Week 7: The Importance of Lean Protein for Weight Loss and Blood Sugar Control

Transcription

1 Week 7: The Importance of Lean Protein for Weight Loss and Blood Sugar Control Purpose The purpose of this chapter is to teach you about the importance of protein in your diet. Just like fat and carbohydrates, protein is an essential component of your diet that can significantly help you manage your blood sugar and help you lose weight. It is important to understand which food contain significant protein and which foods to choose for best results. Learning Objectives In this chapter you will learn the following: What is protein? What does protein do in your body? Why is protein important for weight loss? How to determine your protein intake goal Protein serving size recommendations for men and women Which plant foods contain lean protein Page 95

2 What is Protein? Just like carbohydrates and fat, protein is a component of the food that you eat, and it plays many important roles in your body. Protein is composed of amino acids, and these amino acids are the building blocks of a wide variety of protein molecules. What does Protein do in Your Body? Protein is a nutrient that is found in food that aids in producing important molecules in our bodies including: Enzymes Hormones Neurotransmitters Antibodies (immune system) Hair, skin, nails and muscle Protein helps repair damaged cells and aids in the growth and repair of all tissues in your body. Without an adequate intake of protein, our bodies don t function well. Developing a protein deficiency can result in a collection of difficult to diagnose symptoms, so use this guide as a means of preventing protein deficiency. Page 96

3 Why is Protein Important for Weight Loss and Beyond? Increasing your protein intake is a very effective method of losing unwanted fat, for the following reasons: Protein keeps you feeling full longer. Protein helps preserve muscle loss when losing weight. When you lose weight, you lose both fat mass and muscle mass. Eating protein can help prevent against the loss of muscle mass and stimulate your body to lose more fat mass instead. Protein helps you stay active. As you increase your activity level by exercising more frequently, your muscles will want to grow. Help your muscles grow by increasing your protein intake. Your ability to perform exercise will become easier over time. Protein increases the amount of heat you produce. The more heat you produce, the more energy you expend. Increasing your protein intake can actually increase your metabolic rate. Studies have shown that increasing protein intake helps lower cholesterol. Protein can help lower LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), lower triglycerides in the blood, and increase HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol). Adding a lean protein to your meal can help prevent blood sugar spikes immediately following a meal. This is great news for people with diabetes, and is a very simple way to prevent against erratic blood sugar following a meal. Page 97

4 What Types of Foods Contain Protein? Animal Proteins Plant Proteins Fatty Proteins Lean Proteins Fatty Proteins Lean Proteins Cheese Milk Almonds Beans Milk Yogurt Walnuts Lentils Yogurt Egg Whites Cashew nuts Broccoli Whole eggs Turkey Soy nuts Asparagus Beef Venison Chia seeds Potatoes Lamb Salmon Flax seeds Spinach Turkey Tuna Pumpkin seeds Corn Venison Halibut Sesame seeds Brussels Sprouts Duck Quinoa Trout Buckwheat Shrimp Prawns Crab Lobster Page 98

5 Why is Protein Important for Weight Loss? Increasing your protein intake is a very effective method of losing unwanted fat. The reasons why protein helps you shed unwanted pounds are listed here: Protein keeps you full for a long period of time and prevents you from eating frequently. Protein increases the amount of heat you produce and increases your metabolic rate. Increasing protein intake can help lower LDL cholesterol. (the bad cholesterol) Increasing protein intake can help lower triglycerides in the blood. Increasing protein intake can help increase HDL cholesterol. (the good cholesterol) Protein can also help prevent blood sugar spikes immediately following a meal. How Much Protein do You Need to Eat? Let s go through the following exercise in order to determine your minimum and ideal protein requirements for weight loss. Consult the table on the next page: Enter your current body weight here: Enter your minimum protein intake here: Enter your ideal protein intake here: pounds grams/day grams/day Page 99

6 Your Starting Body Weight (pounds) Minimum Protein Intake (grams) Ideal Protein Intake for Weight Loss (grams) Page 100

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9 Eat One Serving of Lean Protein at Every Meal The easiest way to ensure that you are meeting your protein requirements to assist in the weight loss process is to eat a lean protein at each meal. In order to determine how much protein to eat at each meal, use the following guide: Serving Size Recommendations for Women 1 palm full of protein 1 palm full of fruits 1 fist of vegetables 1 thumb of fat per day Page 103

10 Serving Size Recommendations for Men 2 palms of protein 2 palms of fruits 2 fists of vegetables 2 thumbs of fat per day Page 104

11 What Plant Foods Contain Lean Protein? Food Serving Calories Size Protein (grams) % Protein Tofu 1 cup Lentils 1 Cup Chick peas (garbanzo beans) 1 Cup Tempeh (fermented soybean) 3 oz Pinto beans 1 Cup 15 Kidney beans 1 Cup Mung beans 1 Cup Black eyed peas 1 Cup Fava beans 1 Cup Black beans 1 Cup Lima beans 1 Cup Pigeon peas 1 Cup Soy milk 1 Cup Potato flour 1 Cup Edamame (soy beans) 1/2 Cup 65 6 Potato with skin 1 Medium Green peas 1/2 Cup 61 4 Beet greens 1/2 Cup 20 4 Broccoli 1/2 Cup Spinach 1/2 Cup Sugar snap peas 1/2 Cup Portobello mushroom 1/2 Cup 21 3 Page 105

12 Hubbard squash 1/2 Cup 51 3 Oyster mushroom 1/2 cup 33 2 Asparagus 1/2 Cup Corn kernels 1/2 Cup 60 2 Kamut 1 cup Quinoa 1 cup Wild rice 1 cup Millet 1 cup Couscous 1 cup Buckwheat groats 1 cup Brown rice 1 cup Oats 1 cup * Quick rice 1 cup Cornmeal 1 cup * Page 106

13 Dinner Snack Lunch Breakfast Your Homework for Next Week In preparation for next week, select a lean protein that you can add to each meal, by filling out the following table. Here is an example table that indicates which proteins should be eaten with each meal: My Favorite Protein Choices Serving Size Protein (grams) Walnuts 1/8 cup 2.5 Oats sprinkled with cinnamon 2 cups 10 Soy milk 1 ½ cups 12 Tofu ½ cup 20 Green beans 1 cup 2 Couscous 1 cup 6 Black beans ¼ cup 4 Edamame 1 cup 6 Broccoli 1 cup 6 Hummus 3 tbsp. 4 Spinach salad 2 cups 12 Chick peas 1 cup 14.5 Portobello Mushrooms 1 cup 6 Page 107

14 Dinner Snack Lunch Breakfast Now it s time for you to fill out your protein table. For each meal, select 3 protein options that you could eat. List the serving size and the number of grams of protein for each: My Favorite Protein Choices Serving Size Protein (grams) Page 108