Powerful Protein

Protein is found is many cells throughout the body - muscle, skin, hair, bone, etc.- and is essential for human function. Protein is used in your body to build, maintain, and repair cells and tissues. All proteins are made up of amino acid building blocks. Your body requires a wide array of these amino acids for different functions but not every protein sources contains every amino acid. To build all of the protein that your body needs, you require 22 different amino acids. Ten of these amino acids are essential, meaning that your body cannot produce them so you must get them from food sources. The other twelve amino acids are considered to be nonessential because they can be produced in your body. Three more amino acids also exist, but they are only needed by the body in times of illness or injury.

High-quality and Low-quality Proteins
Proteins from animal sources - meat, fish, poultry eggs, and dairy products - contain similar combinations of amino acids as needed by humans therefore making these high-quality proteins. These high-quality proteins are processed more efficiently by your body and have a limited amount of waste. Low-quality proteins - grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, nuts, and seeds - have fewer amino acids making their nutritional value lower than that of animal proteins.

Complete and Incomplete Proteins

Proteins can also be described at complete or incomplete. Complete proteins are those that contain sufficient amounts of all amino acids; incomplete proteins do not have the necessary amounts of all amino acids. The quality of incomplete proteins can be improved by pairing them with another incomplete protein that has the missing amino acids. Complete proteins come from animal sources. The following foods have incomplete proteins: grain foods, legumes, and nuts & seeds.

How to combine incomplete proteins

• Pair whole grains with legumes (ex. rice and beans)
• Pair dairy products with whole grains (ex. whole grain pasta with cheese, grilled cheese sandwich)
• Pair legumes with nuts and/or seeds (ex. vegetarian chili with caraway seeds)
• Pair dairy products with legumes (ex. chili beans with cheese)
• Pair dairy products with nuts and seeds (ex. yogurt with mixed nuts)

Incorporating Protein in your Diet
It is recommended that healthy adults get 10-35% of their daily caloric intake from protein. A good number to aim for is 45 grams per day for women and 52 grams per day for men. Also, a quick calculation that you can do to calculate your personal protein needs is to multiply your weight in pounds times 0.36. These amounts of protein can be easily incorporated into your diet as two to three 3-ounce servings of lean meat, fish, or poultry. Vegetarians can get their protein from 2 eggs, 2 slices of fat-free cheese, 4 slices of whole grain bread, and one low-fat cup of yogurt.

Examples of Lean Protein

• Beans of all kinds
• Beef tenderloin
• Bison
• Canned salmon, packed in water
• Canned tuna, packed in water
• Chicken breasts
• Chickpeas
• Eggs
• Fat-free plain yogurt
• Fresh fish (cod, salmon, tilapia, etc.)
• Lean ground turkey
• Lentils
• Low-fat cottage cheese
• Natural nut butters (almond, cashew, peanut, etc.)
• Non-dairy beverages (fat-free almond, rice, or soy milk)
• Pork tenderloin
• Tempeh
• Tofu
• Unsalted raw nuts and seeds

Protein values of common foods

• Egg white 3.5 gm/1 large egg
• Egg 6 gm/1 large egg
• Cheddar cheese 7 gm/1 oz.
• 1% Milk 8 8gm/8 oz.
• Yogurt 11 gm/cup
• Cottage cheese 15 gm/0.5 cup
• Haddock 27 gm/ 4 oz.
• Hamburger 30 gm/4 oz.
• Pork Loin 30 gm/4 oz.
• Chicken Breast 35 gm/4 oz.
• Tuna 40 gm/6 oz.
• Almonds 3 gm/12 nuts
• Peanut butter 4.5 gm/1 tbsp
• Kidney beans 6 gm/0.5 cup
• Hummus 6 gm/0.5 cup
• Gardengurger 6 gm/2.5 oz. patty
• Refried beans 7 gm/0.5 cup
• Lentil soup 11 gm/10.5 oz.
• Tofu 11 gm/3.5 oz.
• Baked beans 14 gm/ 1 cup
• Boca burger 13 gm/2.5 oz. patty

*Actual values may vary depending on brand*

Information adapted from: Nutrition for Dummies, 4th ed., The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! by Tosca Reno, and Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook, 4th ed.