We know that eating enough protein is increasingly important as we age but why? And what are the best ways to add more protein to our diet? Read on to find out.
What is protein and why do we need it?
Our bodies need protein nutrients to grow and repair our cells.
Proteins are made of amino acids, and there are about 20 of these that our bodies need to build and repair muscles and bones and to make enzymes and hormones. Enzymes are biological catalysts (that speed up biochemical reactions in the body) and hormones are essentially chemical messengers that transmit messages to tissues and organs to produce chemical reactions.
Of the 20 amino acids, about 11 are made by our bodies (non-essential amino acids) but there are 9 essential amino acids that our bodies cannot make. (These are histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.) They need to be consumed in order for our bodies to work properly. And that’s why we need it.
Our body breaks the protein down into amino acids and then uses them for various processes, like building muscle and regulating immune function.
Also, our bodies cannot store protein so we need to eat proteins every day for optimal body function. They can be found in many foods (both plant and animal).
Why is protein even more important when we age?
As we age, we start to lose muscle mass. This loss of muscle mass can be exacerbated by a poor diet. So eating sufficient protein daily may help to maintain that muscle mass and strength which is also critical for bone density.
Eating enough protein may also decrease the risk of heart attacks and coronary disease.
And in addition to that, it can help with weight loss (I’m looking at you, belly fat). This study shows that sufficient protein helps with physical performance and lower body fat in post-menopausal women.
How proteins help with weight loss
Proteins keep you full for longer, and in doing so, reduce your calorie intake.
But not only does protein keep you fuller for longer (because you’re then snacking and overeating less) but protein also has the highest thermic effect of the three macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fat). This means that your body needs more calories to break down protein than it does when breaking down carbohydrates and fat.
Knowing this, you may be tempted to adopt an excessively high-protein diet but this is not recommended because too much protein can put a strain on the liver and kidneys.
How do I calculate how much protein I need daily?
Exactly how much protein your body needs every day depends on your age, weight, gender, activity levels and overall health.
However, having said all that, the recognized RDA (recommended daily allowance) for an average sedentary adult is 0.8 grams per kg of body weight. So, for example, a person who weighs 75 kg should consume 60 grams of protein a day. (You multiply your weight by 0.8 to get the number of grams of protein you should be eating every day.) This, however, is seen as the absolute minimum amount of protein and active women in midlife should probably be consuming a little more than that.
If you want a more accurate number, you could try this protein calculator or this daily nutrient tool.
What happens when you don’t eat enough protein every day?
You may find that you get sick more frequently, your injuries take longer to heal, you may feel hungry a lot of the time, you may also feel fatigued and your hair, nails and skin may be problematic.
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A list of good proteins to include in your diet
Lean cuts of meat – beef, lamb, pork, veal
Poultry – chicken, turkey, duck
Fish and seafood – salmon, tuna, mackerel, prawns, scallops, crab, clams
Eggs
Legumes and beans – all beans, chickpeas, lentils, black beans, kidney beans
Nuts and seeds – almonds, pine nuts, walnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds
Soy products eg. tofu
Dairy products – milk, Greek yoghurt, cheese, cottage cheese
Best ways to add more protein to your diet
Here are some of my favourite ways to add protein to my daily meals:
- I aim to eat protein at every meal, including at snack time.
- Focus my meals around protein.
- Eat that protein first so that I feel full and don’t over-eat.
- I stock up on tinned fish, beans, nuts and seeds, cheese and cracker snacks, peanut butter, hummus, raw vegetables, Greek yoghurt and protein powder.
- Eat eggs for breakfast, often with a breakfast sausage.
- Cook protein (eg. chicken) at the beginning of the week to use for lunches during the week.
- Add peas to meals.
- Try mixing cottage cheese into mashed potatoes, a pasta dish or my scrambled eggs.
- I swap traditional pasta for bean/lentil alternatives.
- Snack on meat sticks like jerky or biltong.
- Use Greek yoghurt instead of traditional yoghurt.
- Snack on edamame beans.
- Use quinoa instead of white rice.
- Add chia seeds to my oats, yoghurt and smoothies.
- Add beans to our salads.
- Use beans in soups.
- Sprinkle nuts on salads.
We know that we need to eat a balanced diet to be healthy, but knowing that we need to eat a certain amount of protein every day is worth highlighting.
