Why We Made Genepro
The story about how we got started with GENEPRO began 7 years ago. Back then, there were few choices of protein powders available. None of these options was satisfactory to us and often ended up being more trouble than they're worth. These high-calorie powders were loaded with sugars and artificial flavor. They clumped up when mixed and were sometimes painful to digest.
But as bodybuilders and athletes, many of us rely on protein powders since it’s not easy to satisfy daily protein needs through eating alone. So we would repeat the process of grabbing our shaker bottles to chug down another clumpy serving (and then having to deal with the stomach aches afterwards.
It wasn’t always our goal to make protein powder though. It was more of a sudden realization. The wife of one of our founders (Brian Parks) absolutely hated protein powder. She wasn’t against the concept of getting more protein, she simply hated the taste of it. That’s when Brian conceived of making a flavorless protein that can mix in anything. It was also more than just the flavorless aspect: the goal would also be creating a better protein powder.
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(Left) Founder Brian Parks
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So how do we make a better protein? In this article, we will explain some of our goals with GENEPRO, as well as highlight some of the research we’ve conducted. Essentially, we believe in improving upon things that people hate most about traditional whey protein powders (the flavor, ease of digestions, efficacy). But first, it really starts with understanding the value of protein.
The Value of Protein
At GENEPRO, we take protein almost too seriously and we don’t think it should be treated like a commodity. As one of the key building blocks of life, we wouldn’t be able to live without it. The general recommendation of daily protein intake is 0.6g for each lbs you weigh. But this can go up to 1.2g / lbs for those that are active. This means that a person weighing 170 lbs would need 90g of protein per day. To put this in perspective, a McChicken has 14g of protein so you would need a bit more than 6 of them to fill your daily protein needs.
The problem though is that too many of our standard protein sources are loaded with fat, cholesterol, sodium, and empty calories. This is one of the reasons why protein powder can be a shortcut to an improved diet, whether you’re active or not.
The challenge of getting enough protein is made even more difficult for certain groups of people. For example, post-op bariatric patients require ~70-90g of protein per day, but also have difficulty eating and encounter struggles digesting pretty much anything. And with those with digestive issues, traditional whey protein can make things worse. We noticed that some post-op bariatric patients discovered our product and we started to get several messages from fans about this. That’s when we felt confident we made the right choices in GENEPRO’s formula.
GENEPRO: An Easier Protein to Use
We really feel like a protein powder should make your life easier. How is GENEPRO easier to use? To simplify things, these are the three aspects of GENEPRO that matter the most: flavorless, dissolvable, and digestible.
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FLAVORLESS
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DISSOLVABLE
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DIGESTIBLE
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FLAVORLESS
It’s tricky to make a flavor that suits everyone’s taste. It’s also difficult to know what a flavor will actually taste like based on its name alone (chocolate, banana, vanilla, etc.). We felt no desire to add more “filler” ingredients that aren’t useful for the body. There’s also the taste of the whey and lactose itself which is naturally bitter. After much testing, we found manufacturing methods to make GENEPRO even more flavorless.
The whey in GENEPRO is sourced from the very same land as our manufacturing facility in the USA. We then use an advanced manufacturing process with cold-filtration that removes these impurities and lactose for a much smoother (more “tasteless”) taste. If used alone (mixed with just water), some people will experience a very mild taste, but we don’t hear our customers describing this as a bad taste.
DISSOLVABLE
We said this before and we’ll say it again: no one likes clumpy protein powder. We made GENEPRO to dissolve easily in whatever liquid you put it into. Why is it easy to dissolve? Part of it has to do with GENEPRO’s lack of filler ingredients, sugars, and flavoring. And the other part is (once again) the cold-filtration process which results in a smaller grain size of the protein. Therefore, you won’t find GENEPRO to be gritty like other powders, but rather it’s soft and fluffy.
You can even mix GENEPRO in water and some of us even prefer to drink it this way! But it’s not magic: we have some tips on how to mix it even better: It is always best to mix GENEPRO in lukewarm liquid prior to mixing in extreme cold or hot beverages or food. You can use a fork, rather than a spoon for complete mixability and aeration.
DIGESTIBLE
The lack of filler ingredients and the small grain size also make GENEPRO easier to digest. If you make a particle smaller, it will have more surface area available during digestion (this is the reason why we chew food). Digestion becomes smoother and more consistent. It’s true that the speed of digestion increases because of the small grain size, but the tradeoffs were worth it for the improved absorption and higher mixability, among other things.
GENEPRO is made with a unique blend of digestive enzymes to further aid digestion and eliminate lactose. These are the same type of enzymes that play a role in the body’s metabolism. Whey protein alone can be hard to digest. These enzymes help to break down protein into amino acids and we’ve improved the formulation to result in less digestive issues for even more people. On another note, some people have already written-off whey protein in favor of other protein sources. We invite anyone who has had a bad experience with traditional whey powders to give GENEPRO a try! We think they won’t regret it.
How GENEPRO Delivers Protein More Efficiently
We talked about how GENEPRO is easy to use, but how does it work to provide your body with protein? How does GENEPRO deliver 30g in a 1TBPS serving size? For supplements, the grams-per-serving value appears to be helpful at first. Many people are simply trying to hit a daily protein goal. The problem is that it doesn’t tell you how much protein your body will actually absorb.
In the bodybuilding world, something we’ve heard frequently is the belief that: “1 gram of protein is equivalent to 4kcal no matter what.” This is true, since calories represent the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1°C. We wish our bodies worked like perfect scientifically-controlled labs! But the reality is that there’s too many variables interacting since everyone is a bit different and they absorb protein differently. That’s why we try to focus on the aspect of the protein powder that we can control.
GENEPRO: Made for Everyone
GENEPRO started off as a powder for fitness-minded people who weren’t satisfied with traditional whey protein powder but now our vision is a bit different. Soon after we heard positive feedback from bariatric patients, mothers, and grandparents, we like to think of GENEPRO as a powder for anyone who seeks to improve themselves. Although we are gym rats ourselves, you certainly don’t have to be a gym rat to enjoy GENEPRO.
We recall that drinking a traditional whey protein shake wasn’t such a pleasant experience due to bad flavor and digestive difficulty. Because of this, we were inconsistent about using it. Looking back over the past 7 years since starting GENEPRO, we found ourselves using GENEPRO every single day. To be fair, GENEPRO wasn’t as refined in the beginning and the product development process was long. But there was always some satisfaction of adding a serving to our beverage of choice. Whether you’ve tried GENEPRO or not, we hope you are satisfied with GENEPRO too.
Questions? Comments? Don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We look forward to hearing from you!