People often ask me how much protein they need and are almost always surprised by my estimate of their daily recommended amount. It's likely that the amount of protein that you need is less than what you are used to consuming on a daily basis.
The average male needs approximately 65 grams of protein per day while the average female needs 55 grams protein per day. Of course, there is variation among people but those ballpark figures should help you to understand that consuming sufficient protein is relatively easy for most people, even vegetarians!
Eating too much protein can be a bad thing on two fronts:
1) your health - if you eat too much animal-based protein, especially processed meats or red meats (anything from lunchmeat to hot dogs to chicken fingers to steaks), you could be raising your risk of heart disease and cancer.
2) your environmental impact - the amount of energy it takes to get animal-based food products all the way to your plate is tremendous. There is a significant amount of water consumption that goes into one piece of steak. Perhaps that is a newer way to think about how we eat...but it's becoming more important as we look at global water shortages and environmental impacts.
Here is a pretty cool summary article on the topic of protein consumption with information from my favorite nutrition professor, Marion Nestle, of NYU: http://shine.yahoo.com/event/green/how-much-protein-do-you-really-need-2523319/
Dining Services has joined the Meatless Monday movement by offering only meatless options at the grill station of our 5 residential restaurants every Monday from September through June (the academic year.)
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