Let's talk Protein!
You’ve got a lot on your plate when it comes to maintaining a healthy diet. You know it’s important to watch your sugar intake, get your vitamins and limit processed food. Do you really need to stress about whether you’re eating complete proteins on top of it?
If you’re eating a versatile, healthy diet, the short answer is: Probably not 🤩
But protein is important. Our bodies need protein to form muscle, transport nutrients, and build and repair tissue. So, it’s critical you get enough. But whether it comes from complete sources or incomplete sources isn’t as big of a deal, as long as you’re eating a range of protein-filled foods.
Today, I’d like to share with you how to make sure you understand what a complete and incomplete protein is, and how to make sure you get your fill of protein from a range of foods. 🤩
Before we get started, I hope you found last week’s newsletter “Is snacking bad?” helpful. If you missed it, you can use this link, Here.
Okay, let’s dive into Proteins and why they are important….
🤩Your body makes 11 of the 20 necessary amino acids that your body needs to function properly. Eating complete and incomplete proteins is how you get the other 9 essential proteins for your body to function properly.
Viewing a nutrition label, it might appear that protein is simply protein, since that’s the only way it’s ever listed. But there’s a difference between incomplete proteins and complete proteins.
Proteins consist of amino acids, each of which can appear in food in varying quantities — or not at all. That can make it hard to know if you’re really getting the protein you need.
One way to make eating simpler is to consume complete protein sources, which contain the essential amino acids in the required quantities.
But, what is a “Complete” protein and an “Incomplete” protein, and why is it important to us?
What Is a Complete Protein?
There are 20 total amino acids that comprise protein in the body, but only nine of these are considered essential. An essential amino acid is one that the body can’t make on its own, and therefore must get from food.
A complete protein is one that has all nine essential amino acids in the amounts needed. They include phenylalanine, valine, threonine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine, lysine, and histidine.
The simplest way to consume a complete protein is to choose animal sources like meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy.
These foods contain what is called high biological value protein, which refers to how efficiently a protein can be utilized by the body. Those containing the greatest supplies of essential amino acids score highest.
That doesn’t mean you can’t get all your amino acids on a vegetarian or vegan diet. For example, soy is a complete protein, and there are ways to combine other vegan foods to get everything you need.
By eating a variety of plant foods throughout the day, you can get all your essential amino acids.
COMPLETE PROTEIN FOODS
Below is a quick review of the quality and quantity of protein found in different food groups.
Animal proteins:
Meat, poultry, and seafood: These have the highest amounts of complete protein per serving of any whole food. This protein is well absorbed and utilized by the body.
Beef (22 g per 3-oz. serving, ground, 85 percent lean, broiled)
Chicken (24 g per 3-oz. serving, breast, roasted)
Turkey (26 g per 3-oz. serving, breast, roasted)
Pork (23 g per 3-oz. serving, loin, broiled)
Duck (23 g per 3-oz. serving, breast, broiled)
Salmon (22 g per 3-oz. serving, cooked)
Tilapia (23 g per 3-oz. serving, cooked)
Swordfish (20 g per 3-oz. serving, cooked)
Trout (23 g per 3-oz. serving, cooked)
Shrimp (20 g per 3-oz. serving, cooked)
Crab (16 g per 3-oz. serving, steamed)
Scallops (17 g per 3-oz. serving, steamed)
Tuna (22 g per 3-oz. serving, canned)
Sardines (21 g per 3-oz. serving, canned)
Eggs (6 g each): While they don’t contain as much protein per serving as meat, poultry, or fish, eggs are among the highest in biological value.
Plant proteins:
Soybeans (22g per cup, cooked): Soy is the only food in the plant kingdom that’s considered a complete protein.
Whole sources of soy (like tofu, edamame, tempeh and miso) are also great COMPLETE protein sources.
INCOMPLETE PROTEINS
With the exception of soybeans, foods from the plant kingdom are considered incomplete sources of protein as they are typically limited in one essential amino acid or another.
That’s where combining foods is vital, to ensure that you get all the essentials! Below is a list of some plant foods with their limiting essential amino acid and protein content.
Legumes: Legumes include beans, peas, and lentils. They are high in lysine but limited in methionine.
Many people are surprised to learn just how nutritious legumes are. They provide fiber, protein, carbohydrate, B vitamins, iron, copper, magnesium, manganese, zinc, and phosphorous. Legumes are naturally low in fat, are practically free of saturated fat, and because they are plant foods, they are cholesterol free as well. Legumes also have a low glycemic index, generally ranging between 10 and 40.
Legumes are an integral part of many healthy eating patterns, including the Mediterranean style of eating, vegetarian and vegan diets, and lower-glycemic-index (GI) diets. Along with being a highly nutritious food, evidence shows that legumes can play an important role in the prevention and management of a number of health conditions (read more on PubMed, Here).
Soybeans (22 g per cup, cooked)
Lentils (18 g per cup, cooked)
White beans (16 g per cup, cooked)
Split peas (16 g per cup, cooked)
Black beans (15 g per cup, cooked)
Seeds: While high in other amino acids, many seeds are limited in lysine.
Pumpkin seeds (9 g per ounce)
Sunflower seeds (5.5 g per ounce)
Chia seeds (5 g per ounce)
Hemp seeds (9 g per ounce)
Buckwheat (4 g per ounce)
Grains: Whole grains provide protein, carbs, and fiber, but like seeds (and nuts), most are high in methionine and tend to be lower in lysine.
