Protein 一 Why You Should Eat It
You might have heard that it’s important to consume enough protein to help maintain and/or build muscle. It's not that carbs and fats aren't essential, but overall the vast majority of people tend to under eat on protein and over-consume on carbs and fats. Most grab-and-go options tend to be packed with carbs and fat and little to no protein, which initially will fill you up but make you hungry a few hours later. Plus, it's really hard to overeat on chicken breast and extremely easy to eat a whole basket of fries packed with carbs and fat. Consuming more protein at each meal will allow you to feel more full and satisfied for longer after your meals.
In this newsletter we will dive into the importance of protein and why you should be eating it regularly.
WHY IS PROTEIN SO IMPORTANT?
Protein is a vital macronutrient that provides the building blocks for so many aspects of our body including:
Maintaining, growing, and repairing tissue
Building and maintaining lean muscle mass
Improving our body composition
Decreasing our body fat
Improving the health of our hair, skin, and organs, etc.
Regularly consuming a protein source at each meal will allow you to feel more satisfied for longer after you eat.
WOMEN NEED MORE PROTEIN
If you are a female, it's also important to make sure you consume protein more regularly. Starting at the age of twenty, as women age, if you aren't actively doing your part to gain or sustain muscle, you will lose it. Yes, the saying is true: It's “use it or lose it.”
The best possible thing you can do for yourself to avoid injury, live independently, and not require assistance to make it through everyday daily activities is to have a strong muscular system. You do that by building muscle through participating in fitness AND eating the proper amount of protein to fuel and sustain those muscles.
Sidenote: If you are female and over 20, you may have just freaked out a little bit: "But I haven't been working on gaining or sustaining muscle! Is it too late for me?" You're okay. Women's bodies can continue to gain muscle well into much later years through training and proper nutrition.
WHAT ABOUT MEN?
It is not uncommon for men to have the opposite problem. In general, men tend to gravitate to high protein foods and are heavily marketed to with protein-heavy supplements. Men are more commonly led to believe that if they consume 500 grams of chicken breast every 3 hours, their bodies will put on muscle right away.
The reality is that your body only needs so much protein in its system, and any excess is just used as energy (similar to carbs or fat). Long story short: After a certain point, more and more protein doesn’t deliver more and more muscle mass.
It’s not “wrong” or bad to get a high amount of your daily caloric intake from protein. But, there is no extra benefit in the way that many people believe there is.
PROTEIN SOURCES
For your protein selections, we recommend choosing items which are predominantly protein, not items that include trace amounts of protein . Example: t is assumed that peanut butter is considered a protein, but it is actually fat! The following items make up our protein options on the Street Parking Food Chart:
Poultry (chicken, turkey, duck, etc.)
Beef
Lean game meats
Yogurt
Fish
Protein powder (for post-workout)
VEGETARIAN/VEGAN OPTIONS
You can certainly hit protein targets for optimal health as a vegan/vegetarian. Where we want to be careful is the misinformation that suggests that you can get enough protein from foods like peanuts, broccoli, or a slice of bread. These foods do contain trace amounts of protein. However, when you're prioritizing the consumption of protein, you want to aim to get whole protein sources as much as possible.Because, yes, that slice of bread has 2 grams of protein in it. But you'd have to eat the whole dang loaf to get remotely close to the amount of protein needed in a single day.
As you are able, consume the highest quality of protein possible. Your options will vary depending if you're vegetarian or vegan. Whether it's quinoa, beans, tofu, eggs, yogurt, the higher quality ingredients, the better.
Your biggest takeaway here: Make it a goal to eat enough protein by consuming items that are mostly made up of protein, NOT items that are mostly made up of carbs or fats and have a few grams of protein in them.
Some options we have on our Street Parking food chart for plant-based protein options are:
Beans, chickpeas, lentils
Tofu
Tempeh
Hemp seeds
Seitan
These items typically carry a significant amount of carbohydrate as well, so adjustments to your carb servings may be required if you consume these items.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD I CONSUME DAILY?
If we were to get into the nitty gritty and talk science, the recommended amount of protein per day is somewhere between 0.5-1.0 grams of protein per pound of body weight. For anyone who is consistently working out or has an active lifestyle, you will want to be over 0.7 grams per day. If you are trying to GAIN muscle, bump it up to 1.0 grams.
You can track your protein consumption in a few different ways. Here are a few simplified versions to ensure you are eating enough protein daily:
If you are new to consuming protein and do not want to weigh or measure your food, aim to consume protein at each meal and/or snack.
If you are interested in getting the proper amount of protein daily but without using a scale, you can try the super convenient (and surprisingly accurate) Palm Method. This simple tool that makes measuring simpleーand the best part is your measuring system goes with you everywhere. Find those recommendations and how to measure HERE.
Another way to ensure you are eating enough protein is by following one of our Street Parking Nutrition Templates. The Template is a simplified approach to weighing and measuring food that not only tells you how much to eat but also tells you WHAT to eat through a clean foods list that excludes processed foods and sugar. You can find out more about the Nutrition Templates as well as purchase one HERE.
What about cooking protein?
The most sustainable way to approach cooking is by eating the foods you enjoy and are easily available to you. Oftentimes we have an idea that we should be eating lean proteins that have less fat. Lean meat is great, but it can be tricky to cook in a way that doesn't leave them super dry. If you are trying to choke down dry chicken breast because “this is the healthy way to eat protein,” we can assure you that it won’t be too long before you throw in the towel. If this scenario sounds like you, consider taking a break from lean protein sources and explore proteins like chicken thighs, pork tenderloin, and ground beef which are a bit higher in fat.
Once you get comfortable eating those higher fat proteins, enjoying your rubber-chicken sabbatical, and consuming your daily protein needs, then you can start researching ways to cook chicken breast and other lean meats in ways that won’t make them dry. We promise you: It can be done. Those meats can be delicious. It just takes a bit of learning.
Pro Tips: Try smoking lean meats like chicken breast. Use meats like ground turkey or chicken—these tend to reheat much better.
Here are a few of our favorite recipes for preparing proteins from Members Only: