How much Protein?

For the few people who have a little background in Paleolithic nutrition, we are encouraged to eat three larger meals a day. If you have read Robb Wolf’s “The Paleo Solution”, then you would have been on a three meals + 1 snack per day plan. This plan works great for many people, but probably is not the best for the athlete. An athlete requires more nutrients than your average person, especially protein. Consuming three meals per day makes it extremely difficult to get in a sufficient amount of protein. Athletes need about 1g of protein/lbs. of bodyweight. For example, if an athlete weighs 160lbs., he/she needs 160g of protein per day. This amount is necessary for muscle building and recovery. Now lets say our 160lbs. athlete was eating three meals per day. That means each meal has got to have about 53g of protein. So that’s equivalent to 9 eggs for breakfast, about 10oz of chicken for lunch, and an 8oz steak for dinner! That is not even including our fat requirements and veggie intake. Quick myth: eating smaller meals per day increase your metabolism, FALSE: Till this day there is no data showing this. Picture it this way, the smaller your meals are the less hard your body has to work to metabolize it. The larger your meals are the harder and longer your body must work to metabolize it. I ENCOURAGE ATHLETES TO SPACE OUT MEALS INTO MORE FREQUENT SESSIONS FOR A DIFFERENT REASON. The reason why I want athletes to space out their meals into 4-6 meals is to ensure sufficient protein intake. ANOTHER REASON FOR SMALLER FREQUENT MEALS IS THE AMOUNT OF PROTEIN THAT IS ACTUALLY UTILIZED BY THE BODY. YOUR body can only utilize a certain amount of protein at a given time, OR SO IT IS SAID. I have not found a definite number, but I have seen ranges from 30-40G OF PROTEIN at a given time, depending on YOUR Size.

Paleo shopping

THE golden rule when shopping for Paleo-friendly foods: Majority of shopping should be on the outside isles. try to get foods in this order: Fresh, frozen, canned. Obviously, getting your fruits and veggies fresh is the healthiest way to go, BUT it is far from the most convenient. Fresh food goes bad quicker and requires more work to prepare. Between school, sports, homework, and whatever your busy teenage lives consist of, it is very hard to make time to prepare your food. Also, this shopping list works great for those on a tighter budget. If time and money are of no issue, I am a big fan of Trader Joes and those types of market places. They tend to have fresher fruits, veggies, and you can find leaner and grass fed meats. But we all can’t be rich and have all the time in the world so here is a little list of stuff I get from Costco. It fits the budget, its quick and convenient, healthy and tastes good!

Easy breezy shopping list:

5lbs. Bag of veggies

5lbs. bag of chicken

3lbs. of Salmon patties

5 pack of avocado

2.5L extra virgin olive oil

1lbs. Spring mix salad

3lbs. of London broil steak

Ground beef

27oz jar of almond butter

Gala apples

3lbs. of Hillside farm turkey

7 ½ dozen eggs

3 gallons of whole milk w/omega 3

3lbs. of bacon

Feel free to manipulate the list to whatever fits you best. This is my personal shopping list and it works out well for me. There is enough variety to keep me from getting bored and it provides me with everything I need.