Tip 9. Get Plenty of Protein

BY AYOUB OUBARKA

Proteins are the building blocks for your body. You need to eat lots of protein for your body to build,
repair, and maintain your muscle and other lean tissues. If you don't eat enough protein, your body will
break down muscle tissue, which is bad, to maintain itself. As a result, your metabolism will slow, and
you won't burn body fat. Unlike fat or glucose, there's nowhere in our bodies to store protein (aside from
building muscle tissue) so you have to get a lot from your diet.

Eat a plentiful supply of protein, however don't go overboard. Some of the popular fad diets make you
eat tons and tons of protein. Too much protein doesn't help you. Once your body uses all of the protein it
can for the day, it will burn the excess as fuel, but protein has lots of nitrogen in it, which can toxify your
blood, kidneys, and tissues. Your body then has to expend lots of water to flush the nitrogen out, which
makes you lose water weight - not an accurate form of weight loss.

How much protein should you eat? Most people should eat about 0.4 to 0.8 grams of protein per pound
of body weight. Therefore, if you weigh 200 pounds, you should be eating between 80 and 160 grams of
protein per day. This isn't hard to do. Eat two eggs for breakfast, and an 8-ounce serving of chicken for
dinner, and you're at 60 grams of protein right there.

What kinds of protein should you eat? I like fish, chicken (white meat), turkey (white meat), soy products,
beans, legumes, and eggs (whites only - yokes have a lot of fat). Soy products are a great source of
protein... once you get used to the taste. I have totally switched from regular milk to soy milk. It has all the
calcium, much less of the saturated fat, and none of the cholesterol of normal milk (even skim milk!)

Eat fish twice a week, chicken twice a week, turkey once a week, a vegetarian meal once a week, and then
on that seventh day, go ahead and splurge with the pork or beef... just take it easy. Just make sure you
choose lean sirloin cuts. Trim off any fat. Beef has a lot of saturated fat in it (it's marbled throughout the
meat so you can't just cut it off). Beef is the worst meat for you - as compared to the other popular meats.

•Good protein: beans (any kind), eggs (preferably whites - yolks have a lot
of fat), chicken (white meat, no skin), turkey (white meat, no skin), salmon
(preferably not farmed), tuna (packed in water, not oil), mahi mahi, any
shellfish, any soy products.

•Bad protein: bacon, ham, hot dogs, beef, pork, lamb, veal.