Increase Your Daily Protein Intake By Knowing The Amount In Common Foods

To help you reach your daily protein goals, here are some common foods and their protein content:

    Large egg – 6 grams
    4 oz chicken breast without skin – 26 grams
    Chobani no fat Greek yogurt, 6 oz container – 16 grams
    1 cup 2% milk – 8 grams
    1 piece of string cheese – 7 grams
    Tuna, 6 oz – 40 grams
    Bacon, 1 slice – 3 grams
    1/2 cup of cottage cheese – 15 grams
    Beans, 1/2 cup cooked – 7-10 grams
    Peanut butter, 2 Tablespoons – 8 grams protein

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14 Quick and Health Snacks for

  Bananas  59 cents per fruit. 100 calories, a ton of potassium and fiber that aids in digestion.
  Honeydew Melons, 65 cents a cup. Loaded with vitamin C, a natural diuretic and super refreshing.
  Cottage Cheese  75 cents a cup.  Packed with protein and extra light in calories. It contains all essential amino acids required by the body to function and build your metabolism.
  Nectarines  62 cents per cup. Aside from being loaded with phenolic compounds these bad boys are amazingly juicy and delicious.
  Oatmeal  15 cents per serving.  Loaded with fiber that helps lose weight, lower cholesterol and reduce diabetes risk, its also super cheap. Takes minutes to make it and will cut your dialy cravings and start your day off right.
  Greek Yogurt  a dollar per serving, this stuff is low in sugar, high in protein and just tart enough to almost taste like a dessert. Just make sure you stick to the real greek yogurt and not the stuff thats loaded with unnecessary additional sugars. 
  Apples  65 cents per apple. High in fiber, and the apple peels are high in polyphenols which promote the growth of good bacteria in the gut which aids in super fast weight loss.
  Bell Peppers  73 cents per cup.  Packed with vitamin C and fiber.
  Natural Almonds  52 cents per oz. Filled with a healthy combination of protein, fiber and monounsaturated fats that make you feel full. These bad boys keep you from snacking randomly throughout the day.
  Baby carrots  Vitamin A and beta-carotene.
  Shelled pistachios  These super healthy nuts help with both heart health and weight loss.

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7 Vital Supplements for Vegan Bodybuilding

 Here are seven vital supplements that will help you gain muscle, stay healthy and ensure you don’t run out of energy when you need it most.

1) Protein

Your body needs increased levels of complete protein when you start a vegan bodybuilding program, especially one that is built around strength training. A lack of protein causes serious problems for bodybuilders, such as longer recovery times and the breakdown of muscle tissue. Include at least one high-quality source of protein with every meal and snack you consume; vegans must compensate with extra protein every day, as plant proteins aren’t as easily digested as animal protein.

You also need to ensure you’re in a calorie surplus at all times so that the protein you consume supports muscle building instead of providing energy. Soybeans, nut butters, and tempeh are all excellent natural sources of protein, although it can be hard to match proteins to ensure you’re getting all the essential amino acids you need.

It’s worth bearing in mind that certain studies have indicated that protein needs may be greatest at the start of an intense program of weightlifting, when you experience the greatest increases in size and strength. This will eventually plateau, and your protein requirements will drop slightly. A high-quality and easily digestible vegan protein powder is an essential part of your supplement kit; rice or yellow pea protein are both good choices, as are hemp and flaxseed.

Recommended Daily Intake: You should be aiming to eat at least 1.3 to 1.8 grams of protein daily per kilogram of bodyweight. Protein shakes and bars can be used before and after your workout to ensure your body has adequate amino acids. This will ensure maximum hypertrophy, while reducing recovery time by repairing damaged muscle quickly.

2) Calcium

Calcium is important for building strong bones, which weightlifters need to support growing muscles. Vegan bodybuilding diets are often lacking calcium as it’s found mainly in dairy products, so a daily supplement is recommended. Some foods and beverages are fortified with calcium; soy and almond milk are particularly wholesome.

Recommended Daily Intake: Take one calcium citrate tablet per day.

3) Iodine

Iodine is found mainly in seafood and dairy products, so vegans must get a steady daily supply through a supplement. Plant foods can contain iodine, although the levels are inconsistent and therefore can’t be relied on. The levels of iodine in the soil that the plants are grown in dictates how much they eventually will contain. Iodine is vital for assisting your thyroid, which in turn is responsible for regulating your metabolism. Without sufficient iodine, you may experience fatigue and gain unwanted body fat, even on a strictly controlled diet.

