With all the controversies and swirling opinions over carbohydrates and fats, protein has become the lost child of the three major nutrients. That’s an unfortunate result, since we all learned in junior high school that every key life process depends on proteins and amino acids.
Like everyone else, runners need plenty of protein for optimal health and maximum performance. Indeed, experts at the International Society for Sports Nutrition advise runners and other serious exercisers to consume twice as much protein per day as nonexercisers. That’s because we burn many more calories with our running and other activities. Also, we occasionally run tough workouts and endurance races that break down body tissues. When we follow these with protein meals, the tissues rebuild themselves even stronger. One name for this process is “the training effect.”
In most countries around the world, no matter what specific foods the population primarily eats, protein provides about 15 percent of total calories. Carbs and fats supply the other 85 percent, often in widely differing amounts. But the protein percentage holds steady.
This means several things. For one, you don’t need a lot of protein. Nutritionists advise us to visualize servings of meat and other protein foods that are the size of a tennis ball. One a day will do it, as long as you eat protein daily.
Consuming this much protein, or even a little more, may also help you lose weight or maintain a healthy weight. According to the protein leverage theory, if you don’t get 15 percent of your calories from protein each day, you will eat more until you do hit that amount of protein. In other words, the body is “programmed” to eat more calories if you haven’t reached your daily protein requirement.
As the obesity crisis has spread, the protein leverage theory has gained more followers in the medical and nutrition communities. That’s one reason you often hear this piece of advice: be sure to consume some protein with every meal. When you do this, you’ll be more satisfied after one meal and less hungry at the next.
Choose the best: Animal meats provide the highest-quality proteins, but too often come loaded with extra fat and calories, especially if you’re a fan of fast-food burgers. Better to eat lean meats, fowl, and fish. A friend of mine, a cardiologist and a medical director of the Boston Marathon, advises his patients to avoid meat from mammals. Another way of putting this: select protein from animals that have fins and wings.
Eat protein at every meal: As noted, many nutritionists now recommend a modest amount of protein at every meal. That can mean milk or eggs for breakfast, yogurt or a salad with protein for lunch, and fish or Mexican food in the evening.
Power up with nonmeat proteins: When I won the Boston Marathon in 1968, I was a vegetarian who didn’t know much about vegetarian eating. At the time there was little information for vegetarians, and few foods to choose from. Later I learned about combining complementary proteins like beans and rice. When the research favoring a Mediterranean diet began to pile up, I added salmon and occasional other fish to my diet.
Now there are many high-quality nonmeat protein foods, and research has shown they don’t have to be eaten together at the same meal. They can be spread throughout the day. Eggs. Low-fat dairy. Beans and lentils. Nuts. Certain grains, like quinoa. Tofu and other soybean products. Cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. Vegetarians can easily meet their daily protein quota.
Seniors, seek extra protein: With a growing number of people over sixty-five and citizen-athletes (like me), research into our health needs is expanding rapidly. Already two things have become abundantly clear.
First, loss of muscle mass is a major aging problem that contributes to many falls and serious injuries. Doctors call this weakness sarcopenia, and it drains the health-care system, since seniors need major care after broken hips and similar injuries. Second, the decrease in muscle mass is caused by lower muscle protein synthesis among seniors. A 2016 study in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise showed that older triathletes synthesized less protein than their younger counterparts. The only ways to make up for this are to increase protein consumption and engage in regular strength training.