Meat black background

Protein is essential to your health.  Protein is used in your body to build & repair muscles.  Protein is also essential to create enzymes that carry out your bodies processes.  So, what kinds of foods provide you with protein?  and, how much is enough.

For the most part, animal products contain the most usable and largest amounts of p but in smaller amounts.  Soy, nuts, seeds, and grains contain small to moderate amounts of protein.

When choosing protein sources, make sure it is lean.  What does lean mean?  Lean means that a protein is low in fat.  Some animal foods can be high in fat & protein.  Examples of these include red meat, fried foods, bacon, sausage, hot dogs, and luncheon meats, etc.  

Lean meats contain low amounts of fat,  Great lean sources of protein include chicken, fish, pork, and eggs.  When choosing beef, read the label and choose meats that are 97% lean.  This will ensure that the product is low in fat.  To avoid adding fat to a lean meat, I advise you to cook them without fat.  Great cooking techniques include grilling, baking, broiling, and boiling.

So, how much protein do you need? It depends.  The USDA recommends the average person to eat 56g of protein each day.  However, each person is different.  Everyone’s unique protein needs depends on their age, weight, sex, activity, and even muscle mass.  Basically, each person needs about .8-1.2 g of protein /kg of body weight.  The more active you are, the higher your protein needs are.  A serving 3 oz of meat contains 21g of protein on average.  Plan accordingly!

Please follow and like us:
Pin Share