Protein - Part 1

All about our favourite macronutrient: PROTEIN

When it comes to sport nutrition, many people ask about protein.  In comments from my online research survey, and in emails I receive from readers of this blog, I am often asked “How much protein do I need daily?”  “How much protein should I get when I’m training?”  “How can I get protein when climbing outdoors?”  “I’m vegetarian/vegan, how can I make sure I get enough protein?”  The next couple of blog posts are therefore dedicated to answering your questions about our favourite macronutrient – PROTEIN.

 

What protein does and does not do in our body

The protein we eat can be used in the body to build tissues such as muscle and connective tissue.  Protein is also the base of enzymes and hormones, which control all reactions in our body, including what goes in and out of our cells.  Proteins also help identify which cells are a part of our body and which are intruders, like bacteria and viruses.   Protein can also be used as a fuel to give our body energy.

It is important to realize that not all of the protein we eat is used to make the proteins in our body.  About 50-60% of the protein we eat from food is actually converted to carbohydrate.  Our body needs much more carbohydrate then it does fat or protein.  So any excess protein we may eat through food or supplement does not necessarily go to our muscles, tissues or enzymes – it can be converted to carbohydrate, or sometimes even fat!

 

What foods give me protein?

When we think of protein, we often think of meat.  But you may be surprised to know that some grains, vegetables and fruit also give us a little protein – they contribute about 40% of the protein in our diet!

If we look at the serving sizes in Eating Well with Canada’s Food Guide, we can estimate:

- One serving of vegetables and fruit gives about 1 or 2 g protein

- One serving of grains gives about 3 g protein

- One serving of milk and alternatives gives about 8 g protein

- One serving of meat and alternatives gives about 20 g protein

 

How much protein do I need in one day?

The amount of protein you need every day depends on your activity level, weight, and age:

·      Exercising can increase the breakdown of protein in the body so that it can be used for energy.  However, our bodies tend to adapt to this with regular training.  So as our training progresses, our body learns to spare some of its protein.

·      The more you weigh, the more tissues you have to maintain, and so the more protein you need.  Take note that as an adult, maintaining our tissues only requires a small amount of protein to account for protein losses that occur naturally every day.

·      Children and adolescents are growing like crazy!  During growth, more new tissues are created every day, which demands more protein to support the structure of a youth’s changing body. This means children and adolescents need more protein per kilogram body weight then their older counterparts.  But, considering body weight differences between adults and youth, this does not always work out to larger portions for youth.

It is obvious that protein does a lot in our body, but even when we’re training hard, we really don’t need that much.  Despite the fact that many athletes report an intake of over 2.0 g of protein per kilogram body weight per day, adults only need 0.8-1.0 g/kg protein on non-training days.  For an adult climber cranking hard in the gym or on the rock, only 1.2 g/kg protein per day is needed, to a maximum of 1.7 g/kg protein per day in the early stages of training.

 

What do protein needs look like in terms of food?

For someone who weighs 160 lbs (73 kg), on a non-training day all they would need is 60 to 70 grams of protein.  Did you know that 2 slices of whole wheat bread and 1 cup of milk already give you 15 g of protein??

Take a look at the tables below.  From these tables, it’s easy to see how the average North American eats more protein in a day then needed.  Protein adds up rather quickly and it is possible to achieve needs when both training indoors and outdoors – all it takes is planning appropriate meals and snacks!

