It’s pretty easy to let your protein intake fall if you’re not
careful. A slip-up that can impact your waistline (and health) without
the proper course correction.
“A
few years ago, most of the nutritional problems that I saw were caused
by physicians, by refined convenience foods, and by poverty. Recently,
most of the problems seem to be caused by badly designed vegetarian
diets, or by acceptance of the idea that 40 grams of protein per day is
sufficient. The liver and other organs deteriorate rapidly on
low-protein diets. Observe the faces of the wheat-grass promoters, the
millet-eaters, and the ‘anti-mucus’ dieters, and other low-protein
people. Do they look old for their age?” -Dr. Ray Peat, PhD
Use these 5 tips in the New Year to help shape a healthier you by eating enough (but not too much protein)!
1) Find out how much protein you really need.
Roughly
20% of daily calories should come from protein, that’s about 90-125
grams for the average woman. Of course protein needs change with
activity level, pregnancy, illness and other circumstances, so
always check with your personal healthcare provider for specific guidelines for you.
While
I’m usually not a big fan of counting grams or calories, sometimes it
can be extremely helpful for a day or two to make sure you are eating
ENOUGH. That way you can get used to what adequate protein intake looks
and feels like.
Here’s a few simple examples to get a ball-park range of how much protein you need:
For example, if you weigh:
125 pounds: 75-94 grams/daily
150 pounds: 90-113 grams/daily
175 pounds: 105-131 grams/daily
200 pounds: 120-150 grams/daily
For example, if you need about:
1800 calories/day: 67.5-90 grams/daily
2000 calories/day: 75-100 grams/daily
2200 calories/day: 82.5-110 grams/daily
2200 calories+/day: 110+ grams/daily
If
you need a more specific range for your body, just remember that you
need around .6 to .75 grams of protein each day per pound of body
weight. Here’s a little equation if you need more help: body weight x .6
(or .75) = ballpark grams of protein per day. The more active you are,
the more you need.
2) Use your protein intake to shape your overall calorie intake. This helps to make sure you are EATING ENOUGH to support your weight loss goals and get enough nutrients to support your health.
So
now that you’ve got a ballpark idea of how much protein you need, it’s
time to think about how you’re going to meet that goal every day. If you
need 90 grams per day; will you eat 3 larger meals with 30 grams at
each meal or many smaller meals to meet your goal? How will you divide
it up? This step is very individual and will largely depend on your
lifestyle,
appetite, blood sugar balance and other variables specific to you.
Also, whenever you have protein,
it should be accompanied by ample carbohydrate and fat to help your body process the protein, balance
blood sugar, support the
metabolism, and round out your healthy diet. Eating enough protein can also help guide you to eat
enough food
during the day to support your weight loss and/or health goals! When it
really comes down to it, your health goals are going to be a whole lot
easier to reach when you’re eating not only enough protein, but also
enough nutrient rich calories to support every inch of your body!
So
remember: weight loss’s worst enemy is a diet low in nutrients (and
calories), that’s why you want to focus on making your body as
nutritionally wealthy as possible by eating enough.
3) Increase your protein quality (protein powders NOT included).
This
means choosing minimally processed grass fed, organic, or wild proteins
whenever possible. It also means, understanding that the protein
quality of animals vs. plants is very different.
According to Dr. Ray Peat, PhD,
“One
thing that happens in the vegetable diet, heavily based on [the]
cabbage family, or beans, lentils and nuts, these proteins, in quality,
rank about 15 times lower than the highest quality protein. And so even
though a person might think they’re eating nothing but protein rich
foods, beans and nuts, their quality is so low that their liver simply
can’t respond to the thyroid.”
And I’m sure you know how important
thyroid function is to the metabolism and weight loss!
4)
Increase your intake of proteins that help you eat the “whole animal,”
as they are pro-thyroid, pro-metabolic and help nourish the liver.
When
you’re thinking about protein intake, you want to think about eating a
balance of proteins that mimic eating the whole animal. This means
eating MORE of the proteins that are commonly left out of the standard
American diet including
bone broth,
gelatin/
collagen,
and other organs. Other great options are proteins where you eat the
whole animal in one bite. Examples include certain kinds of fish (think
sardines), shellfish, eggs, and dairy products (which can be therapeutic, but only if you
tolerate them).
But
why the whole animal? Your body needs a certain balance of amino acids
(building blocks of protein) to support bodily functions, particularly
your liver and detoxification. The balance you need is achieved when
you eat “the whole animal” and ALL of its’ parts. When you eat just
“muscle meats” regularly, be it- chicken, pork, beef, lamb, etc.,
it tends to create an amino acid balance that favors inflammation, and
starves your
liver!
Most
people eating a standard American diet would greatly benefit from a
more balanced protein consumption. The easiest way to achieve this is to
restrict muscle meats while you increase the amount of
anti-inflammatory ‘whole animal’ proteins in your diet.
“Although
people in the northern countries aren’t normally protein-starved, they
do tend to get a large part of their protein from the muscle meats. In
traditional cultures, all parts of the food animals were eaten–chicken
feet, heads, and necks, animals’ ears and eyeballs, etc.–and so the
amino acid balance was favorable for maintaining a high metabolic rate
and preventing stress.” -Dr. Ray Peat, PhD
5) Be CONSISTENT with your protein intake (this means your overall food and nutrient intake too).
This last point is the hardest for everyone. After years of
dieting,
stress,
and general life, it’s so easy to get in the habit of putting yourself
on the back burner. Once you’ve gotten into the habit of skipping meals,
eating empty foods, or living a hectic life on the go, it’s hard to get
back in a groove of regular eating. However, consistency really is the
secret to results. What you put in your body 3-6 times a day, 365 days
per year has a HUGE impact on your body (and your waistline)! So don’t
let anyone tell you otherwise.
