Why Protein Is Important
By Elizabeth Leppart, MS, LN
June 3, 2024
If you've been with us for awhile you know that we talk about balancing your real food meals with the big three: protein, fat, carbohydrates (of the veggie and fruit variety!). Today, we'd like to highlight protein (of the big three!).
In this article, we'll cover why protein is important, how much protein is ideal for health goals like weight loss and healthy body tissues, and ideas for how to incorporate higher protein intake into a balanced diet.
Why Is Dietary Protein An Essential Macronutrient?
Quality dietary protein intake is important for a lot of our bodily functions: metabolism, energy, feel-good-moods, neurotransmitter production, tissue and muscle growth, just to name a few. Here's a list of why getting enough protein in your daily healthy diet is key:
- Protein makes up all of the tissues in our body!
- It stimulates metabolism by up to 30% for several hours.
- It helps you feel satisfied and helps prevent cravings.
- Protein supports our ability to move our bodies and prevent injury by supporting our bone health, tendons, and ligaments.
- It's essential for a healthy immune system.
- It helps the body build muscle mass and skeletal muscle, which in turn helps support metabolism and a healthy body weight.
- Protein is necessary to support feel-good neurotransmitters for a healthy brain.
- Paired with healthy carbohydrates and fat, it keeps our blood sugar stable for good energy and a healthy metabolism.
How Much Protein Is Ideal?
Total protein intake for women, we recommend 4-6 ounces of protein at each meal and 2-3 ounces at snacks. If you like to track in grams, that would be 28-42 grams of protein at meals and 14-21 grams of protein at snacks.
For men, we recommend 5-6 ounces of protein at each meal and 2-3 ounces at snacks.
One great way to eyeball portion sizes for meals is to use the palm of your hand as a guide. If you use the palm of your hand as a visual guide, a meal might look like two palms of meat or fish for your protein requirements. Even better to use a food scale for accuracy!
That might seem like a lot, especially if you're used to getting just a smattering of chicken on your salad or in your pasta meat sauce.
The good news is there are a variety of animal protein foods to choose from: chicken, fish, turkey, lamb, grass-fed beef, eggs, pork, protein powder. These animal proteins can be consumed in a variety of ways: nitrate free meat sticks, ground meat, steaks, scrambles or quiches, nitrate-free or uncured bacon (yes you can have bacon!), roasts in your slow cooker, and a plethora of one pot dishes.
Healthy Sources Of Protein Rich Foods
Proteins are long chains of amino acids and are the building blocks for the many different functions in the body that daily protein intake supports. We need to get these essential amino acids from the foods we eat and the foods that contain all nine essential amino acids are called complete proteins.
The best sources of all nine amino acids are found in animal sources. Here is a list of these types of proteins - you'll notice this list is all from animal sources:
- Beef
- Poultry
- Fish
- Eggs
- Dairy products, if tolerated
There are a few proteins that come from plant proteins that have the essential amino acids and are also considered complete proteins. We don’t recommend using these as your main source of dietary protein, which we’ll explain shortly:
- Soy
- Quinoa
- Buckwheat
Foods that contain some but not all of the essential amino acids are called incomplete proteins. These protein foods include:
- Nuts and seeds
- Beans
- Most whole grains
The Difference Between Animal Protein vs. Plant Protein
While there are amino acids in plant proteins (like soy, quinoa, and nuts and seeds) the bioavailability of these plant proteins isn't as strong as animal proteins, meaning that it's harder for the body to use it. The high fiber in these foods prevents a lot of the protein from being absorbed. The fiber binds to some of the proteins and gets expelled rather than absorbed. Often you'll need to eat larger quantities of these plant proteins to get the required grams, but because they also work in the body like carbohydrates, they can also raise blood sugar.
For example, because beans and whole grains are incomplete proteins to get a compete protein in a meal you'd need to combine a couple sources together. To create all nine essential amino acids, you could combine rice and beans. About one cup of rice and beans contains roughly 12 grams of protein. It also contains 10 grams of fiber, but it also has about 50 grams of carbohydrate give or take.
Unfortunately that amount of carbohydrate is going to raise the blood sugar, which can cause other metabolic health issues. If you can, center your protein intake around animal protein and the plant sources of protein you add to your meal for balance (whole grains and veggies for carbs) will be bonus protein in your diet.
If you do follow a vegetarian diet or vegan diet, you need to include several different types of these incomplete proteins to ensure that you're making complete proteins so that your body is getting all nine of the essential amino acids. Our dietitians and nutritionists can help you make a plan if you need help navigating the dietary guidelines of adequate protein.
A Day Of Protein Rich Foods
If you're not used to getting 3-5 oz of animal protein at your meals, this recommendation might feel like a really high protein diet. One suggestion is to start with one meal or snack to focus on at a time and work to get more protein in for that meal or snack.
For ideas, here's a look at what I eat in a day to hit enough protein for my body's needs:
Breakfast: Easy Breakfast Hash: 3-4oz breakfast sausage, 1-2 cups frozen veggies, cooked in 1T butter
Lunch: Simple Salad: 4 oz rotisserie chicken over 2 cups salad greens + ½ sliced apple, 2T chopped pecans + 1T olive oil dressing
Afternoon Snack: Peanut Butter protein balls with protein powder
RECIPE: Peanut Butter Protein Balls
Dinner: Egg Roll in a Bowl: 4oz pork with slivered almonds + sesame oil + coleslaw cabbage mix
RECIPE: Egg Roll in a Bowl Recipe
Bedtime Snack: ½ cup fresh berries + 2T heavy cream or 1/3 cup canned coconut milk for dairy free
As you can see, I've also included in whole food carbohydrates and healthy fats to give you a picture of a healthy balanced diet. Some of the foods may contain plant proteins which are a healthy way to get more protein into meals and snacks.
