Our American culture is shaped around carbohydrates. Carbs are over consumed by the vast majority of people. Why? They are easy to get, cheap to buy, taste good, and overwhelm the marketplace because they are dirt cheap to produce. But every meaningful diet trend in the past 20 years has shown over and over again that a LOW-CARB approach is hugely beneficial. Let’s turn our focus away from what we should NOT eat and squarely focus on what food best fuels your body for success – PROTEIN!!
If you want to look good, feel good, lose weight, lower blood sugar, improve vascular heath and lower blood pressure than nothing compares to a big plate of protein, ideally MEAT. Meat is ANY animal flesh – chicken, pork, beef, lamb, veal and yes even fish. Meat is nutritionally