Why Do You Need protein?

Approximately one billion people suffer from protein deficiency worldwide. You may not realize it, but there’s evidence for the importance of protein in everything you do. Without it, you wouldn’t have the energy or strength to do even menial tasks. 

In this article, we discuss how food protein can help you meet your fitness goals. We also discuss the benefits of dietary protein. Continue reading to find out how the right healthy food can contribute to your health goals.

What Is Protein?

Protein is one of the essential nutrients your body needs to function. At the molecular level, protein is made of amino acids. These are small organic compounds needed in the body. 

The importance of protein is demonstrated in the way that it contributes to several bodily functions such as creating body tissues. It also serves as one of the macronutrients that provide us with energy. 

While protein is found in meat products such as eggs, chicken, beef, and pork, it’s also found in other food sources. 

Improves Health

If you want to live a healthy lifestyle the importance of protein can’t be understated. Diet protein is essential in making your body function.

This is evident in the positive side effects of protein consumption such as lower blood pressure, increased metabolism, and reduced symptoms of aging.

Lowers Blood Pressure

Healthy food with the best protein content helps lower your blood pressure. Food protein from animals, such as from eggs, contains arginine. Arginine is an amino acid that is partially responsible for circulating blood in the body.

High levels of arginine dilate your blood vessels. Dilated blood vessels help lower blood pressure at a significant rate. 

Increases Metabolism

Another benefit of diet protein from healthy food is the increase in your metabolism. Your metabolism increases when you burn calories, which is known as a thermic effect.

Thermic effect means that your body is expending energy as a means to process any recently consumed food. Protein has one of the highest thermic effects when compared to things like carbohydrates or fats. 

Reduces Symptoms of Aging

Diet protein is largely responsible for maintaining muscle and bone mass as your age. These parts of the body naturally grow weaker as you get older, which makes dietary protein essential for good health during the aging process.

Bones also become more brittle as you age. A good source of protein in your diet can also help prevent frailty and bone fractures.  

Improves Immune System and Hormonal Support

Protein does tons of things outside of the ‘tangible’ muscle growth, stronger bones, and slowing the aging process.

It also can help improve your immune system response to various illnesses by supporting t-cell production. T-cells are the immune cells that actually go out and attack invading illnesses. Protein malnutrition negatively impacts their production, leaving you lacking in the immune department.

Protein also supports proper hormonal balance.

Reduce Hunger

One of the most notable benefits of dietary protein is that it helps you feel full and prevents you from getting hungry too quickly. It accomplishes this with lower amounts than other types of food that lack protein.

Because you feel fuller, faster, this helps prevent cravings. Cravings are your body’s way of telling you that it’s lacking something. Eating healthy food can help minimize, or even eliminate, these cravings before they even occur.  

Helps With Training

Diet protein is a popular option for training. Whether you’re training for a marathon, weightlifting, or just trying to lose weight, consuming the best protein sources can help you see results faster. 

Improves Strength

One of the ways that dietary protein helps improve your training is through strength and muscle building. When you eat food protein, your body uses it as one of the building blocks of muscle. 

This means it’s easier to build muscle during strength training than if you didn’t eat any protein at all. Plus, it helps you maintain your muscle mass. overtime. 

Encourages Weight Loss

Because food protein increases metabolism and decreases hunger and cravings, it’s an important part of weight loss. Since it increases your ability to develop muscle, this also means it’ll be easier to turn your burn that fat off a bit faster.

Repairs Body

If you’ve ever healed from a tissue injury, you’ve enjoyed one of the benefits of dietary protein. The body uses protein from healthy food to repair damaged tissue such as skin and muscles. 

The protein can create new cells to take the place of damaged muscle fibers. Torn muscles send out a message that starts the repair process. This is the same way that your body builds muscle during workouts. 

Risks of Protein Deficiency

Now that you understand the many benefits of eating healthy food with high diet protein, it’s important to understand what happens without it. One of the main symptoms of protein deficiency is problems with hair, nails, or skin.

Since protein is a major component in these parts of your body, you may experience thinning hair, skin redness, and brittle nails without it. The same can be said for your muscle mass. A loss of muscle mass is usually the first symptom of protein deficiency. 

A lack of protein is especially concerning for older adults and young children. Protein is an essential part of maintaining healthy bones. Without enough dietary protein, children risk inhibited growth and older adults risk fragile bones. 

Finding the Right Protein for You

There is a lot of misinformation regarding protein as part of a healthy diet. Some people believe that it results in kidney problems or other health problems. However, protein is essential in a healthy diet. 

Working with a professional is essential in finding the right sources and the right amount of protein to meet your fitness needs. Everyone’s needs are unique depending on their age, body type, and goals.

A professional who’s been through their own fitness journey can help you understand those needs and get the results you’re looking for. 

Understand the Importance of Protein

The importance of protein as part of a healthy diet cannot be overstated. The right sources and amounts of dietary protein can help you meet your fitness goals. Without the right amount of protein and healthy food, you won’t see the results you want.

Let Us Help You Out

At CONDITIONerd we are here to help you achieve better physical and mental health through exercise. Check out the plans we offer to our customers and see if you could benefit from working with our team. And if you have questions, you can always contact a CONDITIONerd team member. 

Personal trainers, like those found here, can help guide you on your pathway towards reaching your fitness goals, whether that is getting bigger, stronger, faster, more lean, or just generally feeling better.

We can get you setup with a periodized workout plan, supplement information, and advice on nutrition to help you reach your goals.

The only thing you need is some motivation and a willingness to change some old habits.

Get into contact with us to find out what membership is right for you. In a CONDITIONerd program, you’ll be surrounded by others who can help you to get where you want to be.

Generally, our clients start to see some pretty awesome changes in 2-3 months time, some sooner.