If you attend a gym we’re sure you’ve heard everyone talk about protein or may have noticed people sipping on shakes after they finish their work out. So why are people doing this, and is it something you should also be doing?
The NZ Nutrition guidelines states on average for a female you need 0.8g protein per kg of body weight for your daily protein intake. This means for a 70kg female you would be looking at 56g protein per day.
To give you an idea of what this looks like, a 1/2c dry serving of the Fresh Start Bircher mix, with 1/2 cup trim dairy milk would be ~15g protein. To up the protein even further you could add a serving of peanut butter (~30g) or 1/2 cup of high protein yoghurt which can add an additional 10g protein.
That means you could be looking at a possible 25g protein just from one meal! If you are eating a range of foods and a balanced diet (Fresh Start for dinner definitely takes care of some of this!) then you should be quite easily able to reach your daily protein requirements.
If you are going to use a protein powder to supplement then you want to be looking for something that has no added sugar, and is ideally 100% whey protein or 100% pea protein. Our smoothie builders are great for this!
If you are a morning exerciser then using a protein powder in a breakfast smoothie or a protein shake on top of your regular breakfast may be useful whereas if you are an evening exerciser, your dinner should cover your protein needs.
It is also worth bearing in mind that having a protein shake on top of your regular meals and snacks will be an additional source of calories, as protein provides energy. That being said, it can be a great way to make your morning smoothie much more satiating, and keep you fueled for longer.
In conclusion — you don’t necessarily need to be consuming protein shakes every day to reach your Fresh Start goals as a healthy balanced diet is sufficient to meet your daily requirements. However protein powder is a handy thing to have particularly for your morning meals, and may help some of you reach your daily protein intake more easily.
Note: Intense daily exercise such as training for an Iron man would increase protein daily requirements!
Here are some of our favourite NZ protein powder brands:
Go Good — check them out here.
Dose & Co — check them out here.
