When a new client starts with me. One of the first things that is missing or lacking when we look at what foods they are eating. Are foods that are rich in protein. Now when I help people to achieve their health and fitness goals. I don’t only want them to reach their weight loss targets. But I also want them to improve their overall health. To do that we need to make sure they’re getting enough nutrients their body needs.
The health benefits
If you want to have healthy skin and hair, as well as strong nails. Then ensuring that you get plenty of protein in your diet will be important. So women may find that they don’t need to get their nails done as often.
Getting enough of this nutrient will help you to lose weight. Have you ever tried to eat a lot of meat? It’s pretty difficult right. Well, it’s because foods high in protein keep you full. They also take more energy to digest, which means you will burn more calories simply by increasing the amount you eat. So you will end up eating fewer calories because you will reduce your hunger and increase the calories you burn.
Do you want to have a good immune function? So if you’re a bit low in those types up foods, then you may find that you’re getting ill more often.
It will help you to retain muscle tone. Why would this be important if you want to lose weight? Well if you want the weight you lose to be from fat then you will need plenty of protein from the foods you eat. Check out this blog on the difference between weight loss and fat loss for more.
Where to get protein from?
The most common foods to get this nutrient from is typically from sources. Like your lean meats such as chicken, steak, pork, and eggs. Dairy like milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, and whey protein. If you want to reduce how much food you’re eating that comes from animals there are some from plant sources. We would be looking at tofu, tempeh, and beans. I would encourage you to get your protein from as wide a variety of foods as much as possible. Because it will help you to get a wider variety of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients. Also the more restrictive you are with your food choices the more likely you will be to get bored of eating the same things all the time.
The protein in a chicken is the same as protein from something like whey protein. So something I always encourage to have a bag of whey protein in your cupboard. Because it’s typically high quality, and it’s an easy way to bump your intake up. It’s also versatile, you don’t need to drink it. You can add it to foods like Greek yogurt or in a bowl of porridge oats.
How much do you need?
Firstly, how do you know how much a portion is? To give you an idea, it’s roughly the size of the palm of your hand. What you’ll often see is recommendations of 0.8g per kg of bodyweight. Which is enough to avoid deficiencies. But you’ll need more if you want to lose weight. There are a few different ways to figure out how much you need. You could calculate the amount you need, where the minimum I would recommend would be at least 1.2g per kg of bodyweight. Alternatively, you could look at number of portions would be at least three up five per day.
What may be the ideal amount may be a bit too high for you or at least initially. So this is where I would suggest you look at how many high-protein foods you’re eating per day. What foods you like to eat, then eat some more of them. Slowly building it up over time. As soon as it becomes easy, then you can increase it.
In summary, protein is an essential nutrient for us all especially if you want to lose weight. Because it will help you to burn more calories and want to reduce your hunger between meals. Protein helps to ensure you keep in good health from both immune function, your appearance and, muscle tone.
