Learning the facts about nutrition will keep your head in the game and empowers you to make better decisions about your health. You won’t be fool by fad diets that promise you fast results. You will be able to tell when something is too good to be true.
You need 7 nutrients in your diet to prevent disease and maintain good health. They are carbohydrates, proteins, fats, fiber, vitamins, minerals and water.
Carbohydrates, Proteins, fats and fiber are to referred as macronutrients. Macro means large and you need these nutrients in large quantities. Vitamins and mineral are known as your micronutrients and you these in small quantities.
Water is a forgotten nutrient, but you could only survive a few days without it. I talk about the benefits and functions of water in “Water is Vital for Good Health: Symptoms You Are Not Getting Enough.”
Macronutrients:
Do you know how many calories are in each macronutrient? A gram of protein and carbohydrate provides 4 calories. Yes, protein and carbohydrates provide the same amount of calories per a gram. You may never think with all the media on how bad carbohydrates are for you.
Fats are more energy dense and have 9 calories per a gram. Alcohol provides 7 calories per a gram. Alcohol is not a macronutrient, because we do not need it to survive. Alcohol is empty calories
All three macronutrients are necessary in certain amounts to ensure a functioning body and healthy metabolism. Today I am going to talk about protein.
Protein:
When you think of protein you probably think amino acids and you are right. There are 21 amino acids the body needs to function properly. Some amino acids you make. These are called non-essential amino acids-not because you do not need them, but because your body can make them. Some amino acids you can’t make and you need to get them from your diet. These are Essential Amino Acids.
Some amino acids your body makes, but under certain conditions you may need more and need to get them from your diet. These conditions include times of growth, pregnancy and sickness. That is why they are called conditional amino acids.
Your body needs these proteins to perform different jobs. The primary function of protein in the body is the growth and repair of cells, but it has many other functions too. Protein is needed to make enzymes. Enzymes carry out complex processes in the body, like digestion. All enzymes are protein.
Protein can transport other nutrients, like the protein hemoglobin transports oxygen. Some hormones are made from protein, like insulin and growth hormone. Antibodies that fight off infection are proteins.
Our body’s pH balance is maintained by protein. Our bodies need to stay at neutral pH to function properly and protein though its buffering function keeps our pH at this level.
Protein is also thought to be the most satisfying nutrient, making you feel full.
The Institute of Medicine recommends that healthy sedentary adults get 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, which is .36 grams per pound of body weight. Sedentary is defines as less than 30 minutes of accumulated physical activity. If you are active, sick of pregnant you would need more. I’ll talk more about changes in energy requirements latter.
If you weight 175lbs, then your protein requirements would be 63g/day. Your needs would change based on your weight. If you weigh less they would be less and if you weigh more they would be more.
Now that you know how much protein you need. Where are you going to get it? Protein sources are characterized as either having a “high biological value” (HBV) or “low biological value” (LBV). A high biological value means the protein has all the essential amino acids in the right proportions and can be used by the body. Sometimes it is referred as a “Complete Protein.” A low biological value means it is missing one or more of the essential amino acids. Sometimes this is called an “Incomplete Protein.”
Foods from animal sources have a HBV and foods from plant sources have a LBV (except soybeans). This does not mean a vegetarian diet is not healthy. It does mean that more planning is involved if you switch to a vegetarian diet. When you combine two LBV proteins they can become a complete protein, like bread and beans. It is something you need to be aware of and plan for of if you decide to cut animal products from your diet.
If you weigh 175lb where are you going to get your protein? Recall, a 175lb person needed 63g of protein a day. You can practice using the table below (click to enlarge it). You could have an egg with 2oz cheese for breakfast, chicken sandwich (2 slices of bread) for lunch and maybe salmon for dinner. That would bring you to 73.7g for the day, which is above your daily needs (in this example).
I did that on purpose because often we underestimate that we can get what we need from food. You do not have to buy special protein supplements. They are expensive anyway.
As a general rule 1 oz of high protein foods contains about 7g of protein. Those would include your meat, poulty, fish, one egg, 1/2 cup of beans or one tablespoon of peanut butter.
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