When we want to eat healthily, we have to get the correct combination of food types. There are three main types of food: proteins, carbohydrates and fats. This article is about proteins.
We need to eat protein as part of our diet on a daily basis. It is one of the building blocks of the cells of our body. Our body uses the proteins in the food we eat to build muscle and to provide energy for our use. Protein has the same number of calories per gram of food as carbohydrates, 4 kcal per gram (17 kJ).
A lot of research has been done so that it is now known about how proteins work in the body, how they are converted, etc. The chemistry of this is beyond the scope of this article and I suggest anybody that is interested in learning more about that to look it up on Wikipedia.
There are nine essential amino acids which humans must obtain from their diet. Animal proteins will usually include all nine and are thus considered “complete” protein. Plant proteins may be missing one or two of these proteins so that foods have to be combined to make sure one gets all the amino acids every day.
My interest in proteins has to do with getting sufficient in my diet. Most people will think of meat, fish and eggs as the normal sources of protein, but there are many plant sources as well, such as lentils, chick peas, black-eyed beans, almonds and sunflower seeds. Understanding the sources of protein in the foods we eat will help us plan a better diet, at perhaps a lower cost.
Where I live in Norway, meat and fish, as well as the processed products made from them are expensive. My husband and I have now reduced our consumption of meat and fish to about once each a week, and on the other five days of the week rely on other good sources of protein.
How much protein you need in a day depends on your height, gender, age, muscle mass and lifestyle (such as sedentary or active). According to healthline.com the average male needs about 56-91 grams of protein and the average female needs about 46-75 grams of protein per day.
Let’s look at the protein content of various types of food. The numbers given below are grams of protein in 100 grams of food. My source is The British Nutrition Foundation (https://www.nutrition.org.uk) or the packaging of the items I have in the house. Remember that many packaged foods will give you the amount of protein per 100 gr on the label.
Animal foods:
- Beef – 31 gr
- Pork – 31 gr
- Chicken – 32 gr
- Salmon – 24.2 gr
- Tuna – 23.5 gr
- Cod – 20.8 gr
- Eggs – 12.5 gr
- Whole milk – 3.3 gr
- Cheddar cheese – 25.4 gr
- Cottage cheese – 12.6 gr
Plant foods:
- Red lentils – 23.8 gr
- Chickpeas/garbanzo beans – 8.4 gr
- Kidney beans – 6.9 gr
- Black-eyed beans – 23.1 gr
- Alubia beans – 22.5 gr
- Peanut butter – 26 gr
- Sunflower seeds – 23 gr
- Pumpkin seeds – 25 gr
- Sesame seeds – 18 gr
- Almonds – 21 gr
- Pecans – 9.2 gr
- Hazelnuts – 15 gr
- Walnuts – 15 gr
Remember that not all servings are of equal size. I hope you would never have 100 gr of peanut butter at one sitting, though 100 gr of meat is common. As you can see, many plant foods give a reasonable amount of protein.