93 | The Importance of Protein

Protein is one of the macro-nutrients that your body needs to not only survive but thrive. It is not only imperative for muscle growth but also for bones, teeth, hair and nails. It contains twenty-two amino acids that your body uses to make muscle and bones, and hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters, and antibodies. It is imperative for repairing the wear and tear of the body.


Are you getting enough protein?
0:04

What is protein and why is it important?
1:16

Protein and gut health.
3:16

Vegan vs vegetarian protein.
6:31

How many grams of protein should we be eating per day?
8:20

Increase protein when your child needs it.
9:45

Protein powders and stomach issues.
11:45

Transcript

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Welcome to raising healthy humans, a podcast created for busy moms where you can easily find info on health and wellness for your family. Join Courtney, a health coach movement and posture specialist and founder of form fit, and active and supportive community where she helps busy moms move more here on raising healthy humans podcast. Courtney shares her personal life experiences, training, knowledge and conversations with other health and wellness experts. So you can raise healthy humans. Question for you today is are you getting enough protein? Are you mama and your children getting enough protein. So when I speak with you today about protein, I want you to understand that anything I'm saying about you is also for your children. And when I mentioned children, it's six and above, your younger children might be different, you'll need to look at nutritional guidelines or speak to their doctor about that information. But six and above, we all kind of go based on this basic weight scale. So protein is one of those macro needed nutrients that your body needs to not only survive, but thrive. And many of us when we think of protein we think of muscle building. But it is not just that it is imperative for Yes, muscle growth. Also for your bones, your teeth, your hair, your nails. It contains 22 amino classes that your body uses to make muscle and bones. hormones such as dopamine, enzymes, neurotransmitters and antibodies is imperative for repairing the wear and tear of the body. Protein is extremely important to your overall health, your brain health, who your immune health, all of these things imperative for it also helps you to feel satiated longer. So those of you who are noticing that you're snacking a lot throughout the day, or that after you eat a meal, you're hungry again, I want you to go back and I want you to look at how much protein you've eaten thought think about how much protein did I eat today. Because usually what will happen is if you are not eating the recommended amount of protein or higher, you are going to be hungrier earlier. The other thing that protein helps with is that blood sugar stabilization, we want to keep it stable throughout the day. We don't want those insulin spikes, because what happens when we deal with those insulin spikes, we've got that rollercoaster ride of emotions, hunger, tiredness, all of that. So we want to work on trying to keep our blood sugar nice and stable, just kind of humming along throughout the day. And that's where protein comes in. If you are one, I've had a few people that I've spoken to, when I start to talk about their diet, they say that they struggle to eat their protein because it just makes their belly hurt. So here's the thing. You may be dealing with digestive issues, that health issues, and struggling with protein assimilation. So we've got to heal that gut so that we can help our gut be able to handle the foods that we need. Protein is imperative, we know that. So we need to make sure our gut is healthy and it can digest and assimilate the protein. So it gets out it pushes out to the areas it needs. It pushes out to the nails. I'm speaking very basic for you here, but you know that it's going into the muscles, it's going into the bones, all of that. One thing to pay attention to. If you are gassy, and you got the sulfur smell, that usually means that you've eaten too much protein, or that your body is not assimilating it properly. That's getting down into the intestines. So we need to make sure that we are digesting things properly. So head back to Episode 85 where I talk about eat more vegetables for gut health. I go into gut health a little bit more. The other thing that I want you to practice is slowing down your breathing. When you sit down to eat, so that your body knows it's going into a rest and digest phase, who your food more thoroughly. I've heard to try to go for 20 fights. To start, that doesn't mean you count every bite. But if you start like the first three bites, you work towards 20 bites, it will help you to, to longer, you may notice that you want to swallow that first bite within five or six bites, push through to the 20 for those first few bytes, and then after that, you should get to about 1012, depending we find four or five is too low, 20s probably too high. So just try to work through that. And the only reason I stopped is 20 is not probably too high, that's probably what we should be doing. But most of us won't, so that's okay. But we want to at least get these enzymes working in our mouth. You know, getting everything working so that it goes when you swallow, those enzymes go into the belly, they start working on digesting the food more properly. Another thing that I hear from people is they're vegetarians, which is fine. I want to make sure you understand though, that if you are a vegetarian, you need to make sure that you are still getting all of the nine not all of acids, there are nine essential amino acids, we want to make sure you are getting those nine essential amino acids each day into your diet. And if you are vegetarian, it is much more difficult to get there it is not impossible, it is more difficult, because a animal based protein has the nine essential amino acids. Vegetarian, you need to look at grains, beans, nuts, and seeds. So not just any one of those, you have to do your beans and grains, and then also your nuts and seeds, because they each contain some of the amino acids. So you've got to combine them, make sure that you're eating those. And the reason I'm saying this is if you are not getting those on a daily basis, your body does not know what to do with the protein, it's not going to use the protein effectively that you did eat in that day. So you have to get those nine essential amino acids for your body to use the protein effectively. I highly encourage you if you are a vegetarian, children, if they are practicing being vegan or vegetarian, you work with a nutritionist, you don't have to for a lifetime, you do to understand what you need to ensure that you're getting those essential amino acids so that you are thriving, especially for your children as they're growing. Okay, so how many grams of protein should we be eating at a day? Based on the nutritional guidelines, it's like a little bit less than half a gram per pound. So what I would recommend is just going up to half a gram per pound, I'm saying Am I