Adequate protein intake is important for older adults to help with the recovery from muscle soreness, immunity, tissue repairs, muscle function, muscle maintenance and muscle gain, etc.
Protein is made by 9 essential amino acids and 11 non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are those we get from our diet because our bodies cannot make them while non-essential amino acids are those that the body can make, and we don't necessarily have to get them from food that we eat. When we are lacking any of the essential amino acids, the body would be less likely to function at optimal.
Not all essential amino acids are available in all protein-rich foods. We need to differentiate those that have complete essential amino acids with those that require a combination of other proteins to complete the essential amino acids by identify those that have complete essential amino acids as high-quality protein.
Common High-Quality Proteins
Vegetarians and vegans tend to lack essential amino acids especially lysine, methionine, isoleucine, threonine and tryptophan when they try to plan on their own. These amino acids are found in plant-based foods, but they are usually missing from the daily diet or not consumed in sufficient amounts daily. For example, lysine can be found in beans and legumes while leucine can be found in soybeans and lentils. It is then important to know how to combine plant-based foods to get the most out of them.
The daily amount of Protein you need has to be tailored according to your physical Activity, Age group, health and your physique
Plant proteins are known in general to have lower digestibility and quality than animal proteins. However, current evidence shows that food that contains plant proteins can still help with muscle gain especially when combining food groups, increasing portion sizes and when processing/ preparing & cooking these foods.
Services we offer:
Consultations would help estimate your dietary intakes and how to plan meals that contain all the essential proteins while being able to meet the protein intakes when consuming plant-based meals.
Learn more about how to create nutritionally balanced meals by RSVPing to our Cooking classes below:
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