Because it tends to be easier to eat more carbohydrates and fat, I find that by being aware of my protein intake, I more easily eat my required amount daily.
Here are some of my go-to meal ideas that include protein
I thought I’d include a few meals and snacks that I eat often because I know when I’m hungry I find it helpful to have a list of ideas of what is good (and delicious) to eat.
Also if you think you may not be eating enough protein, you may want to stock up on a few things to help you achieve your protein goals. It’s definitely easier to choose protein-rich foods over less nutritious options if I have them in your home.
High protein breakfast ideas
Being somewhat lazy, I love an easy option when it comes to meal preparation.
- Stir collagen powder into your morning coffee or smoothie, or add it to your oats for breakfast.
- Eat eggs for breakfast, with a breakfast sausage.
- Try overnight oats with Greek yoghurt, chia seeds and fruit.
- Add Greek yoghurt to your cereal.
- Sprinkle chia and/or hemp seeds onto your oats or yoghurt or in your breakfast smoothie.
- Avocado, tomato slices and cottage cheese on wholegrain toast.
- Cheese omelette.
- Granola, Greek yoghurt and blueberries.
Lunch ideas
Salads or wraps are great ways to incorporate your protein for lunch.
- Tuna salad.
- Avocado toast with a boiled egg on top.
- Quinoa and chicken bowl.
- Egg scrambles or omelettes.
- Chicken and salad in a wrap.
- Prawn and spinach salad with bacon and boiled eggs.
- Salmon sashimi.
- Grilled chicken and avocado salad.
- A peanut butter sandwich.
Dinner ideas
We use a meal delivery service for dinner three nights a week, but I still make sure that I have a few packs of meat and chicken for those other nights and the odd lunch.
- Chicken fried rice.
- Salmon, sweet potatoes and broccoli.
- Lentil soup.
- Slow-cooked lamb with couscous and vegetables.
- Baked fish with vegetables.
- Fish tacos.
- Scallops and steamed greens.
- Roast chicken with roast potatoes and green beans.
- Grilled pork or lamb chops.
- Prawn laksa soup.
- Bolognaise with bean pasta.
- Chicken with a crispy chickpea and charred broccolini salad with tahini dressing.
- Prawn linguini with chorizo.
- Steak served with a quinoa and black bean bowl sprinkled with pumpkin seeds.
- Cacio e Pepe pasta with peas.
Snack ideas for adding more protein to your diet
I try to stock up on high-protein snacks so that when I’m feeling peckish, it’s easy to grab one of these instead of snacks with no nutritional value or those with high sugar, fat or salt.
- Cheese and wholegrain crackers.
- Apple/pear slices with peanut butter.
- Edamame beans.
- Cheese and wholegrain crackers, with sliced tomatoes.
- Hummus with fresh, raw vegetables.
- Protein shake.
- Biltong or beef jerky.
- Boiled eggs.
- Trail mix.
- A handful of almonds.
- Roasted chickpeas.
- A protein bar.
- Popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast.
- Tuna and wholewheat crackers.
- Cheese and apple slices.
- Turkey roll-up with cheese.
- Tuna on crackers.
To work out the nutritional value of the foods you choose, you can use this nutrition calculator. While I don’t subscribe to calorie counting, it can be helpful to get familiar with the amounts of proteins that make up your daily requirements.
Oh and one more thing – some high-protein foods can have a high sugar content so it’s worth checking those types of things too.
In conclusion
Eating sufficient amounts of protein is necessary for our bodies to function properly. And getting enough protein becomes especially important as we age, for various reasons. So it’s definitely worth looking at our protein intake.
In this post, I’ve included some of my favourite ways to add more protein to my diet easily. I realise that it doesn’t feature many vegetarian or vegan options, and it’s definitely more challenging to include more protein into your diet when you’re a vegetarian or vegan. But there are ways of doing it with whole foods, you may just have to plan better. Failing that, you could use protein supplements.
Best protein sources for vegetarians and vegans
I would also like to say that I’m not a nutritionist or dietician so while I’ve included some of my favourite protein-rich meals, these are just my personal suggestions and you should ideally work out your own daily protein requirements (you can use the tools that I’ve included) and plan your meals accordingly.
And if you have a favourite protein-rich snack that you love and eat regularly, please leave it in the comments section below for more inspiration.
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