Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Wood is to Fire, as Protein is to Humans!

I have had many questions regarding proper protein consumption so I have decided to write about it...

Skipping meals improves your chances that you will fail to reach your weight loss goals. Eating breakfast and small meals (4-6 per day) prevents binge eating, nighttime snacking, and weight gain. It also keeps your metabolism at an optimal pace.The body requires fuel to keep your metabolism burning. Like a camp fire. To keep the fire burning strong, you must feed it with small doses of wood. If you drop a large log on the fire, it may still keep burning, but not as effectively.

Still think of the camp fire...look at it's preferred fuel choice. Add paper or "empty calories" to the fire and it will burn very quickly. As a result, the fire becomes starved and must be fed very often. Now if you add a mixture of paper and wood, the fire will have enough fuel to burn for a longer period of time. The wood will satisfy the fires appetite more than the paper.

Protein is essential for building and repairing muscles, red blood cells, hair, and other tissues, and it is necessary for synthesizing hormones. Next to water, proteins are the most abundant substances in most cells. Protein is digested into 22 amino acids, 13 of which the body manufactures. Since the human body cannot manufacture the other 9 amino acids, it is necessary that we consume the proper amount of protein to provide our bodies with them.

Most people believe you must eat meat to get the "complete" protein supplies. But that is not necessarily true. Those who prefer not to eat meat, such as Vegetarians, can still get all 9 amino acids. By combining grains with legumes (dried beans with corn, tofu with brown rice, or peanut butter with bread), the nine essential amino acids can still be obtained. note: consumption of protein from meat products is much more stressful to the environment than consumption of protein from plant sources. For example: It takes approximately 20 lb. of feed, most often corn, to make a pound of beef!!!hmmmm...maybe vegetarian is the way to go...?).

Bottom Line People: Your diet should always include a source of protein at each meal and snack.

Here is a simple table I have included for you to calculate your protein needs:

1. Calculate your body weight in kg: body weight in lb. x .45 = body weight in kg.
2. Multiply weight in kg. by 0.8 .The result is the grams of protein you should consume per day

For Example: client body weight is 160 lbs.
1. 160 x .45 = 72 kg.
2. 72 x 0.8 = 57.6 grams of protein per day



For questions about this article or for individulized fitness sessions please contact Sarah Lowe @
sarahlowefitness@yahoo.com or 404.551.5979

1 comment:

sugoandsunshine said...

great job with explaining! We eat every 3 hours over here too, breakfast at 7:30, snack at 10, lunch at 1, snack at 4, dinner at 7. no eating after dinner.('cause we aren't hungry,lol) keep up the good work!