Protein - Calories and Nutrition
This food group includes
poultry, pulses, beans, nuts, seeds, soya products and vegetable protein
foods, such as quorn and seitan.
Protein - Highs and Lows
Protein plays an essential
role in building and repairing your body. But whether it helps a fingernail
to grow or heals a sore muscle depends very much on what the protein is
made up of.
This is because protein consists
of smaller units called amino acids, which chain together in many different
combinations to achieve different things. Some amino acid chains are created
by your body, but some - essential amino acids - must come from your diet.
Though all animal and plant cells contain some protein, the amount and
the quality of the protein varies a lot.
High biological value foods
contain enough indispensable amino acids for an adult diet and are considered
to be good quality protein. Meat, fish and eggs sit in this category.
Low biological value foods
don't contain enough indispensable amino acids. Plant foods, such as pulses,
nuts and seeds, are in this group.
For Optimum Nutrition and
Calorie Control Eat 10-15 Percent Calories from Protein
UK government guidelines
recommend that protein makes up 10-15 percent of your diet. They suggest
that adult males eat 55.5g of protein every day and adult females eat
45g every day.
In real terms, eating a moderate
amount of protein - in one or two meals every day - should give you all
the protein you need.
The need to eat it daily
is worth emphasising because your body can't store protein - you can't
stock up on it by bingeing on protein once a week. Simply eating a variety
of foods every day is all you need to do.
More Nutrition and Calories
Information
For more nutritional and
calorie information about foods, please see:
Nutrition - Fruit/Veg
- Carbs - Protein
- Dairy - Fats
- Sugars
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Sources include: BBC Health
(London), US Dept of Agriculture
For calorie details of 2500
Foods, see Calories
in Foods
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