Wednesday, 22 October 2008

Protein and Exercise

By: Mujuthaba

What is Protein?

Protein is an essential nutrient next to fats, carbs and water. Every structure of our body is made out of proteins, which is why it’s also known as the ‘building blocks’.

What type of foods has protein?

Protein rich foods include tuna, chicken and egg whites just to name a few. Others include seeds, nuts and tofu which are famous among vegetarians. Briefly any animal product has a number of protein availability as that’s what they are made of.

How much protein is enough?

Proteins are required for our daily functioning. If we are deprived of it, the body loses lean mass (bone and muscle) and end up with other protein deficient diseases.

Daily caloric intake of protein should be around 10-15%. Minimum requirement would be 0.45g of protein per kg of ideal bodyweight.

Protein requirement for body mass

For body-builders and other sports which require an advantage of weight, protein is really important. To bulk-up, they need to supplement protein to the need of training. Requirement for trainers is 2.2g of protein per kg of body weight. This is a quite higher value than the normal population.

Is there a risk of high protein intake?

Some academics warn of high protein intake among body-builders and similar. Reason being is that protein digestion and uptake in the body is tricky. If more protein is taken in, unlike carbs or fats, they are excreted through the urine. In order to get rid of the excess protein, the kidneys have to work restlessly where in some cases damaging them. Hence, protein uptake should be consistent with the extent of training. If you take protein supplements, an indication of excess protein intake could be the abnormal amount of times you have to take urine breaks.

The myth

Taking protein powders won’t give you big muscles. It doesn’t happen like that. One has to weight train to gain lean mass.


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