A common thought that comes to mind when people talk about protein is that of large, muscular men, sweating it out in the gym for the purposes of ‘getting big’. While this is somewhat true, protein is important for so many other reasons.

Protein makes up the building blocks of your body. Almost much every cell, tissue and organ is made up of protein – muscles, bones, skin, connective tissues, enzymes and so much more.

When it comes to food, protein is one of the 3 main macro (meaning large) nutrients. These are carbohydrate, fat and protein and the body needs all three to function in good health.

If you recall a previous article of mine – Food Fat Burners – I talked about 3 steps to creating a healthy meal that helps the body burn fat and maintain a healthy weight.

One of those steps was the inclusion of muscle building protein and I’d like to expand on that in today’s post.

The maintenance of a healthy weight is dependent on energy balance. The energy we consume through food must match the energy we expend through daily activity. Check out my post Weight Loss 101 – Energy Balance for further explanation.

In a culture that revolves around food, maximising the amount of energy that our body burns is a really important factor in weight maintenance. The problem is that our food crazed culture is also extremely sedentary and because we drive cars, sit in offices all day and then on the couch all night we can find that weight gain occurs very easily.

Sufficient protein in your diet can do a number of things to help combat this weight gain commonly experienced in adulthood.

1. Protein helps build muscle.

Don’t worry, you’re not going to become massive like a body builder. Women’s muscles aren’t bulky like a mans, but when you engage in regular weight bearing exercise coupled with a moderate protein intake, your body begins to build muscle.

Muscle is at the core of your metabolism because it’s the most metabolically active cell in the body, burning up to 15-20 times more calories than other cells, particularly when you’re moving or exercising. Therefore, the more muscle you have the more energy you burn everyday and the easier it’ll be for you to maintain your weight and still enjoy all the foods you love.

Check out my post on How to Increase Your Metabolism for more information on this topic. 

2. Protein helps you feel full

One of the principles of healthy eating is learning which foods help fill you up on fewer calories. Protein helps you fill fuller at a meal and because it takes longer to digest than other nutrients it also means you’ll stay fuller for longer.

This is a really important technique for combatting your mid-afternoon binge session or sugar craving. A lot of the time people feel hungry and tired at this point in the day because they haven’t eaten enough protein at breakfast and lunch. Aiming for a serve of protein at every meal, especially for breakfast and lunch will keep you in much better control of appetite and you’ll feel less inclined to tuck into the crackers and dip while cooking dinner after work.

3. Protein helps control your appetite

 Appetite is the resulting outcome of a number of factors that are circumstantial, physical and psychological. One of the physiological factors that will affect your appetite are your blood sugar levels and the types of foods that you eat.

Constantly consume high sugar foods and highly processed carbohydrates and you’ll quickly feel out of control of your appetite and more inclined to eat more of these types of unhealthy foods. Your body’s blood sugar levels will be all over the place making it much harder to lose weight and burn fat.

Research tells us that the edition of protein at our meals, especially at breakfast, helps control you appetite and you end up consuming less kilojoules over the whole day, because you feel less hungry.

How to add protein to your meals 

Foods are not all one macronutrient, they are a mixture of fat, carbohydrate and protein, just in differing amounts. In saying that, there are some foods that are better protein sources than others.

The best choices are:

• Meat, fish and poultry
• Eggs
• Dairy – milk, yoghurt & cheese
• Soy – milk, beans, tofu, tempeh
• Whole grains, nuts and seeds also contain protein in smaller amounts.

To add protein at breakfast, try adding 150g of yoghurt to your muesli, 1 cup of lite milk to your cereal or 1-2 eggs to your toast. I also love 100g  of low fat ricotta on wholemeal crumpets with strawberries and a drizzle of honey! Yum!

To add protein at lunch try adding 150g of 97% fat free ham added to a sandwich, vegetable soup or wrap, 150g tinned tuna on some crackers or in a salad, or a regular skim cappuccino. I love a mixture of 100g poached chicken breast and 20g feta in a mixed garden salad with pine nuts, sun-dried tomato and sweet potato. So delicious!

Dinner is usually easier to add protein to. I love 2 kangaroo sausages with mixed vegetables, 1/2 a chicken breast with a garden salad, a small lean beef steak with mushrooms and caramelised onions or a fresh salmon fillet with steamed asian greens and a ginger soy dressing. How about adding 150g of tofu to your next thai green curry or a vegetable and herb omelet with 2 free-range eggs.

If you’d like more information on healthy eating and proper portions for protein, carbohydrates and fat, you can purchase my eating plan, Lose Weight for Life as an instant download. Purchase a copy now for only $19.95 and receive a free copy of the second edition when it’s released very soon (valued at $29.95).

And to help you eat well, Vegies to your Door, our local supplier of fantastic fruit, veges (and more) will also be offering $10 off your first order. Simply email info@vegiestoyourdoor.com.au and let the team know that you’re part of the HerCanberra Summer Shape-Up and are interested in their voucher offer. They’ll get back to you and let you know how to redeem!

[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://hercanberra.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/kf.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Kate Freeman is passionate about honest, simple nutrition information and inspiring people to make positive lifestyle changes to achieve their health and fitness goals. Her online business Kate Freeman Nutrition is all about providing simple, practical, easy to follow nutrition and exercise advice that you can apply today. Please visit www.katefreemannutrition.com.au for more information. Kate is married with two young children and lives just across the border from Canberra. [/author_info] [/author]