Supplements Soy vs Whey

[stew]

Hey I am a novice gym person.

22yr old male

5'5 - 5'6

66kg

I have high blood pressure latest reading 130/77. Has been as high 149/88. Been working on it (Diet related).

I have a goal to reach 70kgs.

I go to the gym 2-3 times a week for strength training.

2-3 times I do some form of cardio eg rugby training,running now boxing.

I have been doing this for the last 4 months but now I want to become more dedicated to the training and looking to add a supplement drink to my diet.

Since hearing I have high cholesterol I have changed my eating habbits so I eat lots of vegetables and carbs to keep me going with snacks of fruit or nuts between meals. I have cut out a lot of my red meat to be replaced by chicken and fish.(Brief nutrition summary).

I have read books and some articles on the pros of adding a pre or post supplement (eg whey, soy protein etc) to help with repairing muscles and rehydarting etc. I am not looking to be a bodybuilder but want strength over mass.

There are three things I would like you to answer,

1. I would like to know your opinion on having a supplement that is soy based. I have read some articles but I believe for my needs soy is the way to go.

2. Is combining the whey and soy a good option?

3. If so could you also point me towards brands that are good or what ratios of nutrients I should be looking for and staying away from.

I have tried to be as brief as possibe and space everything out so it is easy to read and understand.

Thank you taking the time to read and helpful information.

[Flex]

Is there a particular reason you think soy is the best for you? Personally I'd stick with whey protein. If you've got a dairy or lactose intolerance then use an egg protein or plant based protein that isn't soy based. Depending on what you read, soy may or may not decrease testosterone levels in males due to the phytoestrogens that it contains. The jury is still out on this but I'm tending to sway towards believing that soy is not great for guys unless you're lonely and need to grow some tits to play with.

Whey is better than soy anyway and cheaper and tastes shitloads better too so I can't really think of any reason to use soy over whey unless you're a menopausal woman, which given your a 22yo male, probably isn't you.

[teamfatboy]

:ditto: what Flex said.... why soy?

Whey isolate, or concentrate, or even egg protein, are good, convenient alternatives to solid food for that quick ingest of protein post-workout - although some would say that real food's just as effective for post workout, it's just less convenient.

Soy has a mixed rep - some research suggests that the phytoestrogens are too much like estrogen and can result in the wrong results (moobs.....), but increasingly research is trending away from that.

But, adding protein post-workout would have to be done as part of a measured diet - because you're adding protein, if you're calorie restricted something has to give, somewhere else.

[Darkmanx]

Soy compared to whey is also somewhat slightly expensive, but if your pockets are deep i would say that having a balance of the two would be good.

Like i said, it will hurt the pockets a little.