Protein Intake
Protein Intake
We are all told to eat more protein. But why? What are the roles of protein? And why does having a high protein diet affect our results with training?
Numerous studies have shown that a high protein diet has major benefits for weight loss and metabolic health. Most people eat enough protein (0.8-1.0g per kg) to prevent dietary deficiency, but in most cases, we are encouraged to have a much higher protein intake in our diets. Fats, Carbs and protein affect our bodies in different ways. Protein is by far the most filling, in other words makes you feel full!!! Increasing protein intake from 15-30% has shown clients eat over 400 calories fewer each day.
Protein is the building block of your muscles. Eating adequate amounts of protein helps you maintain muscle mass and promotes muscle growth when resistance training, and can reduce muscle loss during weight loss.
Long term studies indicate that protein has major benefits for bone health. Increasing the protein in your diet helps maintain bone mass and reduce risk of osteoporosis and fractures. Particularly important for women who are at high risk of osteoporosis after menopause.
Eating can boost your metabolism, this happens because your body uses calories to digest and use the nutrients in food. This is referred to as the thermic effect of food (TEF).
Protein has a much higher thermic effect than fats and carbs. In fact 20-35% compared to 5-15%. High Protein intake increases the number of calories you burn.
Because a high protein diet boosts your metabolism and leads to automatic calorie intake reductions, this helps towards maintaining weight loss. This includes of course Fat loss which is different to weight loss.
Protein can help your body repair after it has been injured. This is because it forms the main building blocks of tissue and organs.
Protein from your natural food
Supplements are what they say they are, supplements. Very useful if you find you are at a constant deficient level. So what are the natural foods that we can have to boost our protein intake on top of the usual meat, fish and eggs!!
Here are some foods that compliment the usual meat, fish and eggs that you never realised had as much protein in them.
Pasta (specifically Whole wheat) Yes I know this falls in the carb category but 100g of wholewheat pasta contains around 7.5g of protein. A great addition to your usual meat, fish and eggs.
Peas 130g of peas contain 4g of protein. Now 130g of peas is not a lot of peas so most would double that on the plate resulting in around 8g additional protein on your plate.
Spinach 100g of spinach contains 5.5g. Once cooked this will look very little on the plate so once again you would mostly double or even triple this amount. Not only a good protein source you have a lot of calcium, magnesium, vitamin a, c, k, iron folate and potassium. It is also high in fibre. All for only 41 calories .
Quinoa Quinoa has 8g of protein per 185g. A great alternative choice to rice for example increasing your total protein intake without restricting your carb intake.
Lentils We are talking a powerful protein option, in fact 18g of protein in 200g of lentils. Not mention another great source of fibre, 16g of fibre in that 200g in fact. Not to mention the added health benefits managing blood pressure and cholesterol.
Porridge Another form of carbohydrate, which packs around 8-9g of protein per serving. Of course we could also add our protein supplements to porridge for that extra hit. We could also mix with other protein sources such as milk nuts and this next one……
Pumpkin seeds These bad boys have more protein in than any other nut or seed out there, infact 8g of protein per 28g (around 85) of seeds. An amazing way to increase your protein intake whilst at the same time getting in your healthy fats.
Cottage Cheese I know what your thinking 
Same here but if you can stomach it there is a good reason to consume this in your diet. So we’re talking a whopping 30g of protein per serving with a lot less sugars than what say greek yoghurt has. If you can handle the taste then this is a great opportunity to increase your protein intake.
So there you have it. 8 awesome (well 7 
) foods to add to your plate for increased protein intake.
Give them a try.
