Prep for Next Week's Group Challenge

Because next week's group challenge may take a little planning and preparation I wanted to give you all a couple of days' notice so you can get ready!

PROTEIN!

All the nutritionists are suggesting we need to eat it!

So I've been doing a little research about why. I knew I wanted to make it part of one of our group challenges, so I set out to figure out how I could make it an equitable and measurable goal for the week. Here's a bit about what I've learned.

• The compound of amino acids in protein help control hunger & build muscle, skin & more.
• Eating lean protein helps replenish & maintain lean muscles. (Especially for those of you who do strength training.)
• It can rev your metabolism (Something scientific to do with thermogenesis and keeping your blood sugar levels more even over a longer period of time. Whatever the reason, there was a lot of evidence to support this claim.)

There are two kinds of proteins:

1. Complete proteins: meat, fish, dairy, eggs, soybeans, & quinoa contain all nine of the essential amino acids.
2. Incomplete proteins: nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, fruit, & veggies are all missing or low in some of the essential amino acids. But if you combine one food from each incomplete group then you get a full package=complete protein.

It would be ideal to have complete proteins at every meal so the essential stuff is there, when we need it, but that's not always possible. So a good rule is if you have incomplete proteins in one meal, shoot for having complete ones at your next meal.

How much protein is the right amount for you?

From what I've read a great rule of thumb is to shoot for 45-50% of your body weight in protein grams each day. So, for example, at my current weight of 163 lbs. I need to consume approximately 73g to 80g of protein a day.

I also found this info in an article on self.com:

Many of us do get about 70 g daily, the USDA reports, "but we tend to eat the majority of it at dinner, and our body can use only 15 g to 30 g at a time to build and repair tissue," says Roberta Anding, R.D., a spokeswoman for AND. The rest is burned for energy or, too often, stored as fat.

SELF contributing experts Stephanie Clarke, R.D., and Willow Jarosh, R.D., suggest divvying up protein throughout the day and aiming for about 20 g at meals and 6 g to 12 g in two snacks.

Now armed with this information I want to issue a protein challenge for the coming week.

• Figure out how many grams of protein are ideal for your body weight.
• Consume that many grams of protein at least 5 out of 7 days.
• Bonus effort would be to try and divvy up the amount of protein appropriately across all of your meals. My boy Bob Harper includes this in his Skinny Rules as well, "Include protein in every meal."

Here's a list you can use for reference in the upcoming week. You may have to do some looking up on your own, but I thought I'd do a bit of the leg work for you, so if you're grocery shopping to arm yourself with the tools for success, you'll have an idea what to stock your fridge and cupboard with. I'll send the chart as an attachment in an email as well, so you can print it out and have it handy on your fridge if you like.

Protein Chart

Food	Protein grams
Shortcut-1 oz. meat or fish	Approx. 7 g
Beef
4 oz. hamburger patty	28
6 oz. steak	42
Most cuts of beef, per oz.	7
Chicken
3.5 oz. breast	30
thigh	10
drumstick	11
wing	6
4 oz. cooked chicken	35
Fish
3.5 oz of most filets	22
6 oz can tuna	40
Pork
pork chop, avg	22
4 oz. pork loin	29
3 oz. ham	19
3 oz. cooked ground pork	22
slice bacon	3
Eggs & Dairy
1 large egg	6
1 c. milk	8
½ c. cottage cheese	15
1 c. yogurt	8-12
1 oz. soft cheese (mozzarella, brie, camembert)	6
1 oz. medium cheese (cheddar, swiss)	7-8
1 oz. hard cheese (parmesean)	10
Soy
½ c. tofu	20
1 oz. tofu	2.3
1 c. soy milk	6-10
½ c. cooked soybeans	14
Beans
½ c. cooked beans (most-black, pinto, lentils)	7-10
Nuts & Seeds
2 T. peanut butter	8
¼ c. almonds	8
¼ c. peanuts	9
¼ c. cashews	5
¼ c. pecans	2.5
¼ c. sunflower seeds	6
¼ c. pumpkin seeds	8
1/4c. flax seeds	8
Grains
½ c. uncooked quinoa	12
½ c. uncooked bulgur wheat	9
1 c. cooked brown long grain rice	5
½ c. barley	11.5
½ c. cooked buckwheat	11.3
½ c. uncooked hard red winter wheat	12.1
½ c. uncooked oats	13.2
½ c. uncooked rye	8.7
1 slice whole wheat bread	3.6
Fruits & Vegetables
1 med russet potato, w/skin	4.5
1 med peach	1
1 c. asparagus	3
1 c. broccoli	2.5
1 med orange	1.3
1 c. brussel sprouts	3
1 med avocado	4