Many ask us this question and amazingly many patients I see are not getting enough protein - especially in the morning.
Not eating protein in the morning is like not starting your car before you drive away. It will simply roll down the hill a bit with momentum, be very hard to steer and then stop.
How Much Protein Does An Average Joe Need?
Do this simple calculation:
- Take your weight.
- Divide it by 2.2 (to get it into Kilograms).
- Then multiply it by 0.8 grams.
- Voila - that number is how much protein an average person needs in a day.
Example:
I weigh 195 pounds. So I take 195 pounds/2.2 and that gives me 88.6 kilograms. Then I take 88.6 kg and multiply by 0.8 grams of protein and get: 71 grams of protein a day is my required intake.
How much protein to eat with each meal?
Breakfast is most important, then some for lunch and a decent amount for dinner.
Eat about 40% of your daily protein requirement for breakfast.
Eat about 30% of your daily protein requirement for lunch.
Eat about 30% of your daily protein requirement for dinner.
If you don't eat enough protein for breakfast - your mind will be foggy, you won't think well, you'll crave sugar to get you through the day, you'll be more irritable, mood swings, you will be more sleepy. You will be playing the 'catch up your blood sugar' game all day long.
If you don't eat enough protein for lunch - you'll also have the same issues as above - getting sleepy, having cold sweats, craving carbs and sugar, being irritable and cranky, mood swings and not thinking clearly.
If you don't eat enough protein for dinner - then you'll have the same issues as above plus a big bonus issue - you won't sleep worth a darn. You may fall asleep just fine but then a few hours later you're up. That is your body saying - hey - listen up - I need food - go eat some protein. If you ate enough protein at dinner, then you'd have enough energy stored up to get your body through 8 hours of sleep a night. More info is here on this subject: Insomnia? Tired of it? Try Protein.
How much protein do you need if you exercise?
The same amount as an average person - unless you are training very hard daily. If you are a high caliber athlete, then you need 1.0 grams of protein per kg of body weight.
How much protein do you need if you are pregnant or breastfeeding?
There is some debate here. Many state that you need 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight while pregnant. While breastfeeding, it could be less by a bit. Remember simply eat enough and if you have nausea, eat protein - that is a big player in nausea with pregnancy - and actually - nausea in general.
Healthy Forms of Protein:
Again depends on what camp you're in -
Vegan, you'll be loving those beans, brown rice, quinoa, almonds and walnuts.
Mega carnivore - then you want to consider lean grass fed animals such as lamb, organic cows which are grass fed, grass fed chickens, wild fish - absolutely no farmed fish none zip nada -Farmed Salmon is the most Toxic Food on the Planet.
Good ol' omnivore - mix your beans, almonds, walnuts, flax seeds, quinoa, brown rice, wild salmon, grass fed beef, grass fed chickens. Those are great forms of proteins.
Horrid Forms of Proteins:
As above, any farmed raised fish, any farm raised non-organic meats, pretty much all forms of pork - they eat everything so their meat is pretty much a toxic waste dump.
Pretty much all forms of dairy - milk, cheese, cottage cheese are horrific as they are loaded with antibiotics, growth hormone causing cancers and other issues. The cow milk protein is very hard for many to digest and therefore dairy causes numerous food intolerances. If you have access to clean, unpasteurized milk from happy, healthy, pasture-fed and chemical free cows and can tolerate dairy well, then that's a different story, and you are indeed fortunate.
