Nutrition nuggets

If your teen is as active as mine, you will definitely want to make sure he/she gets enough protein to satisfy the growing and recovery demands of the muscles. Protein is of paramount importance when maintaining an active lifestyle. Fortunately, todays markets offer a wide variety of proteins; But which one should you use? I personally would suggest whey protein because it is a complete protein: Complete proteins contain all nine of the amino acids necessary for human dietary needs!!

Protein powders are a great whey to get extra protein in your diet. You can get all kinds of flavored protein powders but I find that the flavored ones also come with a bunch of crap you probably shouldn’t put in your body. Go with an all natural unflavored whey protein isolate. This protein powder is super versatile and although it is unflavored, it has a bit of creamy vanilla milky flavor that lends itself well to any smoothie!!

I am a huge believer that if your body needs something, you should obtain that need through the foods you eat or the drinks you drink. Take for example my body’s need for the flavors of aged oak barrels. I’m not gonna supplement this need with wood pills, I’m gonna get it directly in my diet from Knob Creek 🙂 There are plenty of foods that contain complete proteins such as meat, fish, eggs, cheese. The thing I like about the protein powder though, is that you can use it in a lot of recipes and it won’t necessarily change the flavor, might even enhance it a bit. Next time you make bread, pancakes, waffles, smoothies, pizza (put some in the dough), soup, throw a couple TBS of protein powder in it. To learn more about how you can integrate more protein into your diet, go to Main Line Integrative Nutrition and talk to Brenda, she’s the best nutritionist I have ever spoken with!!