Putting Protein on a Pedestal

I thought people were becoming more educated about food and their diets...turns out I was wrong. With new clients one of the first questions I ask is always, what are you eating? Or How's your diet? Most people are pretty confident about their diet or say something like, "I eat pretty well". Sometimes that's the case but mostly you're wrong. There's always two things missing, not enough vegetables, not enough protein.

For some strange reason people still think protein is for bodybuilders or just for people looking to get huge.

[caption id="attachment_192" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Who's getting their protein?"][/caption]

Here's the truth, we all need protein and we need lots of it. Why is that? There's a few reasons.

1) Muscle Building - In order to build muscle, once you've provided the stimulus in the gym, you need to get adequate protein in your diet in order to keep your nitrogen levels positive. This is done through protein intake. If your nitrogen levels for a day are negative, you go catabolic (lose muscle); if your nitrogen levels are positive for the day, you go anabolic (gain muscle). There are very few people who need to lose muscle, pretty much everyone would benefit from gaining more. It makes you leaner and makes your body perform better. If you're working out for body composition, you need to add muscle mass.

2) Fat Burning - Protein plays two roles in the fat burning process. For one thing, protein takes the most energy to break down in your body, thus it increases your metabolism on a daily basis. Secondly, it keeps your muscles from breaking down in a fat burning phase. If you're exercising, there will be a point where your body will look to break down your muscle for fuel. The truth is, amino acids (what protein is made up of) are a very good energy source and your body will try to use them. If you want to burn fat and avoid losing more muscle, then we need to get adequate amounts of protein - both for fuel and to save your muscles. Whats the point of losing fat if you're going to lose your muscle as well? The only way to improve body composition is to gain or maintain muscle mass while losing fat, not losing both.

Let's not overlook the fact that amino acids are used for some of the most basic bodily functions. Women, where do you think the protein that's in your hair comes from? Small things like that are overlooked when it comes to ones diet. So how much should you get? Where should you get it?

Ignore the Canadian Food Guide. If you want to increase the amount of muscle you have on your body, you need to get 1g/lb of body weight. It's very simple. If you're an elite athlete or bodybuilder, you may want to go even higher. This is a reasonable number. If you're eating 4 or 5 times per day, there's plenty of opportunity to get it. The trick is making protein a priority and putting it on a pedestal. Everytime you eat a meal, you should know where you're getting your protein from. It can be from any meat, fish, bird, dairy, lentils, nuts or protein powder. Think of snacks like beef jerky, cottage cheese or hard boiled eggs. There is no shortage of protein (unless you're a vegan, which takes more work). Bottom line, whether you want to put on muscle or lose fat, start getting in more precious protein! All your hard work will start paying off!!