Eat like a pro… tein : What is the importance of Protein?

Proteins are the building blocks of your cells. They are found everywhere in your body, and in

an average person can constitute up to 15% of your bodyweight. The enzymes in your body :

Protein. The hemoglobin that transports oxygen in your blood : protein. The actin and myosin

filament responsible for muscle contraction: protein.

As you can see proteins are completely essential for your body to function and not eating

enough of it could lead to health problems. Luckily the minimal amount you need to function is

pretty low at around 0.8g per kg of bodyweight. That means the minimal amount for somebody

weighing 70kg (155 pounds) would be only 55g of protein per day. It would actually be

challenging for someone living in Canada to eat less than that. Proteins are found in all whole

foods and to get less than 55g of protein you’d probably have to live on a diet of candies and

Diet Coke. So, if you’re eating at least 3 normal meals a day don’t worry you're fine. There’s one

catch here, minimal amount doesn’t mean optimal amount. Is there benefits to eating more than

0.8g/kg? Of course there is. You see protein is the main building block of your muscle, if you

want your body to be in a state where it can recover and grow from your training, you're going

to need to eat more than the minimal amount… and quite a bit more. There's no harm in eating

more protein. If your body doesn’t need it to build new cells, it will simply digest it and use as

energy. So why would you risk not getting the full results of your training by eating a lesser

amount? I personally recommend my clients eat 1,6 to 2,2g of protein/kg. Eating more than that

is totally fine but probably isn’t necessary unless you’re a professional bodybuilder.

Proteins have another benefit, they’re extremely satiating and low in calories. One gram of

protein has 4 calories, a gram of fat has 9. It means they will make you feel fuller and for longer

than the same amount of calories in fat. 100g of chicken breasts has as much calories as 20g of

butter. The simple fact of eating more high lean protein food sources is sometimes enough to

help you lose weight, simply because it would be almost impossible to eat the amount of food

you would need to be in calorie surplus. You’d have to eat 1kg of chicken breast to get the same

amount of calories there is in a Big Mac meal.

Proteins are therefore the best friend of anyone that is trying to improve its body composition or

that wants to improve their performance in the gym. They help you recover, are essential for

building muscle and will help you eat less calories without even trying. The best sources of

protein are lean cuts of meat, fish, eggs, lean dairy products. As you can see those foods all

come from animals, it is therefore harder to eat a lot of protein when vegan, but it is not

impossible and vegan protein shakes could be an interesting option to add to your diet if that’s

your case. It would be sad to see the results of your hard workouts be hindered by the fact that

you didn’t eat enough proteins, so eat your proteins and get moving!