Non training day*
0.8-1.0 g/kg/d
Weight: 110 lbs = 50 kg		Weight: 160 lbs = 73 kg
40 – 50 g protein/d		60 – 70 g protein/d
Foods	Protein	Foods	Protein
1 slice whole wheat bread	3 g	2 slices whole wheat bread	6 g
2 Tbsp jam	0 g	2 Tbsp jam	0 g
1 cup milk	9 g	1 cup milk	9 g
1 apple	0 g	1 apple	0 g
½ whole wheat pita	3 g	½ whole wheat pita	3 g
Banana	1 g	50 g cheddar cheese	14 g
Lettuce	0 g	Lettuce	0 g
¼ cup chicken strips	12 g	¼ cup chicken strips	12 g
8 baby carrot sticks	1 g	8 baby carrot sticks	1 g
water	0 g	water	0 g
2 slices cheese, meat and vegetable pizza	11 g	2 slices cheese, meat and vegetable pizza	11 g
1 cup garden salad	1 g	1 cup garden salad	1 g
¾ cup yogurt	8 g	¾ cup yogurt	8 g
½ cup pears	0 g	½ cup pears	0 g
Total protein	49 g	Total protein	65 g
*This is NOT a meal plan, but an example of how protein-containing foods can fit into every day meals and add up to meet protein needs.  This example may not meet all nutrition needs for everyone, so should not be seen as a meal plan.

Training day (outdoors example)*
1.2-1.5 g/kg/d
Weight: 110 lbs = 50 kg		Weight: 160 lbs = 73 kg
60 – 75 g protein/d		88 – 110 g protein/d
Foods	Protein	Foods	Protein
1 cup oatmeal	6 g	1 cup oatmeal	6 g
3 Tbsp skim milk powder	9 g	3 Tbsp skim milk powder	9 g
1 apple	0 g	1 apple	0 g
1 Banana	1 g	1 Banana	1 g
1 whole wheat tortilla	4 g	1 whole wheat tortilla	4 g
1 Tbsp peanut butter	9 g	2 Tbsp peanut butter	18 g
2 slices whole wheat bread	6 g	2 slices whole wheat bread	6 g
50 g cheddar cheese	14 g	50 g cheddar cheese	14 g
½ avocado	2 g	½ avocado	2 g
¼ cup trail mix	5 g	¼ cup trail mix	5 g
100 g yogurt cup	3 g	100 g yogurt cup	3 g
1 cup pasta	7 g	1 cup pasta	7 g
½ cup pasta sauce	2 g	½ cup pasta sauce	2 g
¼ 60 g-can tuna	7 g	½ 60 g-can tuna	14 g
1 cup carrots, zucchini, bell pepper	1 g	1 cup carrots, zucchini, bell pepper	1 g
Total protein	76 g	Total protein	92 g
*This is NOT a meal plan, but an example of how protein-containing foods can fit into every day meals and add up to meet protein needs.  This example may not meet all nutrition needs for everyone, so should not be seen as a meal plan.

Protein needs summary

·      Protein in the body is used to build tissues, to work as enzymes and hormones, and to provide fuel for energy.

·      Not all the protein we eat is used for muscle, and more then 50% of the protein we eat can be converted to carbohydrate for energy.

·      The best food sources of protein are meats, beans, legumes, nuts and seeds, but milk and alternatives, grain products and even vegetables and fruit contribute a significant amount of protein to the diet.

·      We only need a small amount of protein per day, even when training at high intensity.  This need can easily be met through food.

 

References:

Burke, L., Deakin, V.  Clinical Sports Nutrition, Chp 4: Protein and amino acid needs for training and bulking up. 3rd ED., 2006.  McGraw-Hill Australia Pty Ltd.

Canadian Nutrient File, accessed via the Internet at http://webprod.hc-sc.gc.ca/cnf-fce/index-eng.jsp

 

Stay tuned!

To follow in our protein series, a post about protein supplements, and protein in vegetarian regimes.

What should I eat BEFORE, DURING, and AFTER training or competition??

Last year, I sent out a research survey to rock climbing gyms all across North America.  I added one question to that survey to help me with topics for this blog.  The question was “If you could ask a nutrition professional anything, what would you ask?”  I got a lot of great questions, and found out most climbers want to know, what should I eat before, during and after climbing.

From that survey, I also found out that a lot of climbers are cross-training with weight training, running, yoga and biking.

This blog post is for every type of sports, exercise, or climbing enthusiast.  No matter what you’re training for, how you’re training, or when you’re training, one of the most useful topics in sport nutrition is WHAT to eat WHEN.

