Protein: How Much Do We Really Need?
By Caroline Patafio
As most of you probably know, protein is a critical component of our diet. It fuels our body with energy, helps us maintain a healthy weight, and builds muscle mass. In fact, protein deficiency can have serious health effects including: hair loss, weakness, and fatigue. Although this is a pretty generic explanation of protein, it is obvious that it is something we need to make sure is incorporated into our diet. This does not mean that you have to go to the store and buy all the protein powder you can, since it’s actually pretty easy to consume a healthy amount of protein in a well-balanced diet (despite the Internet exaggerating the challenges).
There are tons of myths about how much protein we really need to consume. For instance, “bulking” is a really popular term for people who are trying to increase muscle mass by increasing calorie intake. In general, a lot of athletes and people who exercise a lot tend to eat a substantial amount of protein. A typical meal I am sure you are thinking of is chicken, rice, and some sort of vegetable. Although this is a balanced meal, eating large amounts of animal protein is not necessarily good for our body. This is why it is important to diversify the protein rich foods you are eating because protein is not limited to animal meat. Other sources of protein include beans (black beans or pinto beans), nuts (almonds and walnuts), tofu/seitan, vegetables (asparagus or spinach ), quinoa, and so many other amazing whole foods.
In addition to changing up the type of protein we eat it is also important to space our protein consumption throughout the day. Typically, dinner is a more protein heavy meal, which is fine, but protein as an organic compound is a little bit harder for our body to digest. So by eating it throughout the day our body can digest it in smaller amounts so it puts less stress on our metabolic processes. This is also why excessive protein intake can be really hard on our bodies. Too much of it puts our metabolism into overdrive, and there is nowhere for our body to really consume all of it. Also, if the excess is coming from animal meat, then we are also probably eating too much saturated fat and cholesterol which have harmful effects on our body.
Overall, I know this seems like a lot of information and can feel overwhelming, but this is not meant to scare you. The average person has no problem consuming the recommended amount of protein because of the abundance of places it can come from. These are just a few ways you can make sure your body is getting all of the nutrients it needs. So as far as protein goes, remember to switch up the type of protein you are eating, and try to space out your consumption of it throughout the day. Fueling your body is really important, so remember to treat your body like the temple it is ♡
