Please note that here i am not going to talk about a protein diet. If you are working out, you must be having some sort of protein in your diet. For example, Whey protein, eggs, meat, milk etc. What we are going to discuss here is, how we can absorb most of the protein out of the diet which we are consuming.
Here are some simple things which you can try out, see the results after 3 months yourself !
- Split your meals into 5-6
For example you weigh around 180lbs, so the protein which your body requires is
( 180lbs x 1=180 grams )
Now divide this protein in 6 meals, which is 30grams, so you need to have atleast 30 grams of protein in each meal. Instead of consuming 1-2 huge protein dominant meals, this will help your body to adapt to adsorbing protein better.
- Probiotics
Probiotics are the good bacteria in our body which help in digestion. Now one may think that these 'bacteria' can cause diseases, but it's not true. In fact our body is full of bacteria, both good and bad. The good ones are so called because they are essential in the functioning of our body. Probiotics because helps in digestion, it will also help in better absorption of protein.
The very basic source of probiotics is curd/yogurt. Include it in your diet and observe the changes.
Probiotics also help in digestion of some of the dairy products, so it can also be a good thing for lactose intolerant people.
- Switch your protein source
If you have been consuming one type of protein source for weeks, for example whey protein, you should give it a change. This will tell you what protein source is better suiting your body. For example, you can include meat sources such as chicken breast, fish, or dairy products such as cottage cheese, milk or poultry products such as eggs, then grains also have protein etc. Exposing your body to changes can also boost up your metabolism.
- Enzymes
what do enzymes do ? They help in the breakdown of food. But since we are talking about protein, the enzyme which helps in breakdown of protein is Protease. Now of course this breakdown of protein will help in better absorption of protein.
- Glutamine
Now you may be surprised here as you may already know that the main role of Glutamine is it helps to speed up the recovery process. It is a non essential amino acid which the body produces itself and you may not want to take it additionally. But, Glutamine also helps in digestion.
If you are training very hard, you have been sweating a lot, working out for 5-6 days, then the Glutamine which your body is producing naturally may not be enough, because it would deplete constantly because of hard training. It takes several days to get the depleted levels of Glutamine back naturally. This is where supplementation would help.
More Glutamine will help in digestion which will in turn lead to better absorption of protein.
Try these tips for a couple of months, and i am sure you will observe the changes.
Wish you all the best, Happyletics!