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CategoriesI’m not a gambling man, but I bet I can name your protein sources.
Let’s have a go;
1: Skinless Chicken Breast
2: Canned Tuna
3: Egg Whites
4: Lean Beef
5: Whey Protein Powder
I got them all right? Damn, I wish bookies would take bets on that kind of thing with ridiculous odds. Then I could buy a tropical island and I certainly wouldn’t be stuck on the tube like I’m in a can of sardines penning this article, how apt. I’m not a gambling man anyway…so, eating the same foods all the time can be a good thing as it means you’re getting your muscle-building, recovery boosting, energising nutrients in like clockwork. However, this approach is not without pitfalls.
Eating the same things all the time may leave you malnourished as your diet may not be varied enough. Also many modern day sources of protein are tainted with pollutants or their quality has become tainted by over farming, feeding animals with cheap feed that nature never intended them to ingest or harmful fishing methods that are putting many sea creatures at risk or maybe excessive fishing is threatening the species’ existence altogether. Most athletes also rigorously avoid dietary fats; this is another error that I’ll explore.
Protein is made up of 20 amino acids, 9 of which are deemed essential, which means we have to consume them through the food we eat. Only meat, poultry, eggs, fish and dairy contain a complete amino acid profile, which means they have all the 9 needed in a high level for growth, quinoa is the one exception to the rule though (it’s a low GI grain-like seed with all 9).
Non-essential amino acids get synthesized inside our body.
Glutamine has been recently termed as conditionally essential, which means hard training athletes will benefit from supplementation as it gets depleted. Protein sources can sure contain a lot of beneficial nutrients, but many other things must be eaten for benefit too, such as broccoli, spinach, organic mushrooms and flaxseeds, that boost testosterone and prevent it converting to oestrogen. Some people also forget about other proteins like those found in raw nuts and seeds in conjunction with vitamins, minerals and healthy fats sp include mixed raw nuts and seeds in your daily feeds, though too fatty to use as a main source, combined they will definitely provide the full spectrum of essential amino acids and be of benefit.
Let’s go through foods one to five:
1:Chicken:
Chicken is a great source of protein, like most meat and poultry, its protein content is a hearty twenty percent, approximately. However you must source it well, a poor quality chicken breast will be injected with water, salt and additives to enhance the appearance, but the water will drain when you cook it and the unwanted additions remain, but many of us are driven to frozen chicken as the price of fresh chicken breast can be extortionate nowadays. Check the price per kg on the shelf, and go with the one that just lists chicken on the label then go with the lowest priced of the bunch.
Also consider alternating your chicken with Turkey. Turkey is much cheaper per kilo, yet more nutrient-dense than chicken, and these nutrients have mood boosting effects, so don't let the supermarkets know, or they'll whack the price up!
It contains an amino acid called tryptophan; the hormone melatonin that helps to regulate your sleeping and waking cycles is made from it, which works in conjunction with our exposure to daylight and darkness. Turkey is versatile too as it also comes in strips or minced, so you can make it into meatballs and burgers rather than just marinated strips which may become monotonous.
Even consider alternating chicken for game like pheasant occasionally as a little treat or something different, but be warned rabbit’s an awful choice as it hardly contains any nutrients, so don’t bother with that one, anecdotally hunters living only on rabbit became severely malnourished and that is how we know this today. If money isn’t your issue, go for free range chicken. Free range and naturally fed is key, as an unhealthy bird fed a natural diet cannot process the nutrients even if fed them. In the UK, that’ll be the sort with an RSPCA approved stamp on the package.
It’s also more beneficial to eat the dark meat, as this has seen a lot more blood flow and therefore has a superior amino acid profile to breast meat, think about it, chickens are flightless birds, the breast beats the wings, not much usage there, but boy do they like a good walk around. Poultry does lack the dense B vitamins, Cholesterol, Iron and Zinc content of red meats that are critical for growth and repair though, so don’t be that person who avoids all red meats. A happy medium here is Ostrich meat, well worth a try.
2:Canned Tuna:
Fish is a great protein source, most types are approximately fifteen percent protein and evolving man thrived on the stuff so as a result the human body needs a lot of the stuff found within to function. Tuna’s pretty affordable, even though it’s been hit with what America dubbed “ the grocery shrink ray” since the global recession, where the price has been increased, yet the weight of the contents has decreased. Tuna is protein dense, but due to pollutants in our seas, it may not be the best choice nowadays. Also unless it says pole and line caught, you can guarantee that every can you buy has killed some dolphins, turtles, or other incredible creatures that deserve to be left in peace to explore the ocean. You can switch it up for other types of fish, but even there, most Brits will think, “okay, cod” but that is being brutally over fished too and also lacks healthy fats that oily fish contain.
