This is the hottest topic right now especially if you are working on your weight health goals. According to our personalized nutrition expert, Ashley Koff RD, there are 3 things to evaluate to see if your current protein choices are meeting your body's optimal needs.
1) But first, digestion. Whether your body can break down and use the protein you are taking in from food and supplements depends on your digestive health. Your digestion sends you signals about its operational status, so it is important to see what it is trying to tell you.
- Do you get bloated after eating?
- Do you have food allergies and intolerances?
- After eating a "good for you meal" are you still hungry?
- Do you have reflux or need to take antacids or a medication to reduce acid?
If you answered yes to any of these, before you increase your protein intake and to get the most out of your current protein choices you will want to tune up your digestion. You can download the BNP digestive evaluation here to get specific tips on how to do that for your digestive system.
2) Insufficient or imbalanced protein intake are both problematic; both will make a huge difference in energy, blood sugar levels, satisfaction (feeling full), and body composition. Take this quiz to see if you are getting in enough and balancing your protein intake with other nutrients.
3) Too much protein - at one time especially - overwhelms digestion, drives blood sugar up and some of it gets stored as body fat. Protein recommendations are typically given as daily totals (or percentages) but that isn't better. While it is important to know how much protein meets your daily needs, you want to break that number up into smaller amounts during your day. For example if you need 100g, you would have 20g at 5 meals/snacks during your day.
Ready to optimize your protein intake?
Get your Better Nutrition Guide to Protein and a free month of Better Health Membership which gives you additional resources like The Better Nutrition Plan, guides to identify your better choices, menus and recipes to make them deliciously doable and access to weekly live sessions with our experts. https://thebetternutritionprogram.com/
