Protein: What It Is And Why It Matters

Protein is a macronutrient meaning it’s an essential part of your diet.

It’s important for aiding muscle growth and helping satiety levels and recovery.

Protein can be found in many nutritious food sources, many of which may already be part of your normal diet.

Popular protein-rich foods include lean meat and poultry, eggs, beans, peas, lentils, dairy products, fish, seafood and tofu.

Your protein intake should contribute to 20-30% of your total daily calories. Active individuals should aim to eat 1.1-1.7grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight per day.

So, if I am 75kg, I would want to aim to eat 82-128g of protein each day.

It’s important that we learn what foods help us hit our daily protein target. You need to find out what foods you enjoy eating, what foods have sufficient protein content and make sure that these foods add up nicely to your calorie target as well as your protein goal.

A meal that is high in protein will make you feel fuller for longer so there’s less desire for snacking between meals.

High-protein diets can also benefit those looking to lose weight as it means you are less likely to overeat and exceed your calorie goal.

It’s as easy as making your serving of carbohydrates slightly smaller and increasing your protein serving.

As we get older, we gradually lose skeletal muscle and this can be worsened by poor diet and inactivity.

Therefore, it’s vital that we stay active and consume protein to maintain muscle strength so that we can complete all our daily activities and reduce the risk of falls.