Why eat protein?
Protein is very important, it's the building blocks of your body, it helps to repair and grow muscles from physical activity especially resistance training.
The body cannot store protein so the only way to give your body enough protein is to continually eat it, if you exercise on a regular basis you should eat meals with good quality protein to keep your protein levels up so your body can repair itself and the muscles can grow. Note that protein has calories and eating to much high protein food can cause you to gain body fat.
How much protein do you need to eat?
Experts have different opinions on this, but one thing seems clear, because your body can't store protein eating large amounts of protein in one sitting is not the best thing as the body can only use a limited amount of protein at any given time. If you eat more protein than the body can actually use, that extra protein will be wasted, it's better instead to eat smaller amounts of protein at different times during the day, this will be more beneficial.
Foods high in protein
Meats
- Steak
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Pork
Fish
- Tuna
- Salmon
- sardines
Beans
- Soy beans
- Tofu
- Kidney beans
- Navy beans
Nuts
- Peanuts
- Cashews
- Almonds
- Peanut butter
Dairy
- Eggs
- Milk
- Cheese
Seeds
- Sunflower seeds
- Pumpkin seeds
Something to be aware of
Some high protein foods contain high amounts of saturated fats, which can lead to the clogging of arteries, red meats for example can be high in saturated fats.
There is much information about how much protein you actually need for muscle building, many body builders suggest 1 gram of protein for each pound of body weight we have, so for a male weighing 150 pounds they would need 150 grams of protein per day. However there are different options on how much protein you actually need.
If you want to increase your protein intake, another way to do that is to use protein supplements, just don't rely on them.
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