CARBOHYDRATE How much carbohydrate do you need? Sometimes people ask me how much carbohydrate they should eat every day. It’s not a simple question to answer. That’s because the amount of carbohydrate you need to eat depends, in large part, on how many calories you burn every day – but it also depends on how active you are. Generally speaking, it’s suggested that you aim to eat roughly half your calories from carbohydrate. But, if you do a lot of extensive exercise, you might need a bit more. Some people try a very low carb approach to weight loss, but it often backfires. When you cut your intake too far, you may not provide your body with enough carbohydrate to fuel your active lifestyle. You can estimate your carbohydrate needs fairly simply. If you eat 1600 calories a day, about half of your calories should come from carbohydrate – which, in this case, would be about 800 calories a day from carbohydrate. Since every gram of carbohydrate has 4 calories, you’d divide your suggested carbohydrate calories by 4 to figure out how many grams you should eat per day. In this case, 800 calories of carbohydrate is 200 grams. But keep in mind that you could eat through your carb budget pretty quickly if most of your carbs are supplied by less healthy foods like desserts, sodas, white bread, crackers and potato chips. So keep your eye on the carbohydrate prize – fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans and dairy products should be the major sources of carbohydrate in your diet. Here’s a guide to the amount of carbohydrate you should aim for daily, along with a list of some “healthy” carbohydrate foods with their carbohydrate content. Remember, though, that needs vary from person to person. If, for example, you do a lot of endurance exercise most days of the week, you may need a higher percentage of your daily calories from carbohydrate in order to get enough fuel for such a high level of activity. Learn your personal carb needs Daily calorie needs Suggested daily carbohydrate intake (50% of calories) 1200 150 grams 1400 175 grams 1600 200 grams 1800 225 grams 2000 250 grams 2200 275 grams 2400 300 grams PROTEIN How much protein is right for you? Since protein is so important in maintaining your lean body mass (basically, everything in your body that isn’t fat), the suggested amount of protein you should eat every day depends, in part, on how much lean mass you have. Ideally, you’d get a body composition measurement done (some home bathroom scales even do this for you) which would tell you how much lean body mass you have. Then, you could easily determine amount of protein suggested for you, which is 0.5 – 1.0 grams of protein per pound of lean body mass (or, about 1-2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body mass). Of course, not everyone has access to body composition analysis – and if you don’t, you can estimate your protein needs based on your current body weight. It’s not a perfect method – it doesn’t take into account how much muscle mass you have – but it does at least account for differences in body size. Here’s how to calculate your protein needs - Pounds: Multiply your body weight by 0.7 - Kilograms: Multiply your body weight by 1.5 The number you get is a reasonable target for the amount of protein, in grams, that you should eat each day. So, a woman who weighs 140lbs (64kg) should aim for about 100grams of protein a day; a 220lb man (110kg) should shoot for at least 150grams of protein. Amount of protein in typical foods Now that you’ve got a rough idea of how much protein you should be eating every day, you’ll want to estimate how much you’re actually eating. I find it easiest to estimate the amount of protein in a meal in 25gram “units”, and the amount for snacks in about 10gram units. Here’s why. Common portions of many protein foods we eat at meals conveniently have about 25grams of protein, and protein snacks tend to fall in the 10gram range, so it makes it easy to keep track. So, if you’re a woman aiming for about 100grams of protein a day, you can easily do that by taking in 25grams (one unit) at each meal and having a couple of protein snacks. If you’re a male aiming for about 150grams a day, you can simply double up your protein units at a couple of meals in order to hit your target. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dear student. When I was a student, I was also taught that most people “get enough protein” because they met the RDA values. As I mentioned in the article, these values are set to cover the needs of most people, and to provide enough protein to meet the body’s basic needs and avoid a deficiency. However, as I also mentioned, the RDA doesn’t account for differences in body composition, which is why our suggested protein intakes are tied to estimates of lean body mass. In this way, individual protein needs may be more adequately met through dietary intake. The amount of protein we suggest (0.5 – 1.0 gm protein per pound lean body mass) may be higher than the RDA, but fall well within the guidelines of the Institute of Medicine which recommends protein intake in the range of 10-35% of total calories. Dr Lina -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FAT How much fat should I eat? The answer, as you may have guessed, is “it depends” – or, sometimes, the equally vague “as little as possible”. That’s because specific recommendations for fat intake are often expressed as a percentage of calories – as in, “no more than 25% of your calories should come from fat”. For most people, that’s not terribly useful, since it requires that they a) know how many calories they should be eating; b) multiply that number by 25% to figure out how many calories from fat they should be eating; and finally, c) divide the answer obtained in step b) by 9 – since there are 9 calories in a gram of fat – to figure out how many fat grams they should eat per day. If you want to try figure all that out, it’s up to you – but I think there’s an easier way. Rather than focusing on a specific target and counting your daily fat grams, you can just follow these guidelines for a low fat diet instead. If you do, it’s a pretty safe bet that you’ll be in the ballpark of “25% of calories from fat” – and there’s no calculator required. Stay away from deep fried foods – like French fries, snack chips and crispy fried meats, fish, and veggies. Obvious, yes, but eliminating fried foods and greasy snack foods cuts a huge amount of fat out of your diet. Use nutrition labels to help you find low fat packaged items like cookies, crackers, breads, muffins and cereals. Use low fat versions of salad dressings, cheeses, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, sour cream and ice cream. Eat more poultry breast, fish, shellfish, egg, nonfat dairy products and soy products for protein; they have much less fat than steaks, ground meats and sausage. Reduce the fats you use in cooking. Saute in broth or wine instead of oil, replace part of the fat in baked goods with yogurt or applesauce, and season foods with herbs, spices, lemon, onions, garlic, chili’s and other seasonings rather than relying on heavy sauces, gravies and butter. When you eat out, order meats, fish or poultry grilled, broiled, poached, roasted or baked. If the starchy part of the meal is likely to be fatty, you can skip it altogether and have double vegetables instead. Have fresh fruit or sorbet for dessert rather than pastries and ice cream, and ditch the snack chips in favor of raw veggies and fresh fruits.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 05:50:57 +0000
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