Protein The Building Block of Muscle

After oxygen, sand is the most abundant element on Earth. It's everywhere, in every crack and crevice. It even gets into your own cracks and crevices after a fun day at the beach. Well you can think of Protein the same way. After water, protein is the most common substance in your body. It makes up about one-fifth of your muscles ( the rest being primarily water ), but that's only a small part of your protein connection. " You find a little bit of it in every cell of your body, including in your organs, hair, nails and skin," says Tara Gidus, RD, CSSD, team in Nutritionist for the Orlando Magic. It was a great discussion on Skype Thanks for returning my messages Tara. Most Nutritionist, physiologist, and doctors refer to protein as " the building block of life" because without this important macronutrient your body wouldn't be able to build any part of itself at all. You probably haven't thought of protein this way before, but its rather crucial to your existence. - Protein constructs and repairs body tissues, and not just the muscular kind but cartilage, bones, organs, and connective tissues - Protein produces the enzymes that digest food - Protein is found in antibodies that keep you healthy by resisting diseases - Protein regulates body processes such as water balancing,oxygen and energy transportation,and making muscles contract OPTIMUM PROTEIN With so much going for protein, you might start contemplating raising cattle in your backyard, lol. But you can consume too much of a good thing-there's only so much protein your body can process. "once your body has enough for what it needs to rebuild muscle, it breaks down protein and stores it as BODY FAT! Generally, for healthy people, following a high-protein diet is fairly safe in the short term. But eating too much protein can potentially exacerbate liver and kidney problems for anyone who may already have trouble eliminating the waste products of protein metabolism. Whenever your body breaks down protein into glucose, it needs to remove both nitrogen and ammonia from the molecule ( the ammonia being a by- product of the process). Both of those actions require fluid, which is why it's important to remain hydrated when eating a high protein diet. So what's the best formula for safe and effective protein? In my understanding and the Dietary Reference Intake ( DRI ) recommendation for daily protein for men is 0.8 grams for every kilogram ( 2.2 pounds ) of bodyweight or 0.36 grams per pound. Athletes who strength-train need 1.6 to 1.7 grams per kilogram of body weight, which is twice as much as the DRI fro protein, That's roughly 0.72 to 0.77 grams per pound. If you feel you have money to burn, and feel like doubling or tripling that number, then know this; YOU ARE JUST WASTING YOUR TIME. YOUR BODY CANT PROCESS MORE THAN ON GRAM OF PROTEIN PER POUND OF BODY WEIGHT EACH DAY. EX: If you weigh 190 pounds, then between 136 and 146 grams of protein is optimum. Thats about 584 calories worth of protein, since every gram of protein contains 4 calories. Thanks, Richard Gayle BNR Fitness