Theresa Albert is a nutritionist, best-selling cookbook author, and Food Network personality, and we're thrilled to have her with us for the next few weeks to provide her unique brand of cooking and nutritional knowledge. I shared with some of my colleagues the fact that I am working with the Chicken Farmers of Canada to help Canadians get wholesome, simple meals on their tables.  Luckily, my colleagues are some of the smartest, busiest women and mothers around. Even more luckily, they agreed to let me mine their lives and share their tips for doing just that.  What you will find over the next 6 blogs are those interviews.  The names have not been changed to protect the innocent; in fact, they are proudly displayed so we can all see that every family has its way of doing things and learn from each other! This edition’s interviewee Credit – CL Buchanan Photo For this edition, I sat down with Kathy Buckworth - television personality, public speaker, and an award-winning author of 5 parenting humour books, including her latest, “Shut Up and Eat: Tales of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay”. Theresa: In your book, Shut up and Eat! Tales of Chicken, Children and Chardonnay you choose to prepare chicken often as a key protein, why? Kathy: I joke in the book that there hasn’t been a new chicken recipe invented since 1957, but the fact is, Moms have known for ages that chicken is easy to prepare, and kids love it.  It’s a healthy meal choice that makes it a perfect selection for a busy, active family.  I have four kids, and all of them have their food preferences – chicken is one thing they can all agree on. Theresa: Do you think most people are aware of how much protein they need in a day? Kathy: I believe adults are supposed to have two protein servings a day, but I don’t think most people know how much they need, or what their kids need. I have to admit that on the occasions when I know we’re getting too much or too little, I try to “even it out” over a few days instead of getting worried about what they need in one day.  Re-educating us all on the right amount would be a good thing. Theresa: Do you talk to your kids about protein sources, and how do you make sure they get the right amount? Kathy: Certainly when the kids were learning about the Canada Food Guide at school, we talked about it and they know what a protein is. We’re lucky not to have any food allergies in our house so my kids get protein in eggs, peanut butter, fish, meat and I make a mean Chicken and Bean Casserole.  But even though they know what protein is, the kids like it for other reasons. Theresa’s Wrap Up Kathy is quite right that we need protein every day but stressing over sources and grams is not the way to go. There is a generally accepted formula for how much protein we need and it is .8 grams per kg of body weight. This number changes as your activity level changes so an athlete needs even more, but an average 140 pound woman weighs 63 kg and 80% of that is about 50 grams or approximately the amount in one chicken breast. Protein is important because if factors in to the repair of muscles and tissue. It is a combination of amino acids that form a complete chain.  Vegetarian sources require careful combining because they have more or less of some of the amino acids.  Animal sources have them all in a readily useable package. It’s possible to get enough protein from vegetarian sources but it takes a little more concentration than Kathy is willing to commit. Protein in its complete (meaning containing all amino acids) is a slow burning form of fuel. This means it keeps hunger at bay and blood sugar levels even throughout the day - a healthy step in the right direction!