Does what we eat really provide clues about who we are?

Does what we eat really provide clues about who we are?

We don't know if there is a scientific answer to this question, but it's not wrong to say that different criteria play a role in our food preferences. Our age, gender, where we were born and raised, the environment we live in, our family structure, economic situation, cultural heritage, our level of food literacy, our interest in nutritional values, our exercise routine, or activity routine, our mood, or sometimes just our preference, all express themselves in our food choices. While different behavior models can be drawn for each criterion, in this article, we will talk about the nutritional values of food and even more specifically, the protein content.

Nutrition experts recommend that we get approximately 10% to 35% of our daily calorie intake from the protein group. The reason for this one-third high ratio is the role of protein in the body. Protein is the most important nutrient that plays a role in growth, development, and the renewal of damaged cells.

Protein also forms the essential structures of the body's defense system, enzymes that regulate body functions, and hormones. Protein is also used as an energy source in the body. For these reasons, it is important to consider how much and through which sources we will consume this important nutrient.

Food products act as carriers of nutrients. When you consume a food, you don't just get protein or just carbohydrates or just fat; you consume them in different combinations and even enriched with micronutrients. Therefore, in different food sources, we encounter different amounts of protein and other nutrients. Since the focus of this article is on protein and protein sources, we will first discuss how much protein we need and then how we can get it from which sources.

The amount of protein that should be consumed throughout the day should be distributed evenly among meals. It is important to consume protein at every meal. According to the recommendation of the World Health Organization, the daily protein requirement for healthy individuals is calculated roughly as 0.8 to 1 gram per kilogram of body weight. In other words, for a person weighing 70 kg, the daily protein requirement should be an average of 56 to 70 grams.


This is a valid ratio for healthy individuals leading a sedentary life; if you have a more active working environment or an active daily exercise routine, you need to consume more protein. We said 0.8 grams per kilo for normal individuals, but for endurance athletes, it can be 1.2 to 1.4 grams per kilo. For resistance exercise athletes, it can be 1.7 to 1.8 grams per kilo.
 

Once you've decided how much and when to consume, we can move on to where you can get it: Protein is a macronutrient that can be obtained from both plant and animal sources. Both sources have their pros and cons. We can explain this in detail in a different article.

In this article, we will focus on the criterion of obtaining the maximum efficiency of protein from the food we consume. The yield we will get from that nutrient after consumption is important because it is one of the important parameters to consider how much our digestive system works and gets tired.

​The proportion of the nutrient group we want to get from the food we consume is one of the important parameters for our digestive system to work less.

We compared some of the animal protein sources we prefer as a rich source of protein and the protein content in them.

Since the portions are different, we compared the foods by the percentage of protein in them for a correct and simple comparison (USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, 2019; and PACHA, 2020).

According to this, the red meat and poultry group continue to be the leading actors in our meals with a high protein content. The average portions we consume, which comes to about the size of a palm, contain 25-30% protein. Eggs, the star of the mornings, are an unrivaled morning hero with a 12% protein content, allowing for a healthy start to the day.

We want to finish with PACHA, the 100% natural protein and collagen chips we developed. PACHA is a functional food with a very high protein content of 64%, which is made from a single raw material, animal protein, without any additives.

No nutrient or criterion should play a role in your food choice alone. What is important is to read what foods are telling us correctly and to choose the ones that are right for our needs and add them to our daily diet.