Walk down any grocery aisle and you’ll spot it: “High-Protein” splashed across labels on everything from ice cream to cereal. Cottage-cheese shipments are selling out before noon, and whey, a once-discarded cheese-making byproduct, is becoming a hot commodity for companies that make protein powders.

Even though it may be a stretch to say all these products live up to their ‘protein-fortified’ marketing, as a dietitian, I’m thrilled to see more people paying attention to protein. The question is: How much do we really need and how can we hit that target as effortlessly as possible?

Why all the attention is a good thing

Protein supplies the amino acid building blocks that form our muscles, bones, enzymes, immune cells and hormones. Here are three ways protein benefits the body:

Preserves

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