“Moo”ve Over Meat

When I speak to many athletes and ask them what component of food is the most important to their success, more often than not the answer I receive is “protein.”  As a culture, we have placed a great emphasis on protein sources in our meals, constructing plates that focus on meat as the main attraction taking up more space than it truly deserves.  Between larger than life slices of steak, quadruple burgers, 20 piece chicken nuggets and racks of ribs, we have gone a little overboard, using the excuse, “Protein is good for me—I can’t get enough protein!”

While protein has its place in a healthy lifestyle, it is NOT the macronutrient that should make up the majority of your daily intake.  According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, your calories for the day should be 45-65% carbohydrates, 20-35% fat, and only 10-35% protein.  Not only that, but focusing your meal choices on meat could lead to an increase in consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat, found primarily in meat sources.

In regards to athletes, while protein is an important aspect in your meals because it aids in recovery and muscle rebuilding, it is not the main fuel source that is going to have you performing your best.  Your body runs on carbohydrates or more specifically glucose.  Now to be fair, there are some carbohydrate sources such as refined carbohydrates (white rice and breads, cakes, cookies and semolina pasta) that will not help you perform your best.  These carbs will provide you with short term energy and are OK in a pinch when you need fuel during long bouts of exercise (over an hour of moderate to high intensity).  You want to focus on fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes as your main sources of carbohydrates.

More importantly, and this is for everyone not just the athlete, plant based whole foods, that come from the categories listed above, contain nutrients and phytochemicals that meat does not.  More and more research is coming out in support of plant-based lifestyles because of their ability to ward off chronic diseases and obesity related illness.  Not only that, a meat-based diet seems to encourage an environment that cancer and other chronic diseases prefer to grow in.

Scientists say that this may be the first generation of children who do not out-live their parents due to increasing chronic illness, the majority of which is brought on by being overweight or obese.  By making an effort to include more of these plant-based foods in your meals, you can help keep yourself from becoming a statistic.  Now all of you who read my blogs know that nothing is off limits, so if you are a diehard carnivore, try and make meat as more of the sidekick as opposed to the star of your plate.

Visit www.choosemyplate.gov or email me at shelbi@cheer360.com for some helpful hints towards how to build your healthy meals!