Recommended Daily Intake: A daily supplement tablet is recommended. If you take a daily multi-vitamin and mineral tablet, check the label as it may already contain sufficient levels.

4) Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is incredibly important for bodybuilders, due to the way it provides energy for intense bursts of exercise. It ensures that the muscles that increase the most in size (fast-twitch muscles) are fed efficiently during your workout. A lack of creatine leads to increased muscle fatigue, as there is no fast, reliable source of energy to power your workout. In addition to helping you to work out longer, creatine is important for improving brain function and maximizing cell volume and anaerobic capacity. As it’s found only in animal meat, vegans are required to take a supplement to ensure their levels are adequate.

Recommended Daily Intake: During the first week, take between 15 and 25 grams daily; this is known as the “loading phase.” After week 1, take 5 to 10 grams daily to ensure your muscles are fed consistently. If you experience an upset stomach during the first week, drop your dose by 15 grams per day. Gastric distress is fairly common when starting creatine supplementation, so don’t worry. For the best results, take your supplement with a carbonated drink after your workout.

 5) BCAAs

Branched chain amino acids must be taken in through food because the body can’t synthesize them. They’re essential for building muscle and protecting against catabolism, the breakdown of muscle tissue through lack of protein. BCAAs are also vital for decreasing recovery times after workouts; without them you’ll notice increased muscle soreness and even cramping in some cases.

Recommended Daily Intake: If you already consume a quality, easily digestible protein shake after your workouts, your amino acid requirements are more than likely being met. You can also take a tablet to ensure your amino acid needs are fulfilled on a daily basis.

6) Multi-Vitamin/Multi-mineral supplement

Vegan bodybuilding diets typically contain vitamins and minerals; however, you’ll need increased amounts to stay healthy once you start lifting heavy weights. There may also be times that you’re not able to eat the quantities of foods you normally do, such as when you’re dieting for a show, so a daily multi-vitamin and mineral supplement is the easiest way of ensuring your body gets everything it needs. Check the labels, as not all brands are vegan-friendly. Vegan bodybuilders should take special care to monitor their intakes of:

.   Vitamin B12 — B12 is only found in animal foods so vegans must get their supply from supplements and fortified foods. As the impact of a deficiency can have severe, long-lasting health implications, you should speak to a nutritionist or health professional if you think your B12 supply is a problem.

.   Vitamin D — This is required for ensuring muscle strength is optimized, and improving anaerobic capacity and performance. The recommended daily intake is quite high (1,000 IU per day,) so a supplement will be required. Certain foods such as breakfast cereals are fortified with vitamin D.

.   Iron — Sufficient iron can be a problem for vegans, as it is more efficiently absorbed through meat. Iron is vital for ensuring that your muscles get enough oxygen by keeping your red blood cells healthy. A lack of iron leads to fatigue during workouts, and eventually will cause anemia.

Recommended Daily Intake: The easiest way to ensure that you’re getting everything you need is to choose a daily multi-vitamin and mineral tablet that contains 100 percent of your RDAs. Nutritional yeast can also be used as an extra supply of vitamin B12.

7) EPA/DHA

These are essential fatty acids that assist many functions within the body, including:

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The Only 4 Exercises You Really Need

I do my best to exercise 5 to 6 times a week, but there are days when I simply cannot pull myself out of bed in time to sweat before work, or when I'm traveling and my normal routine is completely thrown off track. Instead of completely scrapping my routine, I’ll try and squeeze in a few bodyweight exercises—namely squats, planks, chair dips and pushups.

Must-Do Move #1: Chair Dips

Great for toning your triceps and core

Sit on the edge of a sturdy, stable chair with legs together, knees bent and feet flat on floor a few feet in front of chair. Place your hands about six inches apart, and firmly grip the edges of the chair. Slide your butt just off the front of the chair so that your upper body is pointing straight down. Keep your abdominals pulled in and your head centered between your shoulders. Bend your elbows and lower your body in a straight line. When your upper arms are parallel to the floor, push yourself back up, being careful not to lock elbows. Repeat. (Want more arms? Here's how to Tone Your Arms—In 10 Minutes!)

Make it easier: Keep feet close to the chair and the dip slow, controlled, and shallow.

