Last year I unsuccessfully tested Tim Ferriss’s idea of consuming 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up. Instead of curbing my hunger, it increased it. Here is what I posted on Ending the Tim Ferriss 30 in 30 Experiment:
It not only isn’t working, but I’ve actually gained 4 more pounds. It has been a disaster. My hunger levels are higher than before. I now think about eating all day long.
After 3 weeks, I ended the experiment. At the end of the post, I listed several possible reasons. But I may have missed one. For my experiment, I used whey protein. Although I am not a fan of protein powders, I needed the supplement for the convenience of consistently getting 30 grams of protein quickly.
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss
Maybe the failure of my experiment was really a failure of whey protein and not protein itself? That idea didn’t occur to me until this morning when I watched a video on making a 4HB protein smoothie on YouTube.
30 grams Protein 4-Hour Body Breakfast Smoothie by HealthNutNutrition
At 2:20 the host of the video states the problem with just using whey protein. Because whey protein is so highly absorbable, “you will probably be hungry within an hour”. That is precisely how I felt! Her solution is to mix it with egg protein. Doing this increases satiety.
High Satiety, High Convenience Proteins?
If whey + egg has more satiety than whey by itself, then one starts to wonder – what is the most satiating protein? What is the most satiating protein powder blend? Most whey protein is sold to athletes that use it precisely because it is quickly absorbed and won’t blunt their appetite for additional calorie loading.
But if your goal is to use higher protein levels to reduce appetite for fat loss, what is the best protein? Egg, casein, or maybe my beloved gelatin? I spent a few hours searching and couldn’t find the answer to this question, so maybe one of my smart readers can lead me in the right direction?
30/30 Reboot
I’m ready to try this experiment again. I believe the science is clear that protein has the most satiating effect of all the macronutrients. But I also believe that whey protein by itself is an appetite stimulator for me. I need a new protein shake recipe. I could even use one of those “build your own” protein powders if I knew which amino acids had the greatest effect on satiety. Your thoughts?
Jeff Hansen
Jun 17, 2014 — 2:22 pm
According to Kiefer of CBL, whey hydrosalate is the fasting proteins acting protein and causes the biggest insulin spike, followed by whey isolate. The slowest is Casein. The most expensive protein I have seen is Casein hydrosalate. Perhaps either of those, egg protein and or the beef proteins now out are worth trying. I look forward to the n1 results.
Pauline
Jun 18, 2014 — 12:58 am
This is very interesting news/timing because I have been doing 16/8 hour daily fasting again. I was looking into buying some whey protein for my partner who is fasting until suppertime each day. I will file this info away to try whey another time, its hard to get pure whey without all the additives, I see the Warrior Diet author has his own organic grass fed whey for sale online. Any recommendations? Just an aside, have you ever used or tried L-Glutathione as a supplement (I have ordered a sublingual form from the USA) – for some people they find it is a great anti-oxidant, liver detoxer and mental/phsyical energy booster.
MAS
Jun 18, 2014 — 8:16 am
@Jeff – Good info. I will seek out a Casein protein and save the egg protein for actual eggs.
@Pauline – I have used L-Glutamine, but I didn’t notice any benefit.
My current thoughts on whey protein is it **might** be fine or even ideal for an athlete to take post-workout when that said athlete still has a lot of muscular potential. (see my “Muscular Potential and Reality” posts for the calculators). I doubt I will ever purchase whey protein again. Plus I believe that muscle shortcomings in ectomorphs are primarily caloric deficiencies not protein deficiencies.
However, I don’t see whey as the be all protein everyone needs. Given that most Americans and an increasing number of people around the world are shunning nose-to-tail eating and instead are just eating muscle meats, gelatin is the protein we should be reaching for in most cases.
Ian
Jul 4, 2014 — 9:03 am
from my own personal standpoint the only reason I use Whey protein these days is I work shift work and after a twelve hour shift, particularly a back shift, the last thing I really want is to cook a meal. What I want is something quick to eat after a back shift, or in this case drink, and then go to sleep.
Brian Mikesell
Jul 8, 2014 — 6:04 am
how about just eating whole foods? Tim actually suggests that liquid protein is a last ditch effort. My approach when I was on this was to create a strata using about 16 eggs, some beans, sausage, cheese and cut a slice – microwave it and pound it and get 30 g protein. maybe give that a shot.
MAS
Jul 8, 2014 — 6:11 am
@Brian – Whole foods are fine. The reason for the shake is early morning speed and convenience.