I love focusing on habits. See past posts Habits versus Goals and Making a habit of it.
I posted a tool to help create new habits on our Facebook page recently and I think it’s fun to create a game of establishing habits, whatever those habits may be.
What’s the habit I need to work on? Mine is no surprise given my goals of gaining muscle and maintaining a vegetarian diet. It’s getting sufficient protein, always a challenge. I reread Tracy’s post on getting enough protein on a vegan diet.. Though I’m not a vegan, I lean in that direction (aim for 2 vegan meals a day) and it’s good from a health point of view not to rely on dairy as one’s main protein source.
How much protein is enough?
See this from a past post on nutrition news:
“A new report appearing in the September issue of The FASEB Journal challenges the long-held adage that significant muscle loss is unavoidable when losing weight through exercise and diet. In the report, scientists show that consuming twice the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein while adhering to a diet and exercise plan prevents the loss of muscle mass and promotes fat loss. Tripling the RDA of protein, however, failed to provide additional benefits.”
What’s the RDA? .8g per kilo per day. 1.6 is double that and it’s the ratio I should use to calculate the amount I should be aiming for. So at 90 kilos, or thereabouts, that’s 144 grams of protein a day. A lot.
My protein shake this morning had 30g, my protein added cereal and yogurt had another 30. One tip I’ve taken from the coaches at Precision Nutrition is protein with every meal and I aim for at least 50 g with breakfast. Luckily I wake up hungry and I can happily eat a large breakfast.
My usual non vegan protein sources are eggs (free range), Greek yogurt, and whey protein. Vegan protein for me is tempeh, nuts, seeds, soy, chickpeas, hummus, and various kinds of veggie burgers. Yum.
These days protein consumption is the one thing I’m tracking. Wish me luck and suggestions, as always, welcome.