Add a challenge: If you’re intermediate, position feet a little farther from chair, and deepen your dip. If you’re advanced, straighten your legs completely, and place heels on floor, or place one or both feet on another chair, bench or exercise ball. Perform deep but controlled dips.

MORE: 5 Moves That Seriously Lift Your Butt

Must-Do Move #2: Push-ups

Great for toning your chest, shoulders, triceps, back, hips, and abs

Start in a basic push-up position with hands directly beneath shoulders and body in a straight line. Bend elbows out to sides and lower body almost to floor (or as far as you can). Keep abs tight and body in a line. Hold for 1 second, then push back up. Repeat. (Want to get stronger? Boost your stamina and reset your fat-loss hormones using Rodale's The Hormone Fix.)

Make it easier: If you’re a beginner, do push-ups on knees. Keep the movement shallow and controlled. Still too challenging? Start with a push-up on the wall, progressing to the floor as you become stronger.

Add a challenge: If you’re advanced, try lifting one leg off the floor as you do each push-up. (Need a visual? Watch how to Master Push-Ups at Any Level.)

Must-Do Move #3: Squats

Great for toning your glutes, hamstrings and quads

Stand with feet parallel and hip-width apart. Bend your knees and lower your body into a squat position, as if you are sitting back into an imaginary chair, keeping knees behind toes. Stop when your knees are at 90 degrees. Slowly press through your heels and squeeze your glutes as you return to standing.

Make it easier: Don’t bend knees as deeply

Add a challenge: Add weights, do a single-legged squat, or perform squats on an unstable surface, like a balance disc or Bosu ball. To incorporate cardio, do squat jumps.

Must-Do Move #4: Plank

Great for toning your abs, back, chest, forearms and shoulders

To come into plank pose, hold a push-up position, weight on balls of feet and hands, wrists directly below shoulders, arms straight, and body in line from head to heels. Hold for as long as you can, working up to 1 minute. That’s 1 rep. Do 2 or 3 reps.

Make it easier: Instead of being on hands, lower yourself to your forearms.

Add a challenge: Raise 1 leg off the floor and hold for 30 seconds. Switch legs and hold for another 30 seconds to complete 1 rep. To add variety, try side plank: Lie on your right side with your legs straight, and feet stacked, right hand directly under right shoulder. Lift hips off floor and raise left arm to sky, keeping left hand directly over left shoulder. Hold for 30 to 60 seconds. Switch sides and repeat to complete 1 rep.

 

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20 Easy Ways To Fit In 10 Minutes Of Exercise

Stolen Moments Add Up

 

Experts recommend working out 45 minutes to an hour a day (30 minutes for beginners) for weight loss and fitness. But if you're like most women, you don't always have a block of 30 to 60 minutes a day to devote exclusively to doing your workouts.

Lest you think that short bursts of activity have a negligible effect on your fitness program, think again. One study found that women who split their exercise into 10-minute increments were more likely to exercise consistently, and lost more weight after five months, than women who exercised for 20 to 40 minutes at a time.

Around the House

1. When you go outside to pick up your morning newspaper, take a brisk 5-minute power walk up the street in one direction and back in the other.

2. If you're housebound caring for a sick child or grandchild, hop on an exercise bike or do a treadmill workout while your ailing loved one naps.

3. Try 5 to 10 minutes of jumping jacks. (A 150-pound woman can burn 90 calories in one 10-minute session.)

4. Cooking dinner? Do standing push-ups while you wait for a pot to boil. Stand about an arm's length from the kitchen counter, and push your arms against the counter. Push in and out to get toned arms and shoulders.

5. After dinner, go outside and play tag or shoot baskets with your kids and their friends.

6. Just before bed or while you're giving yourself a facial at night, do a few repetitions of some dumbbell exercises, suggests exercise instructor Sheila Cluff, owner and founder of The Oaks at Ojai and The Palms, in Palm Springs, CA, who keeps a set of free weights on a shelf in front of her bathroom sink.
While Waiting

7. Walk around the block several times while you wait for your child to take a music lesson. As your fitness level improves, add 1-minute bursts of jogging to your walks.

8. Walk around medical buildings if you have a long wait for a doctor's appointment. "I always ask the receptionist to give me an idea of how long I have left to wait," Cluff says. "Most are usually very willing to tell you."

