Monday, May 17, 2010

Protein intake check

In carrying on with the theme of protein this week, I decided to look at my protein intake for just a day. Since I read that most people get 4 or 5 times too much protein per day, I was interested to see where I fell in that. I was surprised at the results!

As a woman, I'm supposed to have 25 to 50 grams of protein a day (oddly wide range, huh?) For breakfast, I had my tea with milk (9g) and toast (5g) with peanut butter (1 tbsp.=3.5g) and flaxseeds (1 tbsp.=1.5g). I was shocked that my breakfast was already 19 grams of protein! I then had a cheese stick at lunch (6g) and the Thai Protein Salad with tofu (5.5g). For dinner, I had a portobello mushroom with brie (not sure) and bulgur (6g), plus a glass of milk (9g). So, just with that, I had had at least 36g of protein. That's with no meat and relatively little cheese or other major sources of protein. I can see how people overdo it.

Now, I'm not really going to change my intake, because I think it's fine with the running I do and for my lifestyle in general. I'm definitely not overdoing it. I was just shocked to see how quickly it added up. I will definitely consider my balance of protein to complex carbs and healthy fats.

A couple of news items of interest:

Someone on Facebook posted this article: 7 Foods So Unsafe Even Farmers Won't Eat Them. I was nodding along with these but am feeling a little panic at the canned tomato thing. I haven't yet found any non-canned tomatoes that are easy to store and use. Any ideas, anyone? (And yes, I know canning is an option. Just not a likely one for me.)

On a related note, I found this article "Pesticides on Produce Tied to ADHD in Children" quite interesting.

2 comments:

  1. Eden Organics makes tinned tomatoes/beans/etc. that are not lined with BPA. http://www.edenfoods.com/store/index.php?cPath=23_41 They are an awesome company.

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  2. Great, thanks! Granted, I haven't done a ton of research, but I hadn't been able to find anything like this. I appreciate the tip!

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