Protein food is the basis of rational nutrition

Everything that we eat consists of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. A healthy diet assumes their balance, but every diet recommends reducing the fat and carbohydrate content in food and, accordingly, increasing the proportion of proteins in the diet. Protein food contributes to the breakdown of fats and the increase of muscle tone. It should be remembered that our skin, muscles, connective tissues consist of protein, so the lack of it in the diet immediately affects the appearance, slows down the metabolic processes, finally leads to physical and nervous exhaustion.

And what about vegetarians? After all, vegetables, fruits and berries can not provide enough protein. Contrary to popular belief, in protein fungi and little it is digested badly.

The fact is that protein food exists in two forms: vegetable protein and protein of animal origin.

Vegetable protein is most often found in legumes (red and white beans, peas, chickpeas, beans, soy).

The daily need of protein can provide and products such as buckwheat, semolina, oatmeal, pearl barley, rice, pasta, nuts. But the content of carbohydrates in them is very high, so they are excluded from sports diets and dieting for weight loss.

Protein rich in milk, cheese, cottage cheese and various sour-milk products, but the most protein foods are meat, fish, by-products (liver, kidneys, heart), eggs.

Having decided to "sit down" on a protein diet, it should be remembered that these protein products have different fat content, which should be taken into account when compiling a diet menu.

The recommended protein food, the table of which is presented below, practically satisfies the requirements of healthy nutrition. This table will allow you to choose foods that are high in protein and low in fat. The protein content is indicated in grams per 100 g of product.

• Meat of chicken, rabbit, veal -------------------- 20-23
• Beef low-fat -------------------------------------- 18.9
• Cheese with a lower fat content ------------- 25,
• Cottage cheese is low-fat ------------------------------------------ 16,7
• Milk, yogurt ----------------------------------------- 2,8
• Egg protein ------------------------------------------- 12.7
• Sea fish with white meat (cod, hake) --------- 15
• Red fish (salmon, tuna, pink salmon) ------------ 21
• Nuts ------------------------------------------------- ------- 25
• Beans ------------------------------------------------- ----- 22
• Peas------------------------------------------------- ------- 23
• Soy ------------------------------------------------- ---------- 34

Protein food almost always requires heat treatment. For this purpose it is preferable to use a steamer, an oven, a brazier. Steaming, steaming without oil and fat, baking are the best ways of cooking meat, fish. Eggs, egg whites are also better to eat boiled or baked, but not fried.

The diet in which protein food of animal origin is the main, and even the only component, is very harmful. On average, an adult a day needs only 100-120 grams of protein. And their overabundance leads to poor digestion of food, stagnant products of life, the development of putrefactive bacteria in the intestines. To prevent this from happening, protein foods should be combined with a large amount of vegetable fiber. With vegetables, proteins are digested most fully, but carbohydrates inhibit the processes of protein breakdown into amino acids. Namely for their sake we eat meat, fish, cheese. Of the twenty amino acids necessary for our body, which make up the protein, only half is synthesized, and the rest we get with food, but it should be noted that vegetable protein contains an inadequate set of amino acids.

The need for protein nutrition is especially great in childhood, adolescence, when the body grows, the muscular skeleton is formed. For women planning a pregnancy, it is especially important to include in the diet of protein-rich foods. Moreover, in addition to the building function, the protein actively participates in strengthening the immune system of the body.

Proteins are needed for every person, but with age, the need for them decreases, which must be taken into account in rational nutrition.