Below are links to 2 tables I created (in pdf format) summarizing all the information.  I suggest you download these tables to follow along with the written post. One of the tables lists numbers – grams of carbohydrate and millilitres of fluids recommended per kilogram body weight.  These amounts are known in research for intense training, and were calculated looking mostly at endurance athletes.  If you were to calculate these for yourself, without the help of a Sports Dietitian, you may think the amounts recommended are impractical for your training.  I don’t want you to get caught up in these calculations – I simply provided them to you as a reference.  However, the WHAT and WHEN to eat are still practical for every level of training, competitive or recreational.

LINK 1: Before During After Table

LINK 2: Before During After Meal Ideas

What and when to eat BEFORE training or competition

As we go through what to eat before, during and after training or competition, we’re not just talking about FOOD.  We’re also talking about FLUIDS, which play a pivotal role in performance.

Your nutrition goals before starting your training session or competition are:

1. Prevent thirst.

2. Maximize your muscle and liver carbohydrate stores.

 

Drinking FLUID hours before helps prevent dehydration during your training or competition.  This is very important; just a little dehydration causes poor performance (##insert hyperlink here).  If you’re the type of person who is too busy, or forgets to drink fluids throughout the day, then make a conscience effort to start drinking fluids at least 4 hours before your session.  Drink fluids slowly with food or a salty snack – this helps keep fluid in the body so that you’re not spending your time running to the bathroom!

In terms of FOOD, when you arrive at your training session or competition, you shouldn’t be hungry nor should you have undigested food in your stomach.  Just like hydration, if you’re in for an intense training session, your nutrition plan starts 4 to 8 hours before!  This is to make sure your muscles are fueled so that they can work at intense levels for longer periods of time.

Eat carbohydrate-rich foods 3 to 4 hours before exercise – this increases the level of energy stored in your muscles and liver.  By having a full meal with carbohydrate-rich foods 3 to 4 hours before your session, you will help increase your endurance.

-- To learn more about carbohydrates and how they work in the body, see the previous blog post --

As time before your training session gets shorter, have smaller meals and snacks, but still rich in carbohydrates to keep your blood sugar up – this is important to prevent fatigue during exercise.  With less then 2 hours before your training session, have some crackers and cheese, pita and hummus, or a peanut butter and jam sandwich with some vegetable sticks.  These snacks are generally lower in fat and fibre, high in carbohydrate and moderate in protein.

Fat, fibre and high amounts of protein empty from the stomach slowly so tend to leave a heavy feeling in the stomach when training.  Carbohydrate empties from your stomach more quickly.  The carbohydrate snacks mentioned above allow you to arrive at your session energized without a heavy feeling in your stomach.

 Review

r Carbohydrate is the most important for giving your muscles energy.

r Arriving hydrated and fueled increases performance and endurance.

r Your nutrition plan starts as early as 8 hours before training

o   If training in the MORNING, this means what you eat and drink the night before counts

o   If training in the AFTERNOON OR EVENING, this means what you eat and drink from the moment you wake up counts.

r Choose carbohydrate rich foods lower in fat, fibre and moderate in protein close to training time. 

Putting it into practice:

If your training or competition is in the MORNING:

Night before: High carb dinner + extra fluid.  Example, pasta with chickpea marinara sauce + ¾ cup yogurt + ½ cup fruit + water, tea or 100% fruit juice.

Morning of: Eat light breakfast/large snack + extra fluid.  Example, low fibre breakfast cereal + ½ cup fruit + milk, water, tea or 100% fruit juice.

If your training or competition is in the EVENING:

Morning of: Eat a carbohydrate rich breakfast.  Example, pancakes with yogurt or cottage cheese + ½ cup fruit + water, tea or 100% fruit juice.

Afternoon of: Eat a carbohydrate-rich lunch.  Example, turkey sandwich + crackers and cheese + ½ cup vegetable sticks + milk, water, tea or 100% fruit juice.

Evening of: Have a large or small snack at dinner before training or competition.  Example, granola bar and juice box with extra water or toast with jam and peanut butter.

