At Quota Vita, we understand that protein is an essential nutrient in our diet. Currently, there is a deficit in intake, leading to an overconsumption of fats or carbohydrates.
In general, most people should include more protein in their diet to avoid gaining weight and maintain energy throughout the day.
Just check it by reviewing what you eat and the amount of protein you should be consuming based on your physical activity to realize that something isn't quite right.
I suggest you try our calculator to check your protein needs:
Now, how do I interpret the calculator's results? And most importantly, how do I achieve healthy habits?
First, we need to ensure we are eating enough nutrients; a balanced dose of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats for the goal we are setting. If we start being careful with our daily routine, we can gradually incorporate better foods: fresh vegetables, fruit, oats, or proteins like salmon, beef, or peas.
Recently, we have been investigating how much meat, fish, or legumes we should eat to reach the minimum daily protein intake. And, if you are active, training more than two days a week, the needs for this nutrient multiply by 1.6 grams of protein per kilogram of your weight.
Let's look at some examples:
Proteins for Men +35 years 80 kg
Let's do a very simple exercise: a man who weighs 80 kg multiplied by 1.6 grams of protein gives us that he needs 128 grams to maintain a good energy level.
But beware! Don't make the mistake of thinking, "I'll buy a 128-gram chicken and that's it!" No. For every 100 grams of chicken, we get about 18 grams of protein. This means that if the only food we wanted to eat that day to cover our protein needs was chicken, we would have to eat +700 grams of chicken a day to reach it. Or, in other words, 3 whole chicken breasts (and we would still need to eat a chicken egg).
Proteins for Women +30 years 55 kg
Now let's repeat the exercise for a woman weighing 55 kg x 1.6 = 88 grams of protein per day. And similarly, in this case, who wants to eat pork. To get 88 grams a day, she would need no less than 7-8 extra pork loins a day. That's absurd!
All this reflection provides insight into the need for protein in our daily lives. The WHO has recommended for many years that at least 0.8 grams of protein per kg of body weight be consumed (2007 World Health Organisation). However, these are minimum values for a sedentary person to avoid protein deficiency. If we consider individuals who engage in physical activity at least once a week, the daily intake should be between 1.4 grams and 2 grams per kilogram of body weight (2007 Sep 26, International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise).