Day 144 -- Protein For A Day

Everyone is always worried about protein.  So I decided to worry about it for a day or two as well.  There doesn't seem to be a consensus on how much protein a person needs on a daily basis.  People who eat meat and eggs don't have to worry.  A 3 ounce piece of chicken breast is 24 grams of protein.  An egg is 6 grams, a cup of milk 8 grams.  It adds up pretty fast when you're eating meat and dairy.

First, things first.  How many grams of protein do I need?  One source says that you should eat .4 grams of protein for every pound of weight.  For me, this would result in over 80 grams of protein a day.  Since there are 4 calories in a gram of protein (4 in a gram of carbos and 9 in a gram of fat), that means the I should eat 320 calories of protein a day.  This doesn't really jibe with the notion that you should eat 10% of your total calorie intake in a day in protein.  This would mean I should be eating 3200 calories a day, not the 1500 that I do eat.   Or I should be eating mainly protein, which is hard to do since vegan sources of protein contain lots of carbos as well.

Other sources don't figure protein needs by weight but just give a flat amount.  For instance, the Livestrong website says that adult women need 46 grams which is the RDA (Recommended Daily Allowance)  So,  you can see my confusion.  There's a big difference between 46 and 80 grams!  And finding 80 grams of protein by veggie sources is hard to do while keeping the calorie count low.  To figure out where I stood, I decided to count my protein grams for a day.  I was surprised to learn that veggies have a small amount of protein in them.

Breakfast Blueberry Chia Smoothie -- silken tofu - 5 gr., chia seeds- 3 gr.
Chickpea Tahine - couscous 6 gr., chickpeas - 6 gr.  onions 1 g
Chickpea Tahine - couscous 6 gr., chickpeas - 6 gr.  onions 1 g
Superfoods soup - Kale 1 g., Edamame 2 gr., mushrooms/onions 1 g., plus 6 grams in JJFlats cracker
Repeat superfood soup  -- 10 grams
Wheatberry salad -  8 grams

Total:  72 grams of protein

Wow!  Though this is usually more than I like to eat, it's good to know that I can get enough protein from veggie sources.  I will admit there are some days when I don't come close to the 80 gram mark and even fall below the 40 gram mark.  I need to make sure I get legumes and whole grains every day!  I should also probably pick up some protein powder for my morning smoothie.  And I should track my protein grams every so often, just to make sure I'm doing it right!