Nutrition Fundamentals: Protein
The Role of Muscle:
“Nutrition is about two tissues: the brain and the skeletal muscle. If those two tissues are healthy you are going to live a pretty good life”
- Donald Layman.
When we consider the functionality of muscle, we usually think about strength. But let’s take a step back. Strength doesn’t only mean what you can lift in the gym. Muscle gives us the strength to move. Healthy muscle gives us our independence.
Muscle is the largest organ in your body and has functions far beyond supporting your physical body. Skeletal muscle is primarily responsible for glucose metabolism, which is critical to reversing insulin resistance and preventing chronic disease like diabetes. Think of this as a dumping site for the carbohydrates you eat. The more muscle you have the larger the dumping site. Muscle is also your store of amino acids, which plays a role in fighting inflammation, and influences how your body and brain work through chemical signalling.
Muscle also plays a role in overall metabolism by being a large contributing factor to your basil metabolic rate (BMR). BMR refers to the amount of energy your body typically burns at rest (muscle needs energy to move). Therefore, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate (metabolism).
From the time you are born through into your 30’s your body is building muscle. At some point during your 30’s the body undergoes what is called age-related sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). This accelerates the older we get but can account for a loss of 3-5% per decade. Both exercise and nutrition play a vital role in your ability to ensure you slow down this age-related decline and shift your body to accruing new muscle tissue to remain healthy.
Whether your goal is weight loss, to gain muscle, improving health outcomes, or longevity, taking a muscle centric approach is vital.
So how do we manipulate our nutrition to support healthy muscle?
Muscle Centred Nutrition:
I’m sure you’ve already made the connection but the vital nutrient for us to focus on is protein. Consuming adequate protein supports healthy muscle. Healthy muscle supports a healthier you.
There should be some consideration of the types of protein you consume however for now, we are just going to focus on the amount of protein you should be consuming. A few of you reading are probably well aware of how much protein one would need per day. The general reference for anyone resistance training (which you should be) would be in the range of 1.8-2.5g per kg of bodyweight. Therefore an 80kg person would need anywhere between 145-200g of protein per day.
As a general rule, this is a great starting point but how many of you typically stop there? Muscle operates at an individual (per serving) level rather than at the whole (daily total) level. To stimulate muscle protein synthesis (the process by which you build new muscle) you need a minimum of 25g of protein (ever wonder why your protein shakes are dosed at 25g. Note - this minimum number does increase based on your training status and weight). What this means is if you only focus on your daily “total” without looking at what you get at each meal, you might be able to hit your daily amount without actually signaling to your muscle to switch on the building process.
By consuming your protein in doses of 25-60g, muscle protein synthesis is then switched and remains on for a period of three to six hours. Think of this like a light switch. Our goal is to ideally keep the light switch turned on as much as possible. But once the light is on there’s not much point in fiddling with a side lamp. You’re just wasting power.
Depending on your goals, we recommend two to four serves of at least 30g of protein per day. If you are a small human who is looking to maintain weight then two serves will likely suffice. If however, you are wanting to build muscle you will likely need a minimum of four servings of protein per day. Once you have achieved this, then you can use the side lamp (smaller servings of protein) to hit your daily total.
What does 30g of protein look like? Check out our list below!
Average portion for 30g of protein:
135g chicken
150g beef
180g white fish
170g prawns
5 whole eggs
375g natural yoghurt
130g (drained weight) tuna (plain or in olive oil)
250g cottage cheese
600ml milk
600g (tinned weight) legumes