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Daily Protein Intake
How much protein do you really need? Not nearly as much as you think. In fact, for most women it’s only 5 to 6 ounces a day, most men only 6 to 7 ounces.
If you’re sedentary you should eat towards the lower end of the range, if you’re very active you should eat at the higher end of the range. Sources of protein include meats, chicken, poultry and fish as well as nuts, dairy products and beans.
The fitness industry has been hawking protein powders and elixirs for years. There are dozens of high protein diets out there such as “The Zone” and “The South Beach Diet.”
However the RDA guidelines are clear. Most people probably cover their protein needs with the sandwich they have for lunch. In fact, the RDA states most Americans exceed their protein needs on average by 50% every day.
To find out your specific protein and other daily nutritional needs go to the My Pyramid site and type in your height, weight and gender.
I am a fan of Flexitarian eating. What the book suggests is that you eat a minimum of two vegetarian meals per week. Once you realize how little protein you need to stay healthy it might make even more sense to give it a try.
I would love your feedback on this, let me know if you were surprised by how much you needed.
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5-6 ounces?! It’s actually much, much less than that (unless you’re very large and train competitively). 5-6 ounces is a very large amount of protein.
…Unless you mean that not as pure protein but as e.g. meat or something, but that wouldn’t make much sense, because different sources of protein contain different amounts of it.
There are four types of “food” that go into our body, carbohydrates, protein, fat and alcohol. Carbohydrates and protein each have 4 calories per gram, fat has 9 calories per gram and alcohol has 7.
By protein I mean any protein source, soy, dairy products, eggs, as well as chicken, meat and fish. Hope that helps to clarify. :-)