Are you getting enough?

Protein. There is much debate in the media, as well as the nutrition, health and fitness industries over the amount of protein we should be taking in. The USDA recommends the ridiculously low 70 grams per day, based on a 2,000 calorie diet. That would be 14% of your total caloric intake. In her book, Winning by Losing, Jillian Michaels of NBC's The Biggest Loser recommends up to 50% of your calories coming from protein during an intense weight loss cycle. That would be 250 grams per day for someone on a 2,000 calorie per day diet (almost 4 times the USDA recommendation.) The body building community has been recommending 2 grams per pound of bodyweight for several years now. Many nutritionists on the strength and conditioning side of the fitness industry are currently recommending 1 - 1.2 grams per pound of bodyweight daily for individuals interested in building lean body mass and reducing body fat. This is the number I've been using for the last several months, and I am getting great results from it (along with lowering my carbs and increasing my fats, but that's another post.)

Suffice it to say, that if you don't know how much you're getting each day, you're probably not getting enough. While whole foods are considered best for many reasons, for the sake of convenience, you may want to try a protein powder. I highly recommend trueprotein.com for their custom made powders. I use their Milk Protein Isolate, which is 80% casein and 20% whey, but you can create whatever blend you want under their custom solutions tab(they even have a beef amino acid formula for you Paleo/Primal guys & gals) in whatever flavor and with whatever sweetener (they have natural and chemical available) you want. The beauty of this is that if you don't want chemical sweeteners in your protein powder, you can just leave it out. This is not an option with most powders on the market today. If you choose to go with trueprotein.com, enter my promotion discount code at checkout (PJJ303) to receive a 5% discount. And save that code, you can use it every time!

Train smart, eat right.

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