Post Workout Protein: why you need it and how to get it | FoodsOfOurLives.com
Today I want to talk about getting enough protein into your diet. Specifically relating to fitness, because this is something that is near and dear to my heart.
I don’t know about you, but I’m a carb girl.
I love my carbs. Love them, love them, love them.
Given free reign, I will just eat carbs.
Nothing else. Well except some yummy fats mostly consisting of heavy cream.
While carbs are a very important part of your diet, unless you are a super athlete, you need to be careful how much you are getting.
I realized a while back I was NOT controlling myself AT. ALL. in the carb department and needed to get myself under control.
So I went in the direction of the Ketosis diet. Sort of.
I’ve had to tweak things here and there because, although I certainly am no super athlete, I do workout quite a bit and quite hard and I find I need more carbs than most keto diet experts recommend.
The other thing I found I need to get more of is protein. I have no problem meeting my carb and fat needs (I also LOVE fats! Always have.) I do have a difficult time meeting my protein needs.
I just have never really been that into most protein rich foods. I eat them at dinner typically and that’s about it.
But I have recently been using this app to help me keep track of what I’m eating, mostly to make sure I am not eating too many carbs and to make sure I’m getting enough protein.
It’s been very educational.
So why do I need protein? You might wonder.
When you workout, especially any kind of strength training where you are specifically targeting building up muscle, you are causing trauma to your muscles. Little tears in the muscles are caused by doing a tough weight-based routine, this is called microtrauma. If you are doing these types of workouts, your goal is to build muscle. If you are doing these types of workouts and essentially breaking down those muscles, there is no point to doing them unless you allow your muscles to rebuild and repair themselves after and give them the necessary tools to do so if you want them to repair quickly and correctly. Protein or amino acids gives your muscles the nutrients they need to repair themselves.
When you work out, typically it is to get rid of your extra fat storage, correct? Well when you work out you also, essentially, get rid of your amino acid storage (aka muscles) so after working them you need to replenish that storage unit by giving it more amino acids. Otherwise your muscles aren’t going to get bigger and stronger. Does that makes sense?
How much protein you need is going to depend on what type of workouts you are doing, how often and how bulky you want (or don’t want) to get. More protein = more bulk (if you are doing lots of weight training with it).
Ok so how do you figure out how much you need? There is a handy dandy little way of figuring that out, unfortunately it’s not an exact science, there will be variables that change person to person but a rough guideline is The Institute of Medicine recommends .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Which works out to about .36 grams per pound. So according to my calculations, I need about .47 grams per day. However, since I am talking about this peratining to fitness let look at what those recommendations are. I would be considered a highly active person 🙂 (this blogging stuff is about the extent of my sitting throughout the day) I could (and probably should) step that up to about .66 according to the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. Making my daily needs about .85 grams.
That’s a lot of protein!
I could even go higher if I was actively trying to bulk up. But I’m not.
How do I get enough protein?
There are lots of different foods that are high in protein like nuts and deep leafy greens, but usually after a hard workout, I am looking for something quick and easy. I am usually starving and need to eat quickly.
This makes sardines one of my favorite go to snacks.
Sardines are like the perfect food. They have the fat, they have the protein and they go great with carbs! Seriously these little fishies are awesome. Totally packed with amazing flavor and so many great nutrients and they are simply loaded with protein at about 23 grams of protein in a tin. Since I have a hard time meeting my protein needs, this is great news since I can get a full serving of protein without having to cook anything.
Score!
Another fabulous way to get protein is duck eggs. This is another one of my go-to protein filled foods. Since we have laying ducks this is always something I have in large quantities at any given moment. While duck eggs aren’t a ton higher in protein than chicken eggs, they ARE higher with 9 grams of protein in one egg where chicken eggs have 6 grams. They are higher in everything else as well, meaning more omega-3’s, 6 times the vitamin D, 2 times the vitamin A and 2 times the cholesterol (and we are, of course, talking about the good cholesterol your body needs which helps lower the bad cholesterol). Plus duck eggs taste fabulous and ducks are just fun to have around 🙂 If you don’t know where to find duck eggs I recommend checking your local farmers market or health food store. Or just get some ducks!
One of my other go-to protein sources is hemp seeds. With 11 grams of protein per serving these are a wonderful way to include some extra protein in your meal. If you are a Costco shopper you likely have seen the hemp seeds they have there. I buy a big bag of them and then you can just sprinkle it on salad for a nice nutty sort of taste, I think they taste a bit like sesame seeds. I actually use these instead of a protein powder in my smoothies. That way I don’t have to think about all the nasty ingredients producers love to put in those powders and it keeps the cost way down. Have you seen how expensive the decent protein powders are? Goodness sakes. My favorite smoothie includes: coconut water, goat milk kefir (another fabulous way to get protein), frozen berries, banana, two large handfuls of spinach and/or kale (more protein!), and 3-4 tablespoons hemp seeds and it tastes amazing.
There you have it, my basic run down on protein and some ideas of how to incorporate it in your diet. How do you like to get protein into your diet?
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