Protein

A balanced nutrition is achieved by having the right combination of the different food components: protein, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. Of these components, the protein should amount to about 15%-20% of the total intake of calories.

The protein has a special and very important role among the food components. About 16% of our body weight is due to protein: Our muscles, hair, skin and connective tissues are mainly made of protein. Protein is needed to enable the growth of cells and revive the dead tissues in our body. It is also needed for the making of hormones and other serums required by our body.

Proteins are made of amino acids. There are 9 types of amino acids which our body needs but cannot produce by itself, and hence our intake of protein is very important to our body building. The best source of protein, which can give us all these 9 missing amino acids, is food from animals: Meat, milk, eggs etc. The white part of the eggs is especially healthy, as it contains the full protein needed for our body. Other protein can be found in plants, though when eating vegetarian food it is difficult to get all the missing 9 amino acids from one source, and we have to combine different plants to get all the needed amino acids.

The exact requirement of protein varies from person to person. It depends on different factors such as the weight of the body, gender, age, the physical condition of our body and our activity level. The standard method used by nutritionists to estimate how much protein we need daily is to multiply the body weight in kilograms by 0.8, or our weight in pounds by 0.37. The result is the number of grams of protein that is our minimum daily requirement. E.G. if a person weighs 80 Kg (that’s about 176 lbs), he will need an intake of 64gr of protein daily. As said before, this is only an average value, as the requirement of an athlete or a body builder are greater than those of a regular person, as are the requirements of a person who is sick and lacks some of the essentials needed for a fit body.

Because of the importance of the protein intake, people who are going on a diet and eating fewer calories should be still taking the same amount of calories daily – even if it amounts to more than the 20% of the calorie intake mentioned earlier. Unlike fat and glucose, our body has little capacity to store protein. If we do not eat enough protein our body will start breaking down our muscles for its need.