Bah. Screw the protein powders. They're processed junk, every one of them. Let me tell you about this program I'm on. I mentioned it in MaidenFanatic's body fat loss thread, but it didn't get a whole lot of attention. The beauty of this diet is that you can easily adapt it to fit your style of training, and what you're trying to accomplish at the moment.
The basic principle behind the whole thing is that you eat foods that your body is naturally designed to eat. This way it processes the food much easier and can put the nutrents to work more quickly and effectively. Our digestive systems are almost IDENTICAL to the digestive systems of apes, especially chimps and orangutans. Their natural diet consists of at least 50% fruit, up to 90% at times, and the rest is raw meat and leaves.
No, the diet isn't all fruit, raw meat and leaves. But you do eat a lot of fruit, meat, and leafy vegetables. The idea is to STAY AWAY from processed foods completely, or at least as much as possible. The guy that wrote the book goes so far as to even not drink pasteurized milk. He drinks raw goats milk, because he can't get raw cow milk. I don't think you can really get raw milk of any kind in the states unless you're friends with a farmer.
Anyway, here's what my diet generally consists of.
Breakfast is fruit and fruit juices. Nothing else. Fruit passes from your stomach to your small intestine very quickly, and so provides you with plenty of energy fast. It's a great boost in the morning. Plus, if you eat other stuff with the fruit it can take a long time to go through your stomach, and the fruit can rot, giving you gas and digestion problems and all that fun stuff. Eat it by itself and you should have no trouble at all.
Most days I'll get hungry before lunch, so I have some more fruit, or a protein shake. Not your whey protein powder shakes, but milk, eggs, and honey (for taste) in a blender. Its delicious! I put two eggs, but if you need more that's perfectly ok, of course. You can also add in bananas or whatever.
Lunch is usually either meat (chicken, fatty fish like salmon, or steak, etc) and leafy veggies (to help digest the meat much easier) or another protein shake. Usually if I plan on having a shake for lunch I eat fruit for my midmorning snack. If I plan on having meat, I will do either fruit or a shake for the snack depending on how hungry I am and how long it is before lunch.
Some days I'll have a snack before dinner, similar to the first snack.
Dinner is always chicken, pork chops, steak, fish, or some other meat. Also some more rabbit food. Haha. Some days I'll have some wholegrain organic bread (I like Ezekiel bread).
Many nights I'm up late for rehearsals or gigs (I'm a musician...we're night owls), so I'll have some more fruit.
Any time where I said eat fruit, I'll frequently make a fruit smoothie instead of eating pieces of fruit. Yum! Some days I'll have veggie juice at some point, but I really don't like the taste.
So of course you can add in more protein if you're trying to bulk up or whatever, or you can cut out some protein and eat more fruits and veggies if you're trying to lose fat. I do some sort of workout 6 days a week. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I'll do dips, pull-ups, hindu squats, ab stuff, etc. Eventually I'll be adding extra weight instead of just my body weight. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays I run.
I just started this diet about a week ago and I'm getting some really amazing results. I was eating pretty healthily before (especially for a college fresHydromaxan!) and I was working out with bodyweight exercises but I was always tired and had this little bit of extra fat that I had gained last semester and just couldn't get rid of. It's almost gone now. I haven't weighed myself yet, but I would guess I've lost 2-3 lbs of bodyfat in this past week. And the tiredness is completely gone. The book said I'd need less sleep and feel more refreshed once I started eating a majority fruit diet, and it's true. I wake up feeling great and ready to do my exercise (always first thing in the morning if possible for me) after only 6 hours of sleep. Also my endurance while running has gone way up. Tuesday I ran 20 minutes (I know...pathetic, eh?) and was exhausted at the end. Thursday wasn't quite so bad, but still only 20 minutes. Didn't want to push myself to far and get hurt. Today after 20 minutes I felt great, so I kept going. I ended up running nearly an hour without getting exhausted like I had the previous two times. I don't think I've ever gone for an hour run before, even while I was a competitive gymnast. When I got back I felt great!
Of course, bodybuilders don't need all that much
stamina, so like I said earlier they can eat less fruit and more protein. But the important thing there is that you get high quality, ANIMAL SOURCE protein. That is the key. Eggs are great for this. They are very easily digested, so they go to work quickly. And don't be afraid of the cholesterol content of eggs. Its good cholesterol. And also don't be afraid of quality fats! Fats to be afraid of are stuff like vegetable oil, hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated fats, trans fats, fast food, stuff like that. Many people lack a lot of fat-soluble vitamins that they need because they are simply too afraid of eating fat. Your body needs enough fat! Just make sure it isn't junky fat.
Once again, if you want the name of the program, send me a PM and I'll tell you. I don't want to be labeled a spammer. I'm in no way trying to sell a product. I've already given you a lot of the basic nuts and bolts of the program, but if you want to learn more you're going to have to buy it yourself. It has lots of info about diet, fitness and exercise, and other stuff in it. It was well worth the money I paid for it, and more.