Are You Meeting Adequate Protein Intake?

We know we all want to eat healthily and need to meet adequate protein but what does that actually look like for each meal? If we want to maintain a normal body weight not just to look good but to serve our body, avoid becoming inflamed, avoid heart disease, and build bone and muscle. Protein plays an integral role in achieving this.

The key is to create a balanced meal so it:

• keeps our blood sugar levels stable

• provide us with as much nutrition as possible

• satisfies our hunger and taste buds!

When you are constructing your balanced meal you want to have the following food groups on your plate:

• Protein

• Vegetables

• Healthy fats

• Herbs & Spices as needed to flavour your food

Protein is critical in providing our immune system with the ability to fight infection. It is essential for strength, and managing our weight. With muscle loss can also come bone loss which will begin to affect our health both now and for our future selves so we cannot skimp on dietary protein.

Protein also gives us a sense of satiety at the end of a meal and helps curb sugar cravings which is an added bonus. Our bodies use protein from food as the building blocks to create our own proteins – they create & repair our cells, not only to build lean muscle but also to make hormones & neurotransmitters (the chemical messengers that direct your nervous system!)

And if I haven’t already convinced you that you need adequate protein our skin, hair and nails need it too!

Here is a list of protein foods.

• Meats, poultry, fish, organic organ meats, seafood & eggs

• Tempeh

• Raw Nuts & Seeds

• Pulses & Legumes

• Cheese, plain yoghurt & dairy foods (either from cow, goat or sheep)

What does 20 grams of protein look like?

3 eggs
100g Salmon
100g Barramundi
100g Cod
80g Chicken
70g Beef mince
90g Beefsteak
90g Tempe
130g Cottage cheese
110g Greek Fetta
140g Goat cheese
140g Quinoa
100g Almonds
140g Walnuts
120g Cashews
200g Pecans
65g Hemp seeds
320g Chickpeas
250g Black beans
325g Cannellini Beans
200g Lentils

Many of you may not be getting enough protein, it’s easy particularly if you have reduced your intake of animal products. The various government bodies recommend amounts that are based on avoiding a clear deficiency health condition, so this does not necessarily allow for optimising health outcomes. There is much discussion around this area and depending on desired outcomes the ranges suggested start from 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight, and there are those disputing this as too low advocating for 1.1g and even more!

There are things to consider kidney health, age, gender and state of health, menopausal women looking to build bone and muscle require decent protein intake.

Hopefully, this makes it easy for you to eyeball how much protein you are taking in as a start 🙂

References

https://academic.oup.com/advances/article/11/4/S1058/5871183
https://www.nrv.gov.au/nutrients/protein
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352396419302397
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/article-abstract/2768358
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/9/1330