Protein needs of athletes: Why is nutrition so important for athletes?
An athlete's body works like a high-performance engine. When more energy needs to be expended to achieve higher performance, it needs the right fuel. What sounds trite is in fact the key to training success for athletes. In fact, most athletes say that nutrition accounts for at least half of athletic success. One term keeps popping up: protein. Proteins are the building blocks of our muscles and energy suppliers that our muscles cannot do without. Adequate protein intake is essential for muscle building, strength training and endurance training. Good training alone is not quite enough for training success, the diet also has to be right. This is how you encourage muscle growth, give your muscles what they need after strength training and, ideally, have a delicious meal when you get hungry! We want to show you what training, food, protein intake and muscle building all have in common, what exactly amino acids play a role and how you can control your daily protein intake!
What is my daily protein requirement?
Physical success in sport is influenced by many factors. The type of training, the frequency and intensity. However, a part of training success that should not be neglected is nutrition, because even when we are not in the gym, we can support our body in muscle building, weight loss and many other aspects. Both endurance athletes and strength athletes naturally need muscle mass in order to be able to practice the sport properly. Of course, strength training has a different influence on our muscle mass than endurance sports, and yet our muscles are stressed and trained in both groups.
The right protein intake is extremely important, especially in fitness and sports. Be it to build muscle or to lose weight and maintain muscle mass, an adequate amount of protein per day is essential for our energy. The required amount of protein per day always depends on the respective body, the training and the goals of the consumer, but a protein deficiency should be avoided at all costs. You can only get an optimal protein supply for your muscles through:
- the right amount of protein
- a complete amino acid profile
Protein intake - The right amount of protein
Many scientific studies show that the optimal protein intake for athletes and athletes aiming to build muscle is between 1.4 - 1.8 g per kg of body weight. An average male athlete weighing 80 kg would therefore have a maximum daily protein requirement of 144 g. Our organic ready meals for fitness and sport are designed to provide you with an optimal amount of energy of 500-600 kcal. Our organic ready meals for fitness and sport contain 30-40 grams of protein for this amount and thus support you in achieving your protein daily requirement. This makes it very easy for you to meet your daily protein requirements through a natural diet.
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A complete amino acid profile
Most people get their protein needs from animal protein sources. Good sources of animal protein are lean meats such as chicken or beef, fish, dairy products and eggs. With these protein sources, the protein requirement can already be covered. However, it is also possible to meet your protein requirements with a vegan diet. Some of the best plant-based sources of protein include beans, lentils , nuts, seeds, tofu, chickpeas , broccoli, and quinoa. If you combine these, as described in the previous paragraph, you can also cover your protein requirements sufficiently as a vegan. In order to supply the muscles with sufficient protein, it is not the source that is important, but the regularity and quantity. Since we know so many protein sources, we can take advantage of them and reach our goal with a meat-free diet as well as with fish and meat.
How to meet your protein needs
Vegan and animal protein sources
Most people get their protein needs from animal protein sources. Good sources of animal protein are lean meats such as chicken or beef, fish, dairy products and eggs. With these protein sources, the protein requirement can already be covered. However, it is also possible to meet your protein requirements with a vegan diet. Some of the best plant-based sources of protein include beans, lentils , nuts, seeds, tofu, chickpeas , broccoli, and quinoa. If you combine these, as described in the previous paragraph, you can also cover your protein requirements sufficiently as a vegan.
The biological value of proteins
The biological value of proteins shows how well a protein from food can be converted into endogenous protein. The chicken egg serves as a reference value for the assessment of proteins. The biological value of a hen's egg is therefore 100.
The biological value can be increased by combining different protein sources. For example, beef alone has a biological value of around 80 and potatoes 76. However, a combination of potatoes and beef results in a biological value of 114. The situation is similar with beans and corn. While beans and corn alone each have a biological value of 72, the combination of the two vegan protein sources results in a value of 101. So as good as a chicken egg!
Post-workout proteins - the anabolic window
After a strenuous and effective workout, the body's natural energy stores are pretty empty. You sweat a lot and strain your muscles. So that the body can regenerate quickly and sufficiently, we have to take care of replenishing the energy stores. The anabolic window describes the moment after exercise when the muscles absorb proteins like sponges and are also able to absorb more protein than usual. If we take care of supplying our body with the necessary proteins and amino acids after exercise, we effectively promote muscle building and prevent a major drop in performance. Proteins, as we've said many times before, are the building blocks of muscle. It is all the more important that we supply them to the body in sufficient quantities. In addition to meat, fish, eggs and protein shakes, you can also use plant-based alternatives such as chickpeas or lentils!
Cover your protein needs with the dishes from Löwenshare
Since we as athletes know how difficult it can sometimes be to meet our protein needs in everyday life, we have worked with a top organic chef to develop delicious, healthy dishes that provide you with the optimal amount of protein and make it easy for you to exceed your protein requirements to cover a natural diet. Especially in the stressful everyday life, in which we try to juggle work, social environment and sport anyway, it can easily happen that one thing gets neglected. We often cut corners when it comes to eating because we simply don't have the time to stand in the kitchen for at least 30 minutes several times a day to conjure up a balanced and delicious source of protein. That's what the Löwenanteil is for.
All of our dishes are made from 100% natural, organic ingredients and have even been awarded the Good Food Award by Men's Health & Women's Health. The best thing to do is to try our trial package!
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