Eating for Strength
Never Underestimate the Importance of Strength!
Protein is important for maintaining and building muscle mass, especially teamed up with strength exercise, like in your Live Life Get Active cross-training classes.
Why is Muscle mass important?
- improves your strength, protecting you from injury
- improves your posture, balance and mobility
- improves your stamina throughout day to day activities and during exercise
- boosts your metabolism – i.e. you burn more fat, even while you’re resting
- improves your quality of life when you age
- decreases risk of diabetes and heart disease
How much protein do I need?
Not as much as you might think given we currently live in a world surrounded by protein powders, shakes and bars. The truth is, it’s very easy to get your protein requirements in every day foods.
Supplementation of powders is not required unless you are a serious body builder lifting loads of heavy weights every day, struggling to meet your energy requirements. But for us regular folk, our bodies will excrete the protein it doesn’t need, sending all that excess protein powder, literally down the toilet.
It’s best to eat smaller amounts of protein throughout the day. As long as you’re eating whole foods already full of protein, healthy fats and carbohydrates in every meal, you will meet your nutritional needs.
What foods are full of protein?
- Lean meat and chicken
- Seafood
- Nuts and seeds
- Eggs
- Tofu
- Lentils
- Beans
- Chickpeas
- Soy
- Milk
- Cheese
- Yoghurt
Check out this week’s recipe, full of lean protein to help build and strengthen those muscles you have been working out in your classes!
Honey Lemon Chicken – Eating for Strength from Life Life Get Active on Vimeo.
Serves: 4 Time: 25mins Cost: $16 approx. ($4/serve)
- 2 chicken breasts (approx. 500g)
- 1 cup mushrooms
- 2 cups broccoli
- 2 cups beans
- 2 packets microwave brown rice
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ¼ cup honey
- 1 TBSP soy sauce
- 1 tsp or 1 clove of crushed garlic
- 1 TBSP corn flour
- extra virgin olive oil and salt & pepper
Method
- chop broccoli and beans into bite size pieces, slice mushrooms.
- slice chicken into bite size pieces
- mix together lemon juice, honey, soy sauce, garlic and corn flour with fork, put aside.
- drizzle olive oil on pan or wok at medium heat.
- cook vege for 4 mins, then put aside in a plate.
- drizzle more olive oil in same pan and cook chicken 6-7mins.
- cook brown rice in microwave as per packet instructions.
- add vege, sesame seeds and lemon honey to sauce to chicken, season with salt & pepper, cook for further 2mins.
- Serve with rice!
Sources:
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/protein
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/resistance-training-health-benefits
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5161704/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21375795
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2631482/
https://www.eatforhealth.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/n55_australian_dietary_guidelines.pdf