Hemp Protein Powder & Breaking Rules
Yesterday, I went to my local Trader Joe’s grocery store for some shopping. One item that I needed was protein powder. For years I’ve been using Designer Whey protein, but this time I decided to go out on a limb and try something different- Hemp Protein, vanilla flavored. Usually I mix protein powder with my yogurt, so this was definitely taking a gamble- I had no idea what the taste or texture would be.
This morning I had my goat’s milk yogurt, and mixed in 4 tablespoons of the hemp protein (12 g protein). It’s green in color and thicker 
than the Designer protein. I REALLY didn’t like the idea of turning my yogurt green! But surprisingly, the taste was pretty decent! Not sure I liked it as much as Designer, but definitely eatable.
Then I was looking at the container it came in. I was shocked to see that this “protein powder” had 17g of carbohydrate, including 5g of sugar per serving!!! I definitely broke a cardinal rule- I failed to read the label before I made the purchase.
I can still put it to use, but knowing the info on the carb content will change how I am using it. Two positive things to mention is it also has 11g of fiber per serving, as well as 500 mg of Omega 3 fatty acids, so by itself it is definitely a healthy food item- but don’t be fooled like I was and think you are actually adding just protein to your meal or smoothie!
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Animo on Wed, 10th Feb 2010 12:21 am
I just started trying Trader Joe’s Hemp Protein Powder myself and am jumping for joy at my discovery of a tasty, healthful addition to my diet. Even more exciting is the fact that it seems hemp powder is a superfood–a complete protein source (like quinoa) and high in omega-3!
I’m curious about your hesitation regarding the carbohydrate count, though. Don’t most carb-counters exclude the grams of fiber from the carbohydrate count of a particular food since fiber is not processed in the same crash-and-burn fashion? Since most of the carbohydrate in the hemp powder is powerful, satiating fiber, I would think that would reduce the total carbohydrate count significantly: (17g total carbohydrate) – (11g fiber) = 6g carbohydrates, which come from the fact that Trader Joe’s adds sugar to its flavored powders.
(Note: there’s plain hemp protein powder out there–Living Harvest seems to be the most popular brand, which would allow you to get all the great benefits of hemp with a carb content that is 99.999% fiber).
Kevin on Fri, 12th Feb 2010 8:35 pm
Hey thanks for the post!
I agree with you, you subtract carb grabs with each gram of fiber…so it’s not a super high-carb food. But, the sugar content was surprising to me. I’m actually used to the hemp protein powder now and eating it more often, but being that it’s a protein powder, I’d prefer it to be more just protein. You could probably get the Living Harvest kind and just add stevia powder to improve the taste, that way you’re not getting the extra carbs.
Cheers and look forward to your continued comments!
Kevin
True Protein Discount on Tue, 16th Feb 2010 4:47 am
Hemp protein is good, but i prefer my casein or egg white.
bodybuilding supplements on Sun, 21st Mar 2010 7:49 pm
Optimum nutrition makes the best tasting protein,true protein isn’t bad too .