Want to address protein in the diet here? We've seen how carbohydrates impact on the body. And we know which carbs to choose, namely the ones that are very fibrous and colorful, like veggies and salads. But what impact does protein in our diet have on us? We've also seen from the complications arising from this reduced calorie diet that we may choose that the body needs amino acids, and reduced amino acids will result in sarcopenia. In other words, muscle wasting.
And we need to remember here that our hormones and our enzymes are all made up of amino acids. So protein in our diet is very important. But what is sufficient protein? protein is sometimes difficult to monitor. It's crucially important the too much protein is not beneficial. Too much protein actually stimulates certain hormones that slow the body's ability to clear out old, damaged and dead cells.
And we want those old damaged and dead cells to be processed out of the body. So we need a moderate amount of protein but not too much. But we also need to have operating spread throughout the day. The body uses it over the day. So giving ourselves a large amount of protein at one meal is not as beneficial as spreading the protein in smaller quantities for our body to draw on throughout the day. And we need at least a third at breakfast.
And why is protein at breakfast so important? Now our maximum peak of cortisol gives us gives us the rave we need to get us going in the morning. Of course happens We wake up and cortisol uses protein to give us that energy shot that we need to get us going. So if you don't feed the body protein, the cortisone will take the protein from your muscles. And this exacerbates the sarcopenia aspect of the eating protein for breakfast will spare your muscles. Protein for breakfast also slows the incidence spike, as well as starts the normal leg lift and fluctuations properly from the morning protein boosts.
It also helps to suppress the hunger sensation. So it's going to keep you full for longer and it will allow you to go there for five or six hours before you need to eat again. Now how many times have you eaten a carbohydrate heavy breakfast early to be starving again at 10am A protein heavy breakfast will help you go longer, so that you can get to the meal time without a little snack in between. Because, as we know, now, we want to eat three meals a day with no snacking. But how much protein is advisable? the recommended amount is one gram of protein per one kilogram lean body weight.
So for the average woman, it will be around 60 to 70 grams of protein in a day. And for the average man, around 70 to 90 grams of protein. And how much does that equate to? If you have three meals a day, it's approximately 20 grams of protein at every meal. So, two eggs for example, plus some tomato, some lentils, tea and milk will be around 20 grams of protein. Each egg got about seven grams of protein in it.
A small palm sized piece of steak, or chicken breast is around 20 grams. So eating a massive steak is way too much protein. But similarly, cereal is way too little even cereal with milk. I generally suggest you measure your protein with any one of the many apps that one can download. It just gives us an idea of the amount of protein that is in vegetables, for example, in rice, so that you can measure your protein and make it more impactful throughout the day. So looking at impactful changes, number six and seven, we need to add protein.
The protein needs to be good quality protein and we need about one gram for every day. kilogram lean body weight and we need to make up breakfast, a protein heavy breakfast, not a carb heavy breakfast. And we need to have protein at every meal. At least one third of our total protein intake is going to be at every one of our three meals.