- 01 Nov, 2025 *
I just finished my last sack of whey protein. For now, at least.
I use it because it’s expensive, complicated and inconvenient to get enough protein every day without it - though I caveat here that I’m aiming for a relatively high 2.8g/kg of bodyweight, so roughly 200g of protein per day.
But the more I ate it, the more I started to question what all the shit in there was doing to the rest of my body. The artificial sweeteners, thickeners, preservatives, stabilisers, etc. When those things reach my gut, what are they doing to my microbiome?
I’ve heard and read mixed things on the strength of evidence. And I’m also acutely aware that the body generally, and microbiome specifically, are extremely individualised in terms of response. So it seems to me the best way to do things is to experiment on myself directly.
I’m not going to make it too scientific. In an ideal world I’d equalise the calorie and macronutrient intake, to isolate the additives as the independent variable. But that’s too complicated in a busy lifestyle, so instead I’m just going to start simple: avoiding products with stuff I’ve never heard of. I’ll track this as a separate thread of posts, which I’ll collect on another page on the blog here.