Kamut (10 g per cup, cooked)
Quinoa (8 g per cup, cooked)
Amaranth (9 g per cup, cooked)
Teff (10 g per cup, cooked)
Wild rice (7 g per cup, cooked)
Cooked vegetables:
5 g in 1 cup spinach
4 g in 1 cup Brussels sprouts
2 g in 1 cup broccoli
COMBINE YOUR PROTEINS
You don’t need to eat complete proteins at every meal to get the body-boosting effects. We know our bodies are smart enough to do this on their own as long as we eat complementary protein sources throughout the day (or even over 2 to 3 days!).
So, if your diet skews more veggie and less meat, no sweat. Even though vegetarian sources of protein are more likely to be incomplete proteins, mixing and matching those protein sources can get you all the amino acids your body needs.
For people who don’t eat much meat, or no meat at all, a wide variety of plant foods such as legumes, lentils, nuts, seeds and whole grains on a daily basis will allow for you to get the complete proteins you need. These foods also provide additional benefits in the form of vitamins and minerals.
The classic vegan combo that most of us are familiar with is rice and beans.
While neither is complete on its own, together they provide all nine essential amino acids at the levels needed to be considered complete, and more often than not tons of heart-healthy fiber.
But there are plenty of other delicious and creative combinations you can try.
One good rule of thumb to keep in mind is to try and mix legumes with grains, such as hummus and pita, or to add quinoa and beans to your salad.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN DO I NEED?
We’ve all heard that protein is the building block of muscle. The question is, how much protein should you be eating to support the hard work you put in at the gym?
On the one hand, we have the RDA (Recommended Dietary Allowance) from the National Institute of Medicine at 0.36 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight per day, which amounts to 43 grams per day for someone weighing 120 pounds, 54 grams daily if you weigh 150 pounds and 72 grams per day if you weigh 200 pounds. But protein needs vary depending on age, activity level and overall health.
On the other hand, we have muscle and fitness magazines advocating up to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight, which amounts to 360 grams per day for a 180 pound individual. Not surprisingly, you’d have a hard time consuming that much protein without buying the supplements advertised in said magazines. Things that make you go hmm…
So who’s right? Or is the answer somewhere in the middle?
Well, every individual is different. Not the answer you were looking for, huh?
The tough part is that the amount of protein needed can vary depending on the individual. And it’s not always easy to measure how much protein we're getting.
When you eat that protein also matters — the protein your body needs must be spread throughout the day. We’re able to store certain nutrients, but we can't do the same thing with protein. Our bodies can only use so much protein in a sitting and a day.
The amount of protein to eat at each sitting isn’t the same for everyone. I recommend testing your glucose levels for a few weeks. It’s really quite easy, and you’ll be amazed at the information you’ll learn about your own personal body! I test my glucose levels about twice a year to see how my body is changing and how I need to tweak my protein and sugar intake.
What happens if you don’t eat enough protein?
The recommended amount of daily protein is a good guide for most healthy people. Eating that amount, however, doesn’t always mean you’re getting what you need.
Age is a perfect example. Our bodies don’t t use protein as efficiently to build and maintain muscle as we age. If we give a teenager 4 ounces of protein, they’ll be more efficient at building muscle with that protein than someone who’s 50, 60 and older. The recommended amount is really the absolute minimum we need to not fall into a deficient state.
The problem is that you won’t necessarily notice early signs that your protein intake is low. If it continues to be low for a long time, though, you may see signs of deficiency — which could have serious health effects.
Signs of a protein deficiency:
Common signs that your body is extremely low on protein include:
Brittle hair and nails, often the first sign of deficiency
Feeling weak or hungry, since protein supplies energy and satisfies the appetite
Getting sick often without protein to boost the immune system
Mood changes or trouble thinking due to fluctuating blood sugar and protein’s effect on the brain’s neurotransmitters (which regulate mood)
Muscle weakness, since amino acids are essential for building muscle mass
Stress fractures when bone tissue doesn’t have the protein it needs
Unsure how many grams of protein are in your food? I recommend using your hand as a guide. An appropriate serving of protein is generally about the size of the palm of your hand.
And if you’re worried you’re not getting enough? Try mixing your smoothie with a little protein powder.
Protein powders usually use combinations of hemp seed protein, pea protein and rice protein, which have higher percentages of all the amino acids we need. (See the front desk for the protein powder I suggest.)
THE BOTTOM LINE
“I find that protein wakes up my brain and gets me ready for the rest of my day.”
“Biology is the most powerful technology ever created. DNA is software, protein are hardware, cells are factories.”
“Protein is crucial to supplying muscle tissue with the building blocks it needs for its growth.“
Whether you are a vegetarian, vegan or carnivore……
Protein is important. Our bodies need protein to form muscle, transport nutrients, and build and repair tissue.
So, it’s critical you get enough. But whether it comes from complete sources or incomplete sources isn’t as big of a deal, as long as you’re eating a range of protein-filled foods.
The amount of protein to eat at each sitting isn’t the same for everyone. I recommend testing your glucose levels for a few weeks. It’s really quite easy, and you’ll be amazed at the information you’ll learn about your own personal body! I test my glucose levels about twice a year to see how my body is changing and how I need to tweak my protein and sugar intake.
If you are concerned that you may not be getting enough protein, we can run blood tests for additional evaluation. We’ll use the results with other information about your health, lifestyle and diet to determine overall nutritional status.
I hope you’ve found today’s newsletter informative!
Make an appointment and come talk with us if you are having doubts or questions about your family’s health. We will give you the honest truth, and the clinical research that supports it.
To make an appointment with me use this link: HERE.
Or, you can always give me a call at (973) 210-3838
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