Protein - The Building Blocks of Life

     To finish our explanation of the various macro nutrients it is time to cover protein.  Though needed in the smallest percentage overall, it is very important.  Proteins are the main structural component of many parts of the body includes skin, muscle, and hair.  They are also used to transport vitamins, minerals, fats, and oxygen within the body as well as to form enzymes that help speed the process of creating antibodies.  If the body is going through a period of starvation protein can even be used for energy, though it is not something to strive for.

    Proteins are built from various amino acids, 8 - 10 (depending on your age and state of wellness) are essential.  Essential simply means that your body cannot make them and you must get these amino acids through food.  The best way to ensure you are consuming all your amino acids is to eat complete proteins.  Complete proteins are foods that contain all the amino acids in usable amounts.  Lean meats like chicken breast, turkey breast, lean beef, or eggs are all examples complete proteins.  If you are vegetarian and are worried about acquiring all of the essential amino acids have no fear, foods like chia seeds and soy are complete proteins as well.  On top of that it is not necessary to eat all of the essential amino acids  in every meal.  Consuming incomplete proteins (or those foods that are low in one or more essential amino acids) at various points in the day can add up to all essential amino acids being accounted for.  These kinda of food pairings are called complementary foods.  Examples of these complementary foods are: a peanut butter sandwich on whole grain bread, rice-bean casserole, rice with sesame seeds, or cereal and milk.  Below is an image that should help explain complementary foods further.

   So how much protein should you consume? The general guidelines are .8g per kilogram of body weight. So if I weigh 130 lbs I would divide that by 2.2 to convert it to kilograms.  Then multiply by .8 to find out how many grams of protein I should be consuming.

130/2.2 = 59.1 x .8 = 47.3g of protein a day.

Another way to calculate how much protein to consume is to break it down by macro percentage.  If I plan on eating 1800 calories a day and want 15% of that to be protein it would look like this.

1800 x .15 = 270 calories of protein / 4 = 67.5 g of protein

As you can see there is a fairly wide variability in protein consumption.  Just make sure you are consuming enough water to flush out the bi-products of protein metabolism (nitrogen mainly).

If you have any questions as this was a long and somewhat confusing post, don't hesitate to ask!