The Power of Protein

Do you know roughly the amount of calories you tend to eat in a typical day? If we looked at desirable amounts of protein from this vantage point, it would compute to something like this...

If you take in around 2,000 calories a day and are aiming for 20% of those calories coming from protein, you would need approximately 100 grams of protein a day. If you were trying to get 15% of your calories from protein, the daily total would be 75 grams of protein. These are high amounts compared to the Dietary Reference Intakes for protein, but higher amounts of protein are being discussed as possibly beneficial for certain medical conditions (especially when the protein sources come from plants and lean and lowfat animal foods.)

[Keep in mind that the Dietary Reference Intake for protein is calculated using the guideline for adults of .8 grams of protein per kilogram body weight. For the average woman this translates to 46 grams per day and 56 grams per day for an adult man.]

Just so you can wrap your head around what this looks like, here are some numbers:

• 4 ounces roasted chicken breast without skin = 35 grams protein


• 4 ounces ground sirloin, broiled = 30 grams protein


• 4 ounces pork tenderloin, roasted = 25 grams protein


• 4 ounces salmon, broiled = 29 grams protein


• 1 cup nonfat milk = 8 grams protein


• 1 cup light vanilla soy milk = 6 grams protein


• 1 ounces reduced fat cheese = 7 grams protein


• 1 ounce soy cheese (mozzarella) = 6 grams protein


• 1/2 cup of beans = about 7 grams protein


• 1/2 cup fresh green soybeans = 16 grams protein


• 3 ounces extra firm tofu = 8 grams protein


• 2 egg whites (1/4 cup egg substitute) = 7 grams protein


• 6 ounces yogurt = 5 grams protein


• 1 cup of broccoli = 4 grams protein


• 3/4 cup whole grain cereal = approx. 6 grams protein

Let's do a little math here.

STEP #1 - If you have a couple servings of lowfat dairy products a day (say a cup of nonfat milk and a serving of yogurt), you will get a total of 13 grams of protein.

STEP #2 - Then let’s say you have 3 servings of whole grains (a recommendation from various sources) by eating 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 1/2 cup of oats; that adds a total of 15 grams of protein.

STEP #3 - Add a cup of dark green leafy vegetables like broccoli and you've got 4 more grams of protein.

TOTAL: 32 grams protein

You now have 32 grams of protein just by choosing some of the foods that you should be including for other nutritional reasons (like getting fiber and antioxidants and calcium in your diet)!

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