Salmon is a great alternative as it contains much more essential fatty acids than tuna, but ensure that you get wild, not farmed, and find out where it was caught, no point getting the varieties from seas rammed with heavy metals or fish that don’t develop nutrients. The same also applies to mackerel, and trout; both another excellent one to go with, all very rich in EPA & DHA which help so many processes in our body such as cognitive function, heart health and decreasing inflammation. On this note it’s worth supplementing with High Strength Cod Liver Oil, until Krill Oil becomes commercially available or reasonably priced that is. Have an actual tuna steak as an indulgence, their high price per kg may prohibit it from being a daily staple, and also try swordfish as another indulgence, it doesn’t have a sharp taste like most fish, but a really clean flavour, I hid a pun in there.
Sardines are also good as they contain the small yet edible and digestible bones which are loaded with calcium too, and are available canned, which contrary to popular opinion, is actually a good thing as this preserves the nutrients practically as they were on the day the little swimmers were caught and it also rather depressingly reminds me that I’m sat on a train that’s just gone through King’s Cross at a peak usage time and I’m almost unable to breath due to being a broad shouldered man (you may call me a 100kg wrecking ball if you wish) sat in tiny seats flanked by obese mouth-breathers. Maybe I should hand them my card and tell them to look out for this article…is that offensive? It’s pretty uncomfortable having my elbows are crushed against my ribcage that’s for certain, prohibiting me reaching my pocket for my cards anyway.
3:Egg Whites:
Why, oh why, are you throwing away egg whites?
Cries of “Fat!” and “Cholesterol!” echo around the myprotein towers.
Cholesterol is needed to produce the lining of new cells, which as a recovering athlete is imperative: Cholesterol interlocks fat molecules, stabilizing cell membranes. Therefore, cholesterol is a vital building block for all of the body’s tissues so to avoid such a vital molecule is absurd.
Dietary fat is critical, it helps us absorb vitamins A,D,E&K:
-Vitamin A can be found in kale, liver and egg yolks and helps your ocular health and moistens the mucous membranes of the body.
-Vitamin D is found in Cod Liver Oil and synthesized by sunlight and has a profound effect on muscle building, mood and health.
-Vitamin E is a potent anti-oxidant which will boost recovery and can be found in Wheatgerm, which interestingly contains a strength boosting nutrient called octocosanol that works by increasing the body’s ability to recruit muscles to fire in synchronicity, so try some in your pre workout shake.
-Vitamin K is found in green leafy veg like spinach and is essential to maintain thyroid function, which regulates our energy and body composition.
Cut fat and you won’t absorb those vitamins well, and subsequently your body’s hormonal output will suffer. ”But I can get fat elsewhere right?” Right, but it won’t contain the plethora of vitamins and minerals an egg yolk contains, so eat them up! Always eat whole eggs, don’t waste yolks. If you want extra low fat protein, make up the remaining amount of protein you need with sustainable white fish in this meal as that will give you a hefty dose of protein and very little fat. I have a terrible video that contains a great recipe on my YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtWIP...5&feature=plcp
Always ensure that your eggs are free range, caged chickens don’t produce healthy eggs. Imagine if you were confined to a cage no bigger than your body wallowing in waste matter and force-fed solely cheetos…how do you reckon you’d end up? Don’t be afraid to try different types of eggs for variation either. Research shows that those who eat three whole eggs a day have better health and gains than those who don’t. The best way to enjoy your eggs is a soft poach from a nutritional standpoint, a two minute poach will cook the white and leave the yolk alone. This is good to do as in a raw white avidin is bonded to biotin, which inhibits the absorption of this critical B vitamin, whilst leaving the heat sensitive nutrients in the yolk intact. Get poaching!
4: Lean Beef
Cows first got domesticated for human consumption 4,000 years ago in Ancient Greece, so we can thank them for that as well as democracy and cool films about 300 ripped men that inspired the planet to go to the gym. Now, the nutritional powerhouse that is lean beef, again it’s approximately one-fifth protein and is rich in B vitamins, Iron and Zinc, which boost energy, prevent anaemia and elevate testosterone.
It also contains a small amount of naturally occurring creatine. However, many commercially farmed cows are fed grain…yes, cows are meant to eat grass…so the grain fed cows are lacking in CLA which can aid favourably improving body composition. Select grass fed beef and reap the benefits, one of them being elevated protein content, it can be up to a quarter protein by weight. Stearic acid makes up the fat in beef and has no impact on negative cholesterols in your blood. Inactivity is what does that, to which the cure is exercise, not medication and avoiding dietary cholesterol. The body is much more complexed than what you put in you get out, though this is true in terms of the quality of food, not necessarily the specific nutrients. All nutrients have a different metabolic and hormonal effect on the body.
