Your Ultimate Guide to Protein

Here you will read about protein and how adding it into your diet is a must!  Protein is so important to your diet, so it’s crucial to understand it fully. There are quite a few misconceptions about it, so this post will clear some of those up for you!

What protein is

Protein is a macronutrient that makes up and builds your body.  It is one of three macronutrients in food, the other two being fats and carbohydrates.

You might of heard of someone on the “Macro diet” or someone that counts their macronutrients.  Protein is one of the things they are counting.

Think of a part of your body; protein is in it!  It’s what helps our bodies actually function!

Why protein is important

Our muscles, hair, nails, skin, or pretty much anything else is made up of protein. It gives you energy throughout the day, and it’s what helps keep you full for longer after you’ve eaten a meal!

So, for those of you who are always hungry 30 minutes after eating a meal paying attention to your protein will help!

How much Protein you need

This really depends on you and what your goals are!

Most women on average who don’t have weight loss or gaining muscles goals would take their weight (in pounds) and multiply that that by 0.36 grams of protein.

Women who are working out or have goals to build lean muscles should be taking in 0.7 or 0.8 grams of protein per pound they weigh.

[bctt tweet= “For a 150 pound woman who is working out and has a goal to loose weight, she should be eating about 105 grams of protein per day.”]

When I started to take control of my diet and fitness, I spent that first week journaling what I ate and how much protein I was consuming. I was shocked to see that I was eating a lot of foods high in carbohydrates and trans fats, but with little protein or nutritional value. I learned right then  what was making me so lethargic and groggy through the day!

You can use the free Ultimate Two Week Food Journal I made to track your food for the week!  You can also use this for another week you’ll track later in this post.

I also recommend not obsessing over every calorie and carb you take in! That’s why I would recommend only counting your grams of protein for about a week. This will give you a good sense of what your eating patterns are.

[bctt tweet= “Sometimes, counting calories or things like that can lead to an unhealthy relationship with food. It should be nutritious, but remember to actually enjoy the food you eat!”]

As you consciously take in more protein, be mindful of what type of protein you eat and what comes along with it! More on the types of protein later, but for now think about keeping things like trans fat, carbs or calories low!

Take note of how it’s prepped and cooked!  Yes, a buffalo chicken wing may have protein in it, but with it being battered and fried, you are taking in a lot of bad that comes with the good!

What types of foods have protein in them

To answer that, you need to know what makes up a “complete” protein!

Protein is made up of essential Amino Acids.  Often, you will see the word “essential” in front of amino acids meaning it is essential to get these from the food we eat.  Our bodies do not produce these on its own!

There are nine amino acids that make up protein:

• Valine
• Tryptophan
• Methionine
• Leucine
• Histidine
• Isoleucine
• Phenylalanine
• Threonine
• Lysine

Knowing these amino acids off hand isn’t really important (I know I don’t think about them everyday!) but knowing of them will help you make decisions about what meals you make!

Most commonly, people will eat animal meat or animal by-products (like eggs or milk) in order to get a “complete” protein.  

However, there seems to be misconception in the United States of, “If this meal doesn’t have meat in it, then I’m not getting any protein”.

This is definitely not true.  

Actually a lot of people are eating TOO much meat!  Considering that the meat producing industry is the biggest contributor to water pollution.  You can it in our affect on our environment.  I think this is an easy way to tell as a society we’re taking in too much animal meat.

This quote from the American Heart Association says it best:

“People think they won’t feel full if they don’t eat meat,” 

Dr. Wylie-Rosett

Eating meat is not the only way to get a full protein and it certainly isn’t the only way to feel full!

Foods like vegetables , fruits, seeds or nuts will also have protein in them, but will lack a few of the amino acids listed above.

What about vegetarians and vegans? You may ask.

It is ABSOLUTELY possible to have a balanced complete protein without any animal products! I’ll talk about the ways you can combine certain vegan friendly foods to make a complete protein later in this post.

What to look out for with animal protein

Like I said earlier, people will often consume animal meat and products to get the protein they need. If you are a meat-eater and you are working towards losing weight, then you should be mindful of the type of meat you eat and how you prep it.

Some animal meat, like red meat or pork, can have more bad effects than good from eating them.

Think about bacon, especially how it is commonly cooked with a lot of salt (or sugar). The unhealthy parts of bacon would out weigh the benefits of the protein you get from it.