What and when to eat DURING training or competition

Your nutrition goals during your training session or competition are:

1. Stay hydrated.

2. Maintain blood sugar levels so you don’t fatigue.

Make sure you frequently drink FLUIDS.  Staying hydrated is the most important factor for maintaining performance during training or competition.  Don’t wait until you are thirsty.  Physical activity delays thirst.  If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

The amount of fluid you need largely varies on your training climate and intensity; if it is hotter and you are working harder, then you will need more fluids.  As a benchmark, aim to drink fluid at least every 10 to 20 minutes during training or competition, ½ cup to 1 cup of fluid.

You do not need any extra FOOD if you are training or competing for less then 60 minutes.  For the first hour of training, hydrating with water is all you need.

After one hour, have a carbohydrate source to keep blood sugars up.  This improves performance, and prevents you and your muscles from fatiguing.  Thirty to 70 g of carbohydrate per hour is suggested when training for longer sessions.  This can be taken in the form of a sport drink, sport gel, or carbohydrate-rich foods such as fig bars, dried fruit, date squares or crackers.

Take small amounts of carbohydrate every 10 to 20 minutes.  Taking a large portion of carbohydrate at the end of one hour is not as effective as eating smaller portions frequently throughout the hour.  You can do this easily by pairing it with your fluid intake: drink ½ cup to 1 cup of sport drink every 10 to 20 minutes OR use the same amount of water to wash down some raisins, a fig bar or a cracker.

If your training or competition lasts longer then 3 to 4 hours, consider taking a short break to get in a small or large snack.  At any point before, during, or after your training/competition, you don’t want to go more then 3 to 4 hours without refueling your body with food.

Review:

r    If you are thirsty, you are already dehydrated.

r    Aim to drink some fluids every 10 to 20 minutes during training and competition.

r    After 60 minutes of training, your muscles fatigue and need refueling.  Every 10 to 20 minutes, take a source of carbohydrate, either in the form of sport drink, or snack food.

r    Avoid going 3 to 4 hours without a large snack or meal.

 

Putting it into practice:

If you are training for less then 60 minutes: All you need is water.  Drink frequently, every 10 to 20 minutes.  Keep your water bottle or hydration pack with you at all times.

If you are training for more then 60 minutes: You need some carbohydrate, every 10 to 20 minutes.  Switch from water to a sport drink, or have some dried fruit, crackers, or a sport gel when you take your water every 10 to 20 minutes.

If you are training for more then 3 to 4 hours: Take a break to refuel with a small to large snack.  If training in a gym, bring a cooler packed with your favourite snacks and light meals.  If outdoors, pack granola bars, fruit, crackers, jam packets, nuts and seeds, or return to camp and make a sandwich with some veggie sticks or soup with bread.

What and when to eat AFTER training or competition

Eating after training or competition is to recover from the intense exercise.  Recovery nutrition allows you to train at a higher level without risk of illness, injury or overtraining.  Getting recovery foods after your training session allows your body to recover quicker.  This reduces the rest time your body needs between sessions and improves the quality of your next session.  Therefore, recovery nutrition is even more important if you plan on training hard again in the next 24 hours.

 

Your nutrition goals after your training session or competition are:

1. Start recovery immediately.

2. Take carbohydrate to refuel muscle and liver stores.

3. Take a little protein to repair muscle.

 

Intense training actually causes damage to the body.  Intense training causes tiny tears in muscle protein fibres.  This damage is a good thing, because recovering from it makes you and your muscles stronger.  When you don’t recover, such as when you overtrain, don’t take rest days, and avoid getting in the proper recovery foods, the damage builds up and can lead to overuse injuries.

The best recovery happens just 15 to 30 minutes after your training!  Right after exercise, the muscle cells have used up all their carbohydrate stores and are very sensitive to refueling and repairing.  If you feed your muscles a little carbohydrate and protein at this time, you will maximize your recovery.