saying this correctly. So for every pound, pass that and that's how many grams if you're 150 pounds, you should be having 75 grams protein in a day. So that's that's a that's a good amount. You get 20 in the morning, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And then you've got an extra 15 that you can get either as a snack, that will help the other way you could do it is go 25 to 30 grams, and that is for nutrient to keep you from nutritional deficiencies. Okay, that was the point. It's like point three, six grams. So that's for nutritional deficiencies. So we want to not just survive, we want to thrive. So half pound or a little bit more, I'm sorry, a half a gram or a little bit more at each meal. So I recommend at least 20 grams 20 to 30 grams at each meal to help. And as we get older, it becomes even more important to get that protein into the diet. The other thing is, this is the same for your children six and above. But if your children are dealing with a growth spurt if they are in strenuous activities, strenuous sports If they have broken a bone dealt with any sort of injury, like an ankle sprain or things like that, or if they've dealt with sickness, co folds, flus things like that, you want to increase their protein during those times they need more protein, because we're working on healing and repairing the body. If you notice a sign to kind of help, you know, if you may be struggling with a protein deficiency, get your nails are the weak, are they strong? What's your hair? Like? Is it weak, brittle? Or is it looking beautiful, luxurious, long, strong? All of those things. How are you dealing? Are you dealing with lots of illness, or getting sick all the time, every bug that comes around, you're getting it, maybe a protein deficiency. So three of the top protein sources, and I'll give you a little bit more than three of them, but the top three proteins based on how well the body uses the individual amino acid components, whey protein, so I just want to make sure you understand. So whey protein is not just from cows, whey protein is also from breast milk. That is the main protein in human milk. Okay. So whey protein is the best way for us to get the individual amino components of protein into the body. It's how the body absorbs it easily. We, as you get older, obviously, we go for whey protein. Now there are a few people who mentioned that they deal with some stomach issues when they drink whey protein. Again, I would go back to heal your gut. Make sure that you are doing the things to support your digestive system. Support your gut to ensure that you're able to assimilate the protein but one protein that I love. If you're thinking of protein powders is pro delicious. The reason I love pro delicious one is clean. It's New Zealand. Why do I keep saying New Zealand fed New Zealand cows, they are grass fed from New Zealand. They are their product is very clean. If you are looking for something with very few ingredients this this is it. I have tried numerous protein powders and they are all filled with lots of it. Not even all bad things just a ton of ingredients. This I like it's whey protein. It's either if you're drinking or I'm sorry if you're having the strawberry or chocolate it's freeze dried strawberries or cocoa powder, batch I believe cocoa powder and then some stevia and the stevia does not leave that laughter taste I do not notice it. So three ingredients in their strawberry and in their chocolate. And then they also they do not have a vanilla just so you know, they do have a natural, no flavor. And I like that one because I can add it into cakes into muffins. I even have started adding it into my kids yogurt in the morning if they're having yogurt. I don't do obviously a whole scoop. That would be a lot, but I do try to get about a tablespoon in I would start small we started with a teaspoon. See if they noticed it. If they didn't notice it, I added a little bit more. We're up to a tablespoon. That's probably all I'm going to do for them. But that just gives them a little bit more protein in their yogurt in the morning. So whey protein, eggs is the second one fish is the third one. I already know what you're thinking because I think it to my kids don't eat fish wants you to go back to Episode 89. To hear from Siena of Siena C. T is her family. Fish fisherman's, and they are they fish wild Alaskan salmon and she is providing information on how you can get your children to start eating fish. I would highly encourage you to try her fish. Great information to listen to the podcast. Great product. The product is excellent. I don't know if I've ever had a salmon that tasted so good. So definitely recommend you also try them out it is a little bit more expensive, but always know, you know better quality is you're going to you're going to pay for it. So I always like to think that I'm paying for it in the food that I eat, rather than at the doctor's office. So that's my way of thinking. With all of that. I hope this information helps you. I encourage you to try to work through eating protein, healthier proteins, if you have questions about what type of protein you know, theory, there's meat, always look for organic grass fed if you can afford it. If not, you just want to work towards eating cleaner products. We all have to start somewhere. The other thing I want to make sure that you understand is I am not here saying no carbs. I am not here saying no sugar. Although I do think low sugar but meaning no natural sugars like fruits and vegetables. I do not believe in a specific diet. I encourage you to eat all of your Mac macronutrients. I do not feel like you need to focus on any one specifically. I just want to make sure that you're getting everything in that you need. That you're also supporting your children don't create a situation where they're eating a specific diet help them to make smart choices for longevity. What I'm hearing is so disappointing. Our I believe they said 93% of Americans are not metabolically healthy. This is terrifying. As most of our illnesses come from metabolic health. I encourage you to work on helping your family eat healthier, less processed foods, less processed garbage, silver. Eat more healthy foods. Eat more healthy protein, eat poor, more healthy fats. Eat more grains, eat more nuts, seeds, fruits and vegetables. I will get off my tangent here. I hope let this provide you information helps to support you. If you have questions, feel free to reach out to me. I'm here to help. If I don't have the answers, I will always help you find them or find someone to help you as well. I hope you all have a wonderful day and make sure to keep moving thanks for taking the time out of your day to listen to our podcast. We hope you found this information valuable and can incorporate it into your family's life. Make sure to check out our show notes for all the important links available. Come join us on Facebook and moms raising healthy humans community page. Also please check out our wide range of memberships, family monthly focus ideas, challenges, live events and on demand and live workouts, meal plans and so much more head to form fit online.com And as always keep moving