BRIGITTE author Ulrike Thomassen has a teenage boy and has a problem with it: He not only wants muscles, but also proteins on his plate with every meal.
Many years ago I had a brief romance with a protein eater. He was a friend of my sister's, I had known him for a while, and I had never noticed anything funny about him. But when we started showing an interest in each other and I spent a weekend in his apartment for the first time, he cooked for us. There were fried eggs without egg yolks and steamed whole grain rice without salt. The whole thing was spiced with a little lemon juice, he said he would like to eat it and often, not only because he likes it, but above all because of the protein.
I don't remember why egg yolks were not allowed. Probably because of his cholesterol levels. He was in his mid-twenties. But I ate that lunch for a long time. As soon as the conversation turned to wild affairs and strange male behavior, the protein anecdote was asked for, and I was always happy to tell it, and my friends kept curling up every time.
The changing times
Of course we have lost our laughter. Young, protein-loving men are now more the rule than the exception. Many of us now share their homes with teenage or adult sons who need at least three protein-containing, whole-food meals a day, plus the same number of protein-containing, whole-food snacks. If I have understood correctly, the common ideal of beauty among male adolescents aged 15 and over is "wider than the bouncer"Anyway, as soon as they get their parents to sign a McFit contract they all run to the gym and then they start to eat. But the right thing!
"clean bulking" vs. "dirty bulking"
My son – he's 19 and has been using the equipment for a while – recently explained the difference between "dirty bulking" and "clean bulking". With the dirty build-up variant, you eat high-calorie, greasy stuff: chips, triple cheese pizza, French fries barrier, it doesn't matter, the main thing is that you gain weight first, and then when you train properly, it becomes muscles. Amazingly, young people prefer the clean version. "Chicken breast, whole-grain rice, broccoli – that's what quality mass does without unnecessary fat tissue," says my son. "Of course it's better."
I would also like to have fat-free quality mass, but I shy away from the effort. When my son comes home from partying at three in the morning (for whiskey-cola you'd better guess "dirty"), the kitchen rattles a lot because he prepares a piece of redfish fillet with a potato crust and sesame spinach before going to bed. When I come home drunk (which unfortunately only rarely happens now), I stuff my mouth with liver sausage sandwiches in front of the open refrigerator door and fish for pickles in the gherkin glass.
Hungry again
Friends, whose son is attending high school in a high school that is only a five-minute walk from the kitchen at home, also report on protein-rich meals at unusual times. In every big break and in every free period he sets off. "And then he's back in the kitchen and says he's hungry and has to eat right away, preferably something with chicken"said the parents, who have been vegetarians for several years. Plant-based protein addiction can also cause problems: Another friend with a well-trained son often sits in my living room in the evenings and doesn't go home even when her husband calls her to eat. "For the third time this week there is a vegan burger with whole grain buns and soy patties," she explains, "I have to break that."
And then there is the protein powder …
In all of these families there are still large, half-full containers with protein powder somewhere around, which is supposed to promote clean muscle building and replace one or the other snack between meals, which is absolutely gratifying from the parents' point of view. When you go to the protein powder retailer for the first time with your birthday wish list, you almost think you are in paradise because the flavors on the plastic bins do not sound like health, but more like American ice cream: "Cookies & Cream", "Vanilla Very Berry" or "Latte macchiato" – there are countless varieties. And then the nice, exceptionally muscular powder salesman tells us that 40 grams of powder contains as much protein as 150 grams of chicken breast! But on the day after his birthday, you see the son bravely for the first time empty a very large glass with a pale, slightly bubbly protein drink and immediately go back to buy chicken, because the boy is still growing and should rather get something between his teeth.
My protein-wholegrain rice romance is now twice as old as it was then, we met again last year at a big party. He looked good and had a full plate in front of him and I thought: Great, the egg whites are just a phase in the end. But then he only ate the meat with the vegetables. And then order espresso instead of dessert. I think it's been funnier to be a man.
The protein multiplication table
What is protein important for?
We need proteins to build muscles and many other structures in the body. They are our building material, regulate and control cell functions.
How much do we need
The German Nutrition Society recommends 0.8 grams per kilo of body weight Every day. For athletes and people aged 65 and over, the requirement can increase to up to 1.5 grams. Protein shakes can be practical (e.g. purely vegetable from Bionorm bodyline). Good to know: the body processes a maximum of 30 grams of protein per meal – it's best to spread the intake over the day. Be careful with diets: If you want to lose weight, you can prevent muscle loss with a protein-rich formula diet.
Vegetable or animal?
Above all, we have to take in the eight essential amino acids that our body cannot build itself through food. The problem: If there is too little of one, the others are not used to build up protein either. Animal protein from egg, milk, chicken breast and the like can score better because it contains more essential amino acids.
Advantage plant protein: Green stuff contains a lot of vitamins, fiber, minerals and phytochemicals. Animal protein, on the other hand, is often found in products that also have plenty of not-so-cheap fats.
Ideal: Eat as many vegetable proteins as possible and supplement them with animal proteins. Vegans should wisely combine foods with different amino acids: such as soy with cereals or lentils with rice.
Would you like to read more about the topic and exchange ideas with other women? Then have a look in the "Forum for Figure: Diet and Nutrition"Of the BRIGITTE community!
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