Red meat is also rich in carnosine which is vital for growth and a reason vegetarians look gaunt is that they miss out on a lot of this stuff, though half fat mozzarella has the same amount of protein and fat as minced beef, so I’ve used that with clients who wished to remain vegetarian, and it also can be considered as a protein source in itself or combined with other foods in meals to reach the protein target.
Don’t be afraid to switch beef up for lamb and also try bison! Ensure they’re grass fed too. Bison is great as it is very nutrient dense and similar to meat evolving man would have been consuming. Consider if a big cat ate an animal, they’d chase it, pounce, break the neck, and eat out the torso, leaving the long bones and skull. Now, our ancestors as hunter-gatherers would come along with a big rock and break the skull, suck out the bone marrow then consume the brains, which were high in fats; a large percentage being EPA and DHA.
In addition to fish, vegetation, nuts, seeds and berries this provided a lot of nutrients. It’s debated whether man ate fruit year round as it is seasonal. Excess fructose is also fattening, despite the fact it doesn’t cause a blood sugar spike because it isn’t processed like other carbs and once the liver fills with fructose the rest is stored as fat, which doesn’t take much more than a daily cupful of berries.
It’s estimated primitive man ate over half a kilo of protein a day and up to 200g of fibre. Modern man eats maybe 50-100g of protein if they’re lucky, abundant sugar they’d never have had access to, probably absolutely zero essential fatty acids unless they eat fish or take a fish oil supplement, even then that’s single figure grams, and not very much fibre either. Addressing these issues fixes a lot of modern maladies. This lifestyle and dietary habits were responsible for rapid leaps in the development of brainpower and subsequently motor skills. On that note if you like offal, it’s very affordable and nutrient dense so well worth incorporating, and before you turn your nose up; I have a 6’8, 145kg Gridiron giant on my books, and he pounds it down to get his essential nutrients in as it’s dense in vitamins and protein, but costs practically pennies per kilo. It takes a lot of protein and micronutrients to maintain this guy’s muscle and health so he gets cost-effectiveness and quality with organic liver. He also alternates which animal’s liver he devours and he says it’s good, so I’ll let you disagree with him and all 22stone of his huge, functional and powerful muscular mass. Yeah, I bet you’re off to buy some now aren’t you, just in case you ever cross paths.
5: Whey Protein Powder
Now, you all know the benefits of whey, but possibly get sucked into marketing hype and manipulated statistics that tells you will get 3092% bigger.
Whey isolate is so filtered that it’s digested rapidly, sparking protein synthesis.
Whey hydrolysate goes one step further as is also chemically broken down, so practically pre-digested. These are the forms most of us seem to go for, however, there is a trade off for the rapid digestion; it’s believed that you lose out on lactoferrin and other glutathione boosting nutrients that get filtered out, and these are key for boosting immune function, so a happy medium here is to use a quality cold filtered whey protein concentrate in your own MRPs and preworkout shakes, then use Essential Amino Acid powder when aminos are rapidly needed such as on waking, during and after workouts. Whey is Leucine rich, which is one of the Branched Chain Amino Acids. Leucine is key for triggering protein synthesis, but it’s useless without the other BCAAs, which are Isoleucine and Valine. You can boost the effectiveness of EAAs by adding extra BCAAs and you can further boost the combination's effectiveness by adding extra Leucine. Whey isn’t the only star of the show, it’s only one of the two proteins in milk; Casein is the other. Whey is absorbed quickly, while casein forms a gel in the stomach. Think of whey like pouring sand into a funnel, due to the tiny size of the fractions, they can be assimilated very quickly indeed. Now, think of casein as a ball of elastic bands that have to be peeled off one by one to drop through the funnel.
Recent studies show that while whey may kick-start anabolism, where the body repairs, it doesn’t prevent catabolism, where the body gets broken down, casein does this and research shows that this can be prevented by combining equal measures of the two for a sustained release post workout which improves recovery and growth. Other proteins are being developed too like an exciting beef isolate, stay tuned for that becoming more widespread to help you beef up.
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.
Ensure that you select good quality protein sources and vary them regularly to benefit your health and physique.
By Alex Ferentinos
Internationally Capped Rugby Union & 7s Player, Sports Nutritionist, Advanced Trainer, Model and Former Champion Swimmer.
Alex has combined all of these talents in order to run his own online Nutrition and Fitness consultancy and has imparted his expertise to athletes, people in music, on screen and working nine to five with word of mouth rapidly spreading about his fantastic results. Clients praise him for his charismatic, informative approach that cuts through hype and misinformation by streamlining their diet and training and providing them with a complete blueprint to achieving their goals.
Like him on facebook: www.facebook.com/nutritionandfitnessconsultant
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