How To Get More Protein In Your Diet
We know that life is busy for many of our clients. In fact, one of our Dishing Up Nutrition listeners posed the question on how to get more protein into their daily healthy diet... something other than eggs. My dietitian colleague Brandy Buro gave a great list of options in our episode of Ask a Nutritionist called How To Get More Protein and I've summarized this list here for you:
- High-Quality Meat Sticks or Jerky: Look for nitrate-free, sugar-free, grass-fed, and pasture-raised options.
- High-Quality Deli Meat: We recommend nitrate-free, organic, and pasture-raised deli meat if you can find it.
- Canned Fish: Wild-caught salmon, tuna, or sardines are great options to store in the pantry to always have on hand when in a pinch.
- Quality Rotisserie Chicken: A quick protein option to pick up from the store for a lunch or dinner. Look for organic rotisserie chicken when you can.
- Full-Fat Dairy: if you can tolerate dairy, full-fat plain yogurt or cottage cheese are great, quick additions to meals or snacks. Add fruit, nuts and seeds, or veggies (if you like your cottage cheese savory!) to make it balanced.
- Protein Powders: Choose options with a short ingredients list and without added sugar or artificial sweeteners. We like NutriKey's whey protein and paleo protein powders.
- Bone Broth: Homemade or high-quality store-bought options are great for sipping or added to any recipe that calls for water (think soups, stews, whole grains like quinoa or rice). Make your own from this recipe on our website.
Do you learn better listening to a podcast episode? Listen to this topic discussed on our Ask A Nutritionist Podcast - How To Get More Protein.
Why We Like Protein Shakes
Like most people, our days get busy with work, family, and other commitments. So sometimes it's nice to rely on a quick and easy protein shake to balance blood sugar and have the energy to get through the day.
A balanced protein shake gets all of the big three (protein, fat, carbs!) in all at once in a delish combination that even kids will enjoy. You can drink one just about anywhere (even put it in a coffee mug during those Zoom meetings), they're easy to make, they easily last in the fridge for a few days if you make a big batch, and you can switch up the flavors to keep it interesting!
Learn more: Ten Easy Smoothie Recipes
Our Favorite Protein Foods Recipes
Banana Muffins Recipe
Sometimes you just need a little baked good for breakfast, for an after-school snack, or to share with coworkers in the office. These gluten free banana muffins are packed with protein and made without any refined sugars. It's a great way to use up those spotted bananas on the counter and a fun way to sneak in some protein.
Get the Banana Muffin Recipe
Turkey Breakfast Sausage Recipe
If you don't want to eat 5 - 6 eggs to get enough protein at breakfast, add in a turkey breakfast sausage to boost how much protein you get to start the day. These are easily made in bulk and reheated during the week. Quick tip: bake them on sheet pans and mix up the seasonings so you have variety.
Get the Turkey Breakfast Sausage Recipe
Instant Pot Garlic Herb Chicken Recipe
For batch cooking protein, let your appliances do the work for you! Toss these chicken breasts or thighs into your Instant Pot or slow cooker. The garlic and Italian herb blend is neutral enough you can add the shredded chicken to salads, soups, eggs, chicken salad, or eaten as is. For variety, use this recipe as a template and add your own spice blends, like a taco or BBQ seasoning.
Get the Instant Pot Garlic Herb Chicken Recipe
Wild Rice Meatballs Recipe
These are a classic favorite among staff and clients because they are easy to whip up in a huge double or triple batch to freeze and have on hand for either a meal or snack. Quick tip: buy pre-cooked wild rice to speed up the steps if you're crunched for time.
Get the Wild Rice Meatball Recipe
Peanut Butter Protein Balls Recipe
An easy, no bake recipe for that quick snack, these protein balls are a hit with the kiddos! Also a great option if you need a little something in the morning and aren't hungry for breakfast right away.
Get the Peanut Butter Protein Balls Recipe
A Healthy Diet Includes Protein
To summarize why dietary protein is important for the human body, protein is one of the essential macronutrients that's needed for a variety of bodily functions including energy, metabolism, healthy body tissues, muscle growth, good moods, a stronger immune system, and weight loss. The essential amino acids in dietary protein provides the building blocks for all of these essential functions.
As real food nutrition educators, we recommend a getting a variety of animal proteins foods to create your balanced diet. High quality protein powders can be a great supplement to your sources of protein and are a great addition for getting all of your protein needs met.
If you need more ideas or a customized approach to getting in all the protein, schedule an appointment with one of our dietitians and nutritionists or take a class! We are here to help you add protein in your diet so you can live your best life!
Online Class: 5 Steps To Boost Metabolism
Learn how to improve your metabolism through the foods you eat in this online class.
Learn More: 5 Steps To Boost Metabolism
If you'd like to dive into more of the protein discussion (or looking for more ways to use it), check out these resources:
LISTEN: Lose Body Fat & Gain Muscle In Perimenopause - hint: quality protein!
READ: Why Women Need Protein For Weight Loss
LISTEN: Protein Power For Weight Loss
