As much as I would love to give you a definitive answer to the question, I can’t. For as much as I have read and researched the subject, I haven’t been able to find any concrete conclusions (as with many similar topics). This is because no research can really be done where the test subjects are identical. Even if you are testing the same person, their body will change day to day, hour to hour so the amount of protein the body will be able to absorb will be different. For example, you will be able to absorb more protein right after a workout than if you have been sedentary. Luckily, we have been able to get it down to some general numbers that have shown to be pretty accurate.

There are some rules of thumb to follow that have been created that I generally recommend to people. For males, it is usually said that we can absorb around 40 grams at a time. As I said earlier, if you just finished a workout your body will have a higher demand for protein, as compared to you being sedentary. Your body weight and level of workout intensity will also play a role in protein absorption. If you are a serious lifter, you should aim to get around 1.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight, per day. So if you weight 170lbs, you should be getting 204 grams of protein per day into your system. Post-workout you need to get anywhere between 25-40 grams of a complete protein source. If you pass your upper limit for the amount of protein that can be absorbed, you will just pee the leftover amino acids out.

Females are usually in the 20-25 grams of protein range for the amount that they can absorb at once. They typically weight less than males and have less muscle mass, so not as much as required for females. Something that females especially need to pay attention to when raising their protein intake is their calcium intake. Your kidneys must expend calcium in order to digest protein, so a high protein diet will have you burning through more calcium than usual.

This weeks “Eat This Today” should actually be labeled “Drink This Today”, but for the sake of uniformity, we’ll stick with the first choice.  You have your sports drinks that promise save you from dehydration, fatigue and cramps.  Than there’s the special ionized and electrolyte enhanced waters that promises to restore your body to optimal conditions.  These different drinks may actually be living up to their promises and preventing you from a meltdown, but how many drinks take the proactive approach of aiding your digestion, metabolism or immune system?  Kombucha (kom-BOO-cha) is a fantastic drink that harnesses the power of good bacteria to help make your body a well oiled machine.  Kombucha is a tea that is fermented and cultured for a certain length of time, in order to produce good bacteria.  Your body (especially your gut) is filled with bad bacteria that constantly fight against you, Kombucha’s good bacteria will wage another World War against those bad guys.

Why So Good?

Kombucha has been said to support cells, skin, hair, nails, metabolism, digestion, immune system and liver function.  The amino acids and antioxidants help to restore the body and place it into an optimum balance.  The good bacteria (from Kombucha) enters your body and fights against that bad bacteria, this is what many call a probiotic.  Probiotics have gotten a lot of talk lately and Kombucha is one of the best probiotic drinks there is.

How To Eat

Considering that you likely won’t want to personally ferment some tea in order to get the positive affects from Kombucha, store bought brands will suffice.  The most popular brand is likely GT’s Kombucha called Synergy.  You will likely start to see these in every single Whole Foods and also in other health stores. The flavored Kombucha has a taste similar to the intended flavor on the bottle, really carbonated soda and wine.  Since it is actually fermented, there is a slight bit of alcohol in there, which gives it the winey flavor.  Don’t be detoured if you burp a lot while drinking Kombucha as the fermentation will have you feeling almost like you drank a highly carbonated drink.