www.glycaemicindex.com

Proteins come from one of two sources:

animal protein: found in meat, fish, crustacea, eggs, milk and cheese.

vegetables protein: found in soya, seeweed, nuts, grain (bread and pasta) and pulses (beans, lentils, etc.).

Protein is essential for building body cells and particularly blood corpuscles, making certain hormones and neurotransmitters, as an energy source and for maintaining the muscular system, etc.

Proteins are made from a large number of amino acids. Some of these amino acids can be made by the body, but others can only be obtained from food. Apart from eggs, no food has a complete and balanced assortment of amino acids. The lack of one essential amino acid can interfere with the absorption of the rest.

It is therefore essential to eat both animal and vegetable protein.

Protein intake for an adult should be about 1 g for every 1 kg of body weight, per day. The minimum for a woman is 55 g per day and for a man is 70g per day. If you want to increase your muscular mass then you can eat up to 2 g of protein per kg of body weight, per day.

An adult weighing 80 kg should eat about 40 g of animal protein and 40 g of vegetable protein each day.

At least 15% of our daily food should be come from proteins.

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