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Nutrition & the Importance of Protein/Quinoa Salad Recipe

Thank you for visiting Results Fitness & Training Studio's blog for more information on protein as an important part of your nutrition.
 
 Results Fitness & Training Studio is committed to working with our clients on nutrition. We ask our clients to bring their journals to us once a week so that we can review and make changes where necessary. We not only check their journals but we work with our clients to make changes they can live with so their nutrition plan works for their lifestyle. In addition to checking journals once a week we are fastidious about weighing our clients. Every week our clients are weighed in and every other week we weigh & measure them.

Our commitment to our clients has earned their respect and in turn their commitment to their fitness goals has earned ours. It is a team effort at Results Fitness & Training Studio and our team is going for the win!
 
If you have any questions about the information below please feel free to contact me via phone at 603.718.0335 or email us. I would be more than happy to discuss with you.
 
Thank you again for visiting our website and Enjoy the day, Christina Linnehan/Owner of Results Fitness & Training Studio
 
The following information is excerpted from Dr. Mike Roussell’s new book, “The 6 Pillars of Nutrition”
 
Suppose you want to lose weight. That means you should probably follow some simple guidelines like eating less sugar. But research also indicates that eating more protein can help you towards this goal. So what is optimal? If you go by science, about 30 percent of your calories should come from protein. At that level, you won’t have to worry about deficiencies, and you’ll know you’re getting enough of the nutrient to lose fat while also improving your heart health. Have some protein at each of your meals and snacks, and you’ll hit the target with ease.
 
Protein and Energy: Here’s how protein plays into the equation. Protein can help displace those carbs. The amino acids that form the building blocks of protein provoke a much-lower insulin response than the one triggered by a high-carb meal. So consuming more protein will have a less dramatic affect on your blood sugar.
 
Protein also triggers the release of a hormone called glucagon. Glucagon is the yin to insulin’s yang. While insulin takes sugar from your blood and pushes it into muscle and fat cells, glucagon gets your fat cells to release stored fat into your bloodstream, where it provides fuel for your muscles, brain, and everything else that uses energy. Meaning that of all the types of food you can eat, protein is the most efficient for your body: It controls insulin and helps incinerate fat.
 
A Better Burn: When we talk about about burning calories, we tend to focus on exercise. But our bodies are constantly using energy throughout the day and night. Even when we’re sleeping, we’re still breathing and pumping blood. Our brains are dreaming. We’re still digesting food and finding places to store it. And not all foods are digested equally.
 
The components of food—protein, carbohydrates, and fats —require different amounts of energy to digest and process, just as different types and intensities of exercise burn more or fewer calories. Scientists call this metabolic cost the thermic effect of food (TEF). Protein has a much higher TEF than carbs or fat.
 
That is, simply eating more protein means your body is burning more calories during the process of digestion. In some cases, doubling your protein intake will bump up the number of calories you burn throughout the day. That’s one reason why protein, all by itself, helps you lose weight.

The Building Blocks of Muscle: During digestion, your body breaks down protein into individual amino acids.
 
The amino acids in protein aren’t just inert pieces of food waiting to be broken down. They actively signal your body to build muscle.
 
Once built, muscle is metabolically active, meaning it burns more calories than fat even while you’re at rest. (It scorches through a lot more when you’re active.) And the more muscle you have, the more effective and efficient you become at every activity, which helps you burn more calories.
 
The All-Day Protein Diet: I recommend consuming lean protein throughout the day. Here are some quick and easy ways to work this essential nutrient into every meal.
 
*BREAKFAST: eggs, egg whites, lean breakfast meats, Greek yogurt, smoothies with protein powder.
 
*LUNCH OR DINNER: salmon, chicken breasts, extra-lean ground turkey, extra-lean ground beef, turkey or chicken sausage, lean beef (top round, shoulder roast, skirt steak), tuna, cod, tilapia, shrimp, tofu.
 
*SNACKS: Nuts and seeds, roasted edamame beans, protein bars (pick bars with at least 10 grams of protein and no more than 30 grams of carbs), protein shakes.
 
 Quinoa Salad Recipe

  • Quinoa
  • Black Beans (rinsed)
  • Fresh Spinach leaves
  • 1 Avocado
  • 1 Tomato
  • 1 Cucumber
  • lime juice; balsamic vinegar; salsa
  • Fresh cilantro; pepper

Cook the Quinoa per the box directions and then chill
Combine beans, chopped tomato; chopped cucumber; chopped avocado; fresh spinach leaves.
 
Mix lime juice; balsamic vinegar; cilantro; pepper & salsa to taste
 
Combine the 2 add more flavoring to taste. Serve cold. Covered it will Keep in the refrigerator for about a week. Can be used over a salad as a side dish or as a snack. Enjoy!