there is one thing I’m stuck on; my training partner told me I have to use whey protein powder for my recovery drinks after our workouts.  We’re both amateur bodybuilders (keeping it natural) and I don’t want to risk doing anything that would compromise my strength and size gains.  Do I really have to go non Paleo and use whey?  – Dennis, Las Vegas

I was so glad this topic came up, because it comes up a lot.  Do we have to go non Paleo to recover from training?

Absolutely not.

Are there advantages to using whey compared to other protein powders, such as egg or beef?

One could argue that there are; if we compare the total amino acids in milk to egg, beef and whey (in units of mg AA/ g protein), the results are:

Milk 504, Egg 512, Beef 482, Whey 513

However, just looking at the total number of amino acids is only part of the picture; the other part, which I personally think is more important, is how do you feel when you consume any of the above proteins?

Let’s set aide the fact for a second that dairy is not Paleo (and neither is whey).  Even if it were, and you knew that when you eat dairy you have any reaction to it, such as bloating, gas, skin breakouts or sinus pain, just to name a few of the many possible side effects, would you really want to eat it?

Some argue that side effects are not an issue if one only eats or drinks casein, and whey tends to contain less casein, it would therefore be a viable option.

But- it’s still not Paleo.

Take away- go for an egg or beef protein powder to make a recovery shake.  

Even better, use a real, pastured egg; try to keep the powders to the ‘in a pinch scenarios’.

Check out PaleoPro’s powder, too.  It’s really Paleo! (Plus, they offer a  discount for anyone to visits their site from mine; just enter NELL15 when you check out!)