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Protein Needs - Important Nutrient For Building Muscles

Fitness and health depends on a balance. Balance of exercise and diet. Balance of mind and body. Balance of nutrients in your diet.

Protein is a basic essential in everyone's diet from vegetarian to carnivore! Yes you also need fats and carbohydrates but protein rounds out the balance.

You can achieve a healthy diet through all types of proteins; they do not have to be animal sources. I know this is a controversial subject but I firmly believe you can get sufficient protein going the vegetarian route but do also believe in supplementation to get the right amount of protein. I think you need some help especially if you do not consume soy. There is also a need for lower sodium soy protein alternatives. Luckily there are hemp and vegetarian sources for protein supplements.

Even if you choose to remain at the lower end of the protein spectrum for reasons of preference or health (kidney problem etc), you want to at least get ¾ gram of protein per lb of bodyweight per day. I find an ideal figure is 1-2 gram.

If you prefer non-animal flesh animal proteins you can also opt for eggs and dairy yet avoiding direct animal meat.

For those who do consume meats for their proteins you may want to at least consider organic meats, vary the meats with fish and poultry as well as meat alternative choices to avoid some of the many health issues caused by overeating meats. This is something rarely discussed and probably due to politics but it is a consideration, just as is some of the negative side effects recently brought about by meats, fish and poultry with mad cow, bird flu and mercury.

By not over consuming any one item you at least can keep a balance which is healthier than over doing it with a certain food. Things like food allergies / food intolerance which are primarily protein allergies have been theorized to be caused by build up of toxins of the item and the body is unable to handle it due to a lack of enzyme.

As a competitor it is hard to vary proteins especially being allergic to eggs and poultry, and being a lacto pescatarian. This means I overdo fish and dairy during my on season.
The alternative is to vary the best you can the rest of the season. I personally like to vary between dairy, soy, whey and fish with plenty of legumes, seeds and nuts as part of my diet.

Ideally you want to ingest protein every 2-3 hours to keep your nitrogen balance at a positive to promote muscle gains and fat loss but for those less intense about their physique, there is some lee way!!

There is the separation diet promoted by the late Don Lemmon. I enjoy that diet and found that with those individuals with irritable bowel or intestine/digestive issues, this diet was especially ideal. The thing with it is that at some meals your protein intake is much lower than others even so you are eating every 2-3 hours. Some people like higher protein each meal but I found this to work fine and simply kept a high protein diet by only including 0-3 carb meals in the diet regimen (depending on my season). Of course you need to read the book to really get my point on this diet.

Key thing is to balance your diet, balance your protein.

By Linda Cusmano