In order to build muscle, you should consume protein - this topic is known to almost everyone.

Protein shakes & high-protein diets are often touted as the one-size-fits-all solution for muscle building these days.

But how much protein do you really need? Which foods contain a lot of protein? Are there other things you need to watch out for?

Basically:

Your body naturally needs protein to build muscle. Protein also helps to maintain your muscle mass during the weight loss phase. Nevertheless, protein is not the miracle cure, but rather a building block of healthy nutrition.

In the following blog we will give you a brief overview of what protein is, what protein does to your body and how you can sensibly incorporate protein into your diet.

Definition protein

What is protein?

The word protein comes from the Greek and means something like "I take first place". If we take a closer look at proteins, also called albumen, this description is accurate because we cannot exist without proteins.

From a chemical point of view, protein consists of the important elements carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen.

In addition, amino acids are important building blocks of protein, of which your body needs 20 different types, but it cannot produce 8 of them itself. These are also called essential amino acids, which means they must be ingested through protein-rich food:

• leucine
• phenylalanine
• lysine
• tryptophan
• threonine
• isoleucine
• methionine
• valine

What does protein do in your body?

Protein plays a key role in building and maintaining muscle, is part of hormones and enzymes and is also responsible for stabilizing tissue. But not only that, protein is also responsible for building tendons, bones, skin, hair, nails and much more and is therefore one of the central building blocks of our body.

There are various processes in which protein is used:

• Structural proteins : they give cells their shape, they include collagen, elastin and creatine
• Protective proteins : they are part of our immune system, also known as antibodies
• Storage proteins : they help the body to store certain substances
• Transport proteins : they are responsible for the transport of oxygen or fat
• Contractile proteins : they cause muscles to contract and are therefore responsible for human movement

Now that the definition of protein is better known, it will certainly be easier to understand why a protein-rich diet is very important and essential for the success of muscle building.

high protein diet

A high-protein diet is considered a particularly effective diet if you want to build muscle. In short, eating a high-protein diet means that a large portion of the total calories you eat each day come from protein. Optimally, between 10 and 20% of the total daily calorie intake consists of protein.

A high-protein diet has many benefits :

• Muscle building and definition, in combination with sport
• Increased fat burning
• Longer saturation
• Constant blood sugar level and therefore fewer food cravings

In order for your metabolism and fat burning to work optimally, you should take a break of no more than 4 hours between meals. So this means that you should spread your daily food requirement over several small portions throughout the day.

During your training phase, you should consume around 1.5 g to 2 g (for high-performance athletes) of protein per kg of body weight per day for effective muscle building. Muscle is made of protein and if you want your body to build new muscle you need to provide it with the right material.

In fact, if you don't eat enough protein, you lose muscle. This is because your body can convert some components of protein into energy more easily than fat

But the fact is, TOO MUCH protein does more damage to your body than it helps you. Metabolizing protein produces ammonia, which must be converted to urea in your kidneys. This also means that your kidneys have to work harder.
If you drink too little in this combination, it can damage your kidneys. This means that a protein-rich diet must always be coupled with sufficient fluid intake.

Of course, you can meet your daily protein needs through your normal diet. However, if it has to be done quickly and cooking has been neglected again, you can use a protein shake here, for example or help out with high-protein snacks from Strongsetter. These not only taste good but are also a perfect source of protein due to their low calorie count.

One way you could cover your protein needs throughout the day is, for example, 20g of protein with each of the 3 main meals. So you have already covered 60 g of protein for the day. If you then eat 2-3 protein-rich snacks a day, you should be able to keep your protein requirements loose.

Important: On training days, the protein shake should not be missing after your workout!

High Protein Foods

Many foods contain protein. The top products are animal products such as meat, eggs, dairy and cheese.
Legumes and soy products as well as nuts, cereals and vegetables are also very good sources of protein.

In order to meet your protein requirements, you don't necessarily have to eat animal-based foods. It's also easily possible to eat vegan or vegetarian and still reach your protein goal.

Speaking of vegan: Try our vegan wheys !

A comparison of animal and vegetable protein

protein of animal origin

Contains a higher amount of amino acids and is more similar to human body protein than vegetable protein. The more a protein resembles human protein, the higher its biological value and thus the protein quality. Your body can use the protein more easily and convert it into the body's own protein, thus replacing the proteins that are broken down in the body every day.

The disadvantage of animal protein is that it contains more unhealthy fats and thus contributes more to the cholesterol balance.

protein of vegetable origin

Eating plant-based protein is healthier because it contains many health-promoting substances such as dietary fiber and phytochemicals.

For a balanced and healthy diet, it is recommended to cover your protein needs with 1/3 animal protein and 2/3 vegetable protein, because in the combination, your body uses the two proteins better.

This makes your high-protein diet more biologically valuable with less fat, cholesterol and purines and more complex carbohydrates, digestive fiber and fewer calories.

Foods to avoid with a few cheat exceptions:

Shortly :

Proteins are essential for your health, your muscle building and maintenance and for your vital bodily functions.
When your focus is on progressive muscle building, it's important that you "feed" your body a certain amount of protein so that you have the right material for your muscles to grow. Especially the protein shake after training is extremely important for your progress.

However, always make sure that you supply your body with a healthy amount of protein, i.e. not too much. Too much protein harms your body more than it helps you.