Which protein?

You may have wondered why a lot of people opt for a high protein diet;

Well, it satiates you, it helps build muscle, but there are many other benefits that you may not know about.

Protein is one of the Macronutrients needed for the body to function and maintain homeostasis, its main use is to build muscle as it's broken down into tiny amino-acids used as building blocks to nourish a muscle.

But did you know there are essential, and non-essential, amino acids?

Essential amino acids

Are amino acids that cannot be synthesized inside your body when food is digested, so food rich in essential amino acids are required to meeting a complete daily value

Non-essential amino acids

Are amino acids that can be synthesized inside your body, so given an example, a high carb diet with low protein, the body can convert the excess glucose into non-essential amino acids, the yield is low, but it can do it.

Which then begs the question, what sources of protein should you eat to get the essential amino acids?

Vegan diet

Well, it all depends on your diet preference, some people follow a vegan diet, which means they cannot eat any animal sourced protein, so they may opt for, Soy, Hemp, Quinoa, or Buckwheat, these are all complete proteins which contains all the essential amino acids

Non-vegan diet

But for someone that doesn’t follow any type of diet, they may opt for meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or dairy, for complete proteins.

Which should you choose?

It all depends on your preferences and allergens, I personally have shellfish seafood allergy, and I am lactose intolerant, so I opt for poultry, meat or fish, instead of shellfish seafood and soy, almond, or oat milk, instead of cow milk. But usually I personally go with the most cost-effective, and what I love to eat regularly;

Same source (Poultry)

Let me give an example: Chicken breast, and a chicken thigh, a 1 kg of chicken breast would equate to approximately 270g of protein, in the other hand 1 kg of chicken thighs would equate to 240g of protein, so I choose to eat chicken breasts, not just because of the difference in protein, but also the fat content differs, chicken thighs are more fatty, I prefer leaner meat.

Cost per gram of protein

Now let's talk about cost per gram, where I live 1 kg of chicken breast is $4.5, and 1 tray of eggs is $4.24, as mentioned previously 1 kg of chicken breasts is 270g of protein, and 1 tray of eggs which is 30 eggs, yields approximately 390g of protein; should you exclusively eat eggs then since it costs less per gram of protein? No, but you can mix and match, eggs for breakfast, chicken for lunch and dinner; and that is only an example, it all depends on your preference of what you prefer to eat in general.

How many grams of protein per day do I need?

Studies have shown that the least amount of grams needed per day for athletes is 1.4 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, the highest-gram per kilogram-benefit of protein consumption if you are an athlete is 2 grams of protein per kilogram, if you’re only the average consumer, 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight is enough, now the study mentioned some issues with research that the participants’ body fat percentages were different, so they have been consuming more proteins per lean body muscle than the other members, but I usually use an easy rule, simply eat 1gram of protein per kilogram, so if you are 80 kilograms, consume a total of 80 kilograms per day;

How frequent should you consume the necessary amount of protein?

Another study mentioned frequency of meals, it stated that 10 grams of protein per hour is the rate of body absorption and utilization of protein, if you eat more, you simply defecate it, but in one meal you may consume up to 40 grams of protein, which will be digested and utilized by the body in the next, 3 to 4 hours.

In conclusion, everyone has their own preferences when it comes to food, choose whichever complete proteins you prefer, there is a big variety for every diet, check the nutrition labels, weigh your food, and consume your specific gram per kg of body weight as protein depending on your activity level, and consume it in increments of at least 10 grams or most 40 grams per meal.

The most important thing at the end is to build a habit of adhering to a healthy diet.