9. While your son or daughter plays a soccer game, walk around the field.

10. Turn a trip to a park with your child into a mini-workout for you. Throw a ball back and forth and run for fly balls.
At Work

11. Walk to work if you can. "I walked to work for months, 1½ miles each way," says Mary Dallman, PhD, professor of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, and she really saw results.

12. If you dine out on your lunch hour, walk to a restaurant on a route that takes you a little bit out of your way.

13. If you have a meeting in another building, leave 5 or 10 minutes early (or take some time afterward), and do some extra walking.

14. On breaks, spend 5 to 10 minutes climbing stairs.

15. If you're pressed for time and must wait for an elevator, strengthen your core with ab exercises. Stand with your feet parallel and your knees relaxed. Contract the muscles around your belly button. Then elevate your upper torso, and release. Finally, contract your buttocks for a few seconds.

16. Use a ringing phone as an excuse to stretch your back. Stand with your feet astride. Imagine that you are encased in a plaster cast from your waist to your head. Gently tilt the lower part of your pelvis backward. Contract your abdominal muscles. Then gently tilt your pelvis forward.
When You're Watching TV

17. Put away your remote and change channels the old-fashioned way—by getting up and walking to the television set.

18. Dance as if you were 16 again. Put on a music program or MTV. Then dance like crazy, advises Peg Jordan, PhD, RN, author of The Fitness Instinct. "Free yourself to think of movement as something that you have a right to do," she says.

19. During commercials, jog in place. A 150-pound woman can burn up to 45 calories in 5 minutes. Or try our Couch-Potato Workout.

20. Do leg exercises and lifts with small weights while you watch The Weather Channel, cooking shows, movies, or the news.

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The 10 Best Fitness Tips

 

1.Protect Your Neck

Put your tongue on the roof of your mouth when you do crunches. "It will help align your head properly, which helps reduce neck strain," says Michael Mejia, C..S.C.S., Men's Health exercise advisor.

2.Keep Muscles Limber

If you're under 40, hold your stretches for 30 seconds. If you're over 40, hold them for 60 seconds. As you reach your 40s, your muscles become less pliable, so they need to be stretched longer.

3.Don't Drop the Ball

To catch a pop fly in the sun, use your glove to shade your eyes. It's bigger than your free hand and puts the leather in perfect position to snag the ball.

4.Grow Muscle, Save Time

Keep your weight workouts under an hour. After 60 minutes, your body starts producing more of the stress hormone cortisol, which can have a testosterone-blocking, muscle-wasting effect.

5.Exercise in Order

Use dumbbells, barbells, and machines—in that order. "The smaller, stabilizer muscles you use with dumbbells fatigue before your larger muscle groups," says Charles Staley, a strength coach in Las Vegas.  So progress to machines, which require less help from your smaller muscles, as you 

grow tired.

6.Strengthen Your Core

Don't be afraid of situps. We've changed our tune on these, and here's why: Situps increase your range of motion, which makes your abdominals work harder and longer. (Doing crunches on a Swiss ball or with a rolled-up towel under your lower back has a similar effect.) Just avoid situps with anchored feet, which can hurt your lower back.

7.Test the Bench

Press your thumb into the bench before lifting. "If you can feel the wood, find another bench," says Ken Kinakin, a chiropractor in Canada and founder of the Society of Weight-Training Injury Specialists. Hard benches can cause T4 syndrome—a misalignment of your thoracic spine that affects the nerve function of your arm, weakening it.

8.Swim Faster

To build speed in swimming, develop your ankle flexibility. Flexible feet will act like flippers and propel you faster through the water. To increase your flipper flex, do this: Sit on the floor with your shoes off. Extend your legs in front of you, heels on the floor. Point your toes straight out as far as possible, then flex them toward your shins as far as you can. Repeat for 1 minute.

9.Buy Shoes That Fit

Shop for workout shoes late in the day. That's when your feet are the largest. Make sure there's a half inch of space in front of your longest toe, and that you can easily wiggle your toes. Then slip off the shoes and compare them with your bare feet. If each shoe isn't obviously wider and longer than your foot, go half a size bigger.

10.Muscle Up Your Back

When doing lat pulldowns, don't wrap your thumb around the bar. Instead, place it on top, alongside your index finger. This decreases the involvement of your arm muscles, so you'll work your back harder. Works for pullups, too.

 

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