Once again, carbohydrate is the most important for muscle recovery.  Eating carbohydrate allows your muscles to restock their energy stores, and can support muscle protein synthesis (muscle strengthening and building).

Protein is also important for maximizing your post-training recovery.  Right after exercise (15 to 30 minutes) your muscles are most receptive to absorbing the building blocks of their protein fibres.  Eating protein allows for more muscle building and repairing.  Recent research shows that only a little bit of protein is needed to do this – it seems that no more then 20 grams of protein after intense training is needed to maximize muscle protein synthesis.  You can get at least 20 grams of protein by eating:

-       ½ cup cottage cheese + 1 hard cooked egg

-       1 cup of milk + ¼ cup nuts

-       Fruit smoothie made with ¾ cup yogurt + 2 Tbsp peanut butter

-       60 g cheddar cheese on toast

-       Tuna wrap with 1 can of tuna

-       Club sandwich with 75 g of turkey or chicken breast

Having any of these foods post-training will help your muscles recover.

-- To learn more about protein and how it works in the body, see the previous blog post --

 

By 2 hours after your training session, you need to have a full meal.  Make sure this meal is balanced with both carbohydrate and protein sources.  Carbohydrates should come from an abundance of vegetables or fruit and some grain products, such as breads, pastas, couscous, rice, oatmeal, etc.  Foods that contain both carbohydrate and protein are milk, cheeses, yogurt, beans, lentils, chickpeas, seeds, etc.  Meats such as turkey, chicken, beef and fish have very little carbohydrate but are good sources of protein.  A balanced meal is 50% vegetables and fruit, 25% grains, 25% meat or meat alternative.

Review:

r    Take advantage of the 15 to 30 minutes after your training session and by eating recovery foods.  Most important is carbohydrate, but a little protein is needed for muscle recovery.

r    Only about 20 grams of protein is needed right after training to optimize your muscle recovery.  You can easily get this through food.

 

Putting it into practice:

15 to 30 minutes after training or competition: Have at least a small recovery snack that provides both carbohydrate and protein.  Pack these snacks in your gym bag or keep some stored at the gym.  For at the crag, make sure you pack some in your rope bag or crash pad when at the crag.

2 hours after training or competition: Have a full balanced meal.  Make sure this has carbohydrate in the form of grains, cereals and vegetables and fruit, and protein in the form of meat, fish, poultry, tofu, soy, beans, lentils or chickpeas.

 

Summary

There’s a lot of information here to take in.  Remember at least these few key messages:

r    Don’t go more then 3 to 4 hours without refueling your body.

r    Carbohydrate food and fluid sources are important before, during and after training or competition.

r    If you’re training for only 60 minutes, all you need is water, but make sure you are drinking water frequently.

r    If you’re training more then 60 minutes, you need small but frequent amounts of carbohydrate foods or fluids.

r    Take carbohydrate-rich and protein-rich snacks within the 15 to 30 minutes after training.

r    Only 20 grams of protein is needed after training, but is important for muscle strengthening and building.

r    Balanced meals including vegetables and fruit are important for health and recovery.

 

Finally, I will leave you with one last but very important rule:

 

Don’t try anything new the day it counts!

Whether it’s competition day, or whether it’s your last day in Squamish and you want to send that five-star project, don’t try any new food!  It has happened to many athletes – on the day that it counts, they see another athlete drinking an energy drink, or they are offered some spicy creamy dish they have never heard of before.  If you have never tried a food or drink before, then don’t try it on the day it counts.  You don’t know how well you tolerate that food or drink, and you may spend the rest of the day in the bathroom!

 

References

Joint Position Paper: Nutrition and Athletic Performance (2008). Dietitians of Canada, American College of Sports Medicine, American Dietetic Association.

Position Stand: Exercise and Fluid Replacement (2007).  American College of Sports Medicine.

Tang, J. E. & Phillips, S. M. (2009). Maximizing muscle protein anabolism: the role of protein quality. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care. 12:66-71.

Mansfield, B. (2009). Nutrition and Athletic Performance (presentation slides). www.peakperformance.on.ca.