The number one question I hear after telling someone I’m vegan:

“Where do you get your protein from?”

Non-vegans are always baffled about the fact that plant protein is not some mythological mind-fuck created by vegans. When I tell them I can get ample protein from the likes of legumes, beans, tofu and leafy greens, they either make that scrunched up “I just smelled a fart” face right after, or they look it up. And get schooled.

If getting a “normal” amount of protein in a vegan diet is hard, chew on this: the top two brands of protein powders on the market right now are… you guessed it. 100% vegan.

Now here are two words you don’t hear very often in one sentence:

Vegan bodybuilding. 

Yes. It’s a real thing.

Now, you obviously don’t have to be a vegan bodybuilder to benefit from the stellar ingredients in vegan protein powders (though more plant power to you if you are one!), but if, like many guys/gals looking to add a bit of bulk to their bodies, you’re concerned about the ingredients in run-of-the-mill protein powders, then going veg is your best option.

Reviews.com happened to compile a very thorough quality, taste and performance test on 697 flavors of protein powder (hope they didn’t skip lunch!), and — drumroll please — 2 out of their top three picks were vegan: Garden of Life – Raw Protein and Vega – Performance Protein.

This shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering that something being vegan, in and of itself, has stringent quality measures set in place for their health-conscious consumers. A vegan protein powder manufacturer will most likely be relegating more time and effort in ingredient sourcing to ensure that their powders, besides the fact that they are vegan, also taste great and are in line with vegan values: natural, preservative-free, additive-free and hormone-free.

Check out Reviews’ nifty article about Vega and Garden of Life, and comment below to tell me what you think about vegan protein powders. Recommendations welcome!