Monday Motivation: The Power of Protein
You Are Stronger Than You Think!
Protein plays a major role in our body's response to stress and ability to adapt. It keeps our cells healthy. This is because protein is critical to the many metabolic pathways our body undergoes every single day. It helps deliver oxygen to our muscles and other tissues throughout the body. It's imperative we give our body the fuel it needs. Yet, many of us are not getting enough protein in our diet. To help us understand how much protein we should be consuming, we first need to figure out our BMR (basal metabolic rate) and how many calories we consume. Use the calculator to see how many calories you burn each day.
You should be consuming 10-35% grams of protein of your daily calorie intake. So, say you burn 2,000 calories per day. You should be consuming 200-700 calories from protein. Another metric to use is to consume 7g of protein for every 20lbs of body weight. So a 180lb person would need at least 63 grams of protein each day.
What is protein made of? How can it help me?
Protein is made of amino acids, which act as building blocks to our body. We need these for our body to function at its best. It helps prevent injury and muscle wasting and repairs our body faster when we do sustain an injury. It also helps us grow muscle mass!
However, not everyone is trying to gain muscle. Many people actually want to lose weight. The great thing is that protein is beneficial in SO MANY WAYS! Here's to list a few:
Reduces appetite and hunger
Increase strength; reduce muscle loss
Boosts metabolism by increasing fat burning
Helps repair and rebuild muscle & bone tissue
Prevents muscle wasting (sarcopenia)
Conclusion: Eat These Foods
As you can see, there are several benefits to increasing protein in your diet. By emphasizing healthspan, you simply cannot ignore protein. Start implementing these foods more regularly so you can increase your protein intake today:
lean meats
chicken
fish
eggs
almonds
Greek yogurt
Sources: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-to-eat-more-protein#TOC_TITLE_HDR_5
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/high-protein-foods#TOC_TITLE_HDR_6
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