As health conscious individuals we are all continuously aware of the things that we put in our bodies.  Health guru Cathy Smith is the first to point out that it is both our diet and our nutrition that affects our health.  She has much to say about protein.  Did you know for instance that protein actually helps stabilize blood sugar thereby helping you avoid food cravings?

Protein also

• Improves recovery from workouts
• Helps build lean muscle tissue
• Increases your feeling of fullness and satiety, making you less hungry between meals

Protein is vital because it is made up of amino acids.  Amino acids help build and repair your muscles, tendons, red blood cells, and enzymes.   Your body needs more than twenty different amino acids, eleven of which it can produce on its own.  The remaining nine must come from your food.  These are called “essential” amino acids and come from the protein that you eat.

While meat provides all of the essential amino acids our bodies need, many vegetables are also good protein sources.  These include:

• Pinto, kidney, and black beans
• Lentils
• Nuts and seeds
• Nut butters
• Soy beans and tofu
• Wheat protein (known as seitan)

There is an easy way to determine your daily protein requirements by doing some simple math:

1. Convert your weight from pounds to kilograms by dividing by 2.2.  We’ll use the example of a 140-pound person; 140 pounds ÷ 2.2 = 63.6 kilograms
2. Estimate your activity level:

•  
  • Use a factor of .08 grams protein if you are lightly active or sedentary
  • Use a factor of 1.2 grams protein if you are moderately or very active (0-12 hours of physical activity per week)
  • Use a factor of 1.6 gram protein if you are extremely active (15+ hours of highly physical activity per week)

1. Multiply your weight in kilograms by your activity level to find out how much protein you need.  From our example above, we’ll say that the person weighing 63.6 kilograms is moderately active; 63.6 × 1.2 grams protein  = 76.3 grams

And that’s it. Use this simple calculation to ensure that you’re getting enough high-quality protein every day.

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