Similarly with red meat, there is a lot of research to show it can have negative effects on your health. In this study from Harvard, it talks about how red meat can lead to an increased risk of heart disease.

If you do choose to incorporate meat into your diet, then make sure to have a healthy choice of meat and a variety.  Most fish, especially like Salmon, is a good alternative to traditional meat.  Fish has a lot of extra benefits like Omega-3 Fatty acids and other nutrients. 

As for me, when I learned of the meat industries affect on the environment,  treatment of animals, etc, I decided to go vegetarian.

How vegetarians or vegans get the right amount of protein

Earlier we talked about what a protein is and how 9 essential amino acids make up a protein, but veggies and beans usually lack one or more. Vegetarians only need to make sure they have a variety in their diet to make sure they are getting enough complete protein!

Common types of foods vegetarians/vegans eat that has incomplete protein:

• Beans (like lentils, black beans, canelli beans, chickpeas {also called garbanzo beans}, and soybeans)
• Seeds (like chia seeds, hemp seeds, quinoa, and buckwheat)
• Nuts (like almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds {also called pepitas} cashews, or Brazil nuts)
• Nut butters (like peanut, almond or cashew)
• TIP: always look at the nutrition value of nut butters! Common ones like peanut butter will have a lot of sodium or other unnecessary ingredients in them! Always look for nut butters that are 100% nut with no other ingredient!

These types of foods will lack a few amino acids, but the good news is that they all don’t lack the same amino acids! This means if you’re mindful about what you eat through the day and make sure to mix these up, you’ll have a balanced diet with lots of protein!

Combining plant based proteins to have all the essential amino acids

You should be striving to have a complete protein at least 3 times a day. With these combinations, that will be easy to do!

• Beans and Grains (like quinoa)
• Grains and Legumes (like chickpeas)
• Nuts/seeds and legumes
• Vegetables and Grains, nuts and seeds.

Thinking with this mindset can be tough at first, but like any change, it will get easier with time!

In the Ultimate Two Week Food Journal, you can use it to track the week before and after you change your eating habits to see what types of patterns you have and where you can improve!

Incorporating protein powder into your diet

As a vegetarian, I incorporate protein powder into my diet once or twice a day. I like to have 3 main meals a day (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) with a small morning snack and a small afternoon snack. I find using protein powder in these in-between times is helpful.

Protein powder will give you a complete protein and can be used in a variety of ways.

When I started to shift my eating patterns and researched what a balanced diet should look like, I read a lot of people would consume protein powder. I remember thinking to myself, “Aren’t body builders and gym rats the only ones who care about protein powder?”

I can tell you with confidence that is NOT correct!!

A note about Whey Protein Powder

Of course, there are different types of protein powder for different people. Often, the powders for men who are trying to build body mass will contain whey protein (which is an by product of cheese making), or others that have a lot of sugars or sodium in them. 

If you or someone you know adds whey into their diet, then check out this awesome article from my friend, Kierran.  

He dives deep into what whey is and the different types of whey proteins. Kierran does a great job of giving you the info you need to be able to make an informed decision about whey!

Vegan and Vegetarian Protein Powder options

Here are the brands and flavors of protein powder that I like and use often (and these are all vegan except for Vital Proteins):

This list contains affiliate links,  you can see my disclosure for more details.

• Vega Protein Smoothie: Bodacious Berry, Vanilla
• Tone it Up:  They have lots of different flavors of protein, but their best flavors are Vanilla, Chocolate, and Coconut. 
• Moonjuice:  Vegan collagen (there are not a lot of vegan options in collagen, which is the protein to help promote healthy hair, and nails. This is the best I have found that is vegan). I will have the recommended amount of collagen along with a one of the above mentioned protein powders.
• Vital Proteins:  They have a lot of different ways to introduce collagen into your diet.  Vegetarians be mindful, though.  Most of these products are made with beef.  Check for the ones that say “Marine Collagen” as they are made with fish.  If you are a meat eater, then the Coconut Coffee Creamer was one I really liked in the past!

Conclusion

Protein is SO important to your diet.  BUT, it is easy to overload to animal protein and not get enough plant-based in your life!  I encourage you to read through some of the articles I have included in the links above to learn more info on the meat industry’s affect on the environment, or some meats affect on heart health!

Now, are you ready to take control of what food you put in your body? 

Let me know in the comments how you make sure to get the right amount of protein!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin