Basics For A Healthy & Fit Lifestyle: Part 2
Posted on | March 17, 2010 | 4 Comments
In Part 1, I briefly talked about how total calorie intake & exercise are important to having a healthy lifestyle. In this part of the series, I am going to talk about protein.
3. Protein - Before I begin, let me just say that the best source of information available on the topic is Lyle McDonald’s The Protein Book. It literally has everything you need to know about protein. It is a great book for everyone, regardless if you are an average Joe or an athlete.
“So how much protein should I be consuming?”.
Well there are plenty of variables and situations that can give someone an answer. For the purpose of this article, I’ll assume that you are just weight training three times a week. 1-1.5 grams per pound of body weight is sufficient. So for someone who is 150 pounds, 150-225 grams a day would be the range of total protein one would consume. Personally, I would stick to the higher end of the scale.
Now I know some of you reading this have heard high protein diets are harmful, but this of course has been over exaggerated. There are many benefits to having a moderate/high protein intake. For satiety purposes, protein is the number one macro-nutrient that will fill you up. Try it for yourself. Increase your protein intake from whole food sources and you will definitely notice less hunger.
Also, if you want to build muscle mass, then you are going to need a good amount of protein. Unlike carbohydrates & fats, protein isn’t stored in the human body. Well technically, your muscle & organ tissue is made up of protein, but you obviously don’t want your body to use that as a source. (This happens during extreme cases of starvation.)
There are plenty of different types of proteins out there. Animal sources such as beef, poultry, pork & dairy are good forms of complete proteins. They have good biological value and a complete amino acid profile. In case you did not know, amino acids are the building blocks of protein. (Just like how sugars are the building blocks of starches.) Vegetable proteins such as rice & legumes can be added to ones diet on top of animal sources.
The key here is to have a variety of different protein sources on a daily basis. Now I know this can be hard if one has a certain number of food allergies/intolerances. Complete proteins such as dairy, fish, shellfish, eggs & soy can be problematic. It isn’t really a problem if it is just one source that one is sensitive to. The obvious conclusion is to just avoid it and use other sources.
What can be a major problem is if someone has a wide variety of food allergies/intolerances. It can be stressful trying to figure out what types one can eat that would give sufficient amounts of essential amino acids (EAAs). EAAs are amino acids that the body can not produce. They must be consumed within one’s diet. Consuming only chicken breast everyday for the rest of your life is a good way to miss out on certain amounts of EAAs & nutrients that only certain protein sources have.
I’ll use myself as an example here. I can’t tolerate dairy, eggs, legumes & high amounts of soy. Instead, I’ll eat poultry, beef, pork, fish, seafood & gemma pea protein isolate. I also eat tree nuts & gluten-free oats which have small amounts of protein.
EDIT: I have recently found out I am sensitive to oat protein, so I have excluded oats from my diet.
Since I have a variety in my diet, I won’t have to worry about being deficient in any EAAs. Also, I feel that people with celiac disease should be eating lean red meat. Being deficient in iron is common with people who have celiac disease.
For those not sensitive to dairy, you are in luck. Dairy contains high amounts of EAAs , especially the branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs). These amino acids are important for protein synthesis (I.e. muscle growth,). Dairy also contains a good amount of dietary calcium which is important for fat loss.
I am only being brief here on the topic of protein & food allergies/intolerances There will be a future article on the subject.
Certain EAAs are precursors to certain neurotransmitters that regulate mood. L-tryptophan is a precursor to serotonin and L-phenylalanine is a precursor to dopamine. Protein is more then just “muscle food” and has many other functions in the human body.
One more thing I want to mention is protein powders. They can be very handy if one does not have time to cook. Whey protein powder is the most popular on the market. It is a good item to use for pre and during workout since it is a fast-digesting protein. For purposes of using powders in a meal. Milk protein isolate (MPI) or gemma pea protein isolate for the dairy-sensitive are a better option. They are more filling and will keep you fuller in the long run.
If anyone is looking for good quality protein powders, check out TrueProtein.com. They are a very respectable company and their customer service is just awesome. I personally use their Dutch chocolate flavored gemma and it tastes great. Erin Elberson over at GlutenFreeFitness.com wrote an excellent review for TP’s gemma & rice protein powder. Check it out.
Part 3 will be up soon and I will most likely finish off this series with a part 4.
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4 Responses to “Basics For A Healthy & Fit Lifestyle: Part 2”
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March 17th, 2010 @ 5:01 pm
Very informative! Great job, Jonathan!
March 19th, 2010 @ 10:25 pm
Keep it up man, this stuff is on point! Hell, I gain a muscle and lose a pound everytime I take the time out just to read this. Lol.
May 4th, 2010 @ 7:55 pm
Just wanted to add eating beef liver can be very helpful. Try it, I think you will notice the energy it gives you. It’s high in many nutrients people recovering from Celiac need, and was the original ‘body building supplement’.
May 4th, 2010 @ 9:26 pm
Damn, I totally forgot about liver and have not eaten it in ages. Thanks.