Protein been absorb by the body on IP vs Alternative.
 

They said the IP protein are absorb by the body almost 90% .How do you know that the protein in alternative product protein are as good as IP.

Thaks... trying to make a decision on join or going on my own.

Check the quality of the protein. Whey protein comes three different wheys (couldnt resist the lame pun...)

Concentrate - Lowest quality, lower amount to be absorbed by the body.
Isolate - Higher quality. This is the type found in a majority of IP products
Hydrolyzed Isolate - Highest quality, most easily digested and absorbed by the body.

In addition, you will find blends that include some or all of the above. It's hard to determine the quality in this situation.

Nobylspoon is exactly right! It boils down to the quality of the protein.
I have used alternatives my whole time and I make sure that I eat high quality protein too. I so not take the potassium supplement every day because I moniter my dietary intake. If it is a little lower I will pop one. Too much potassium, as well as too little, can cause serious cardiac side effects. Foods contain potassium, esp veggies! Just my thoughts....

Actually - Noblyspoon is only partially right and here is why.

Whey is whey. The differnece between isolate and concentrate is not how much protein is absorbed but how much actual protein there is per gram. Concentrate has fat, lactose and minerals. Isolate doesn't. You may think I am talking semantics but I am not. When you look at a nutrition label of isolate vs concentrate you'll see that per gram of powder a differnce in protein. But why protein is whey protein. Hydrolyzed protein only absorbs better in the research done by the supplement companies marketing it but for the sake of argument lets say it does have a slightly higher absorbtion rate it surely isn't worth the difference in price.

Having said that - concentrate + fruit = remarkable gas for me while isolate does not have the same effect so there are other considerations.

This article is a good one on the different absorbtion rates of various proteins. FYI Milk protein is part whey part casein.

Getting to the point - I'm sure you can find some off label brand that is not as good as IP protein but you would be hard pressed. From what I have seen IP packets make heavy use of soy and conentrate whey and limited use of isolate whey.

This brings me to another point which is quite funny (to me) about how IP markets it's products. They talk about insulin and how critical controlling insulin is and yet the protein they use quite a bit (whey) is the protein which creates the largest insulin response. (Scroll down about 1/4 of page to see the graph if you aren't interested in learning how insulin actually works) Funny right? Of course it makes sense when you consider that soy and whey protein are the cheapest proteins out there. To take it a step further - they could sweeten their product with stevia but choose not to. I'm not an expert on the pricing between sucrolose vs stevia but stevia does cost more. Again - who cares? I don't. But it seems if it was actually going to be "Ideal" than it wouldn't be artificial. As well as you could easily source organic whey etc ... I could go on.

Make no mistake - what you're paying for with the IP diet is the protocol and the in person coaching/accountability. It's not superior products.

Honestly, I use a lot of Nectar brand whey protein on my alternative diet. It is the brand that is recommended to dialysis patients. (My mother uses it) I personally feel it's a better protein than IP products...which contain high levels of sodium and other preservatives.

My thing with the IP products is that the restricted foods have more SUGAR (bad carbs) than I have eaten in years as a diabetic. So if they want to not have the insulin reaction in the body, they should not be feeding anyone SUGAR.

This would be why I'm not using IP products... :)

Low calorie/low carb/low fat is going to equal fat loss, pretty much no matter what you're eating. And I'm seriously questioning the whole no milk thing, since when I've had low-carb yogurt, and even some cheddar, nothing has changed as long as my calories are kept under 1000/day. Just my opinion.

Calcium is very important to any dieter for multiple reasons and dair calcium is one the highest absorbed. Is dairy not allowed at all on IP? It seems like non fat or low fat cottage cheese would fit the macro's or IP and non fat or low fat cheese would fit also.

the only dairy on IP Phase 1 is the 1 oz/day of skim milk for coffee in the am, if chosen.
That is why the supplements are so important for anyone doing IP

I am following the alternative protocol on my own at home and if
I stay at 1000 cals or less I generally lose a lb a day not matter if I eat carbs or not. I just notice the loss in belly fat when I cut carbs out. I don't agree with eating soy isolate products and I am not much of a meat eater so I eat a lot of eggs. I also don't like to eat or feed my family processed foods and these are highly processed. I love that I can lose weight quickly on IP but don't love the taste or ingredients of the products so I am just following the guidelines and hoping it will continue to go well. The alternative protocol just adds a serving of low fat cheese at one meal, a serving of fruit at another and a serving of whole grains at the other so I just have my shake for breakfast, an apple for a snack, then a huge green salad with just EVOO and lemon for dressing and a slice of dry Eziekial sprouted grain toast and a protein shake or soup for lunch and then egg whites with veggies and cheese or a large modified greek salad for dinner. If I remember I do another protein shake for a snack. I would rather have a real food protein snack when I have something around. IP is convenient but as I said they have too much soy for anyone in my opinion.
Would love to hear from others following the alternative PROTOCOL. Not just alternative products.

There are quite a few people using the Alternative Protocol (the one for diabetics and those who can't tolerate the regular protocol). Here's one of their threads:

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/idea...-protocol.html