It no secret that the amount of protein Americans consume on a daily basis is somewhat exorbitant. We eat egg sandwiches for breakfast, double quarter pounders for lunch, and roasted chicken or a steak for dinner. Meat is just the obvious place to find protein, but it is everywhere: dairy, breads, fish, meats, beans, grains, soy, nuts, and all the packaged items in between. While protein is a very useful food tool for weight loss, because it fills you up and keeps your feeling of satiety (or fullness) longer then carbohydrates, most people have no idea how much protein they need for their individual body.
In the hospital/health care setting we calculate grams of protein needed by a patient's body weight in kg.(Here is where you can feel free to play along) To find you weight in kg:
Take your weight in pounds/2.2 = weight in kg
For all healthy adults (read: healthy/normal weight, no kidney or liver disease, nervous system disorders, pregnant/lactating women or recent major surgery/trauma) the body needs 0.8 grams of protein per kg.
take weight in kg x 0.8 = grams of protein needed per day
Now how much protein are you eating? General rule of thumb is that 1 oz of meat has 7 grams of protein, so the 12 oz steak from the restaurant has 84 grams of protein (read: more then a full days protein for most people)
Comsuming more protein then your daily need is not detrimental to your health, unless you are eating 2-3grams of protein/kg per day on a regular basis. At that point it can start to be hard on your kidneys. Good news is - most people, especially women don't that point :)
to figure out daily intake: log what and how much you are eating - add up the grams of total protein for the day / your weight in kg = grams of protein/kg body weight eaten!
No comments:
Post a Comment