Protein Power and Your Health

Contrary to popular belief, it does not matter if one is planning to tone down or bulk up; protein is integral part of diet. While we all know that proteins are important for the seamless functioning of our body and body processes, people have never been so into proteins until recently.

Proteins came to spotlight very recently because of the numerous fad diets focusing on low carbohydrate and high protein intake. (And like all fad diets, they work only for some time). The reason why carbohydrate and high protein low diets work is because they are based on the idea that by limiting carbohydrates intake, the insulin level in our body is lowered. The lowered insulin level leads our body to make more glucagon, which helps burn stored fat. When we do this long enough, our body fat seems to melt away. At the same time, limiting carbohydrate intake can adversely affect our body and processes.

Proteins are one of the building blocks of a healthy diet to power and repair our body. And there are about 10,000 proteins at work in our body!! Proteins are needed for every function in our body including healing purposes and building muscles.

Proteins are essential components of our skin, bones, muscles and all our organ tissue. They are also found in the haemoglobin which carries oxygen in your blood; hormones and the enzymes that are immensely vital for our body’s key chemical reactions. Protein deficient diet can lead to growth failure, muscle mass loss, an undeveloped immune system; and weakness of the heart and respiratory systems.

Proteins are made up of 20 or so building blocks called amino acids. Complete proteins contain the 9 essential amino acids our body needs to build new proteins. Essential amino acids are the ones the body can’t produce on its own.

It is quite relevant and extremely important to mention that with high-protein foods, our body does more labour to digest, metabolize, and use them for bodily processes and functions. That means we end up using more calories processing high protein foods!! What is more encouraging is the fact that high-protein foods stay in our stomach for a longer duration because of the above mentioned reasons, so we feel filled sooner and for a longer duration.

It is however, important to mention that not every protein-rich food is a good choice. The key to a healthy and protein rich diet is to choose from and make a variety of protein-rich foods while being cautious of our fat and cholesterol intake.

Workouts for Women the average daily protein intake requirement changes with age in general. While infants need about 10 grams a day, teenage boys may need up to 52 grams a day. At the same time, teenage girls may need 46 grams a day. An average adult man may need about 56 grams of protein in a day and adult women may need about 46 grams of protein in a day. Also, pregnant or lactating women need about 71 grams of protein in a day.

What we need to ensure is that we give your body what it needs, but we should not have a surplus intake of protein or make it our primary food source. We must bear in mind that a healthy balance of foods is our best bet for a healthy diet. We also need to evaluate sources of protein for unhealthy factors, like saturated/unhealthy fat and cholesterol.

To get our proteins, we can choose from various sources like fish, poultry, red meat, low-fat cheese, eggs, and tofu. The vegetarians can opt for leafy green vegetables, tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, eggplant, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, celery, cucumber, and mushrooms.

The best thing about proteins is that with so many lip-smacking options, getting our daily dose is an extremely simple pleasure.

[Source: http://www.livebeingfit.com/protein-power-and-your-health/]