Are You Getting Enough Protein?

The amount of protein a person needs is determined by two things: body weight and physical activity. For example, a 150-pound person would require 55 grams, whereas a 120 pounder could sneak by with a mere 44 grams of protein daily. It’s estimated that an athlete’s protein requirement is 25 to 85 percent higher than the rest of ours. A 150-pound athlete would need 68 to 100 grams of protein daily. A 120-pound athlete’s protein needs would jump to 80 grams daily.

Meeting your protein needs with your diet is a cinch as long as you are not restricting your calories and are eating plenty of carbohydrates (bread, pasta, veggies, and fruits) that can be used for energy.

Just don’t overdo it. Eating too much protein IS bad for your kidneys, because your body has to break the excess protein down. The waste products are literally flushed down the toilet. (Sorry for the graphics.) If you have eaten your quota of calories for the day, the overload of calories from the protein will be stored as fat.

You can get all the protein you need at the grocery store. Meat, fish, and chicken are big ticket items in the protein department, slicing up about seven grams of protein per ounce. But there are plenty of other protein sources. In fact, lean dairy products can be just as potent. A cup of skim milk or yogurt will serve you about eight to nine grams of protein. An ounce of part-skim mozzarella cheese will put seven grams of protein on your bread. And – are you ready for this? A cup of low-fat cottage cheese delivers 28 grams of protein. Eggs are another good hit, providing about six grams each. I know, I know, you’ve been told to crack open no more three to four yolks per week. No problem. Go ahead and have a field day with the egg whites because about half of the protein is in the white part of the egg, yet all the cholesterol is thrown out with the yolk. A cup of beans will shell out 13 grams of protein, whereas tofu (OK, I realize tofu is not exactly on everybody’s “A” list) is a winner at about 20 grams a cup.

Protein can add up quickly. Here are some ideas:

• 1 1/2 cups of raisin bran drowned in 1 cup of skim milk and topped off with a banana for your AM starter.
• At lunch, take the easy route and slap 2 tablespoons of peanut butter between 2 slices of whole wheat bread and grab a tossed salad with 1/2 cup of chickpeas from the salad bar at work. Don’t forget to wash all this down with another cup of skim milk.
• In the afternoon, grab a container of low-fat yogurt and a bran muffin for a snack.

If you are a strict vegetarian and eliminate all dairy products, you’ll have to make sure that you have a variety of fortified cereals and grains mixed with legumes and other meat substitutes such as kidney beans, soy burgers, tofu, and soy milk to meet your protein and nutritional needs.

by David on January 5, 2009 · 0 comments

tagged as protein, protein requirements in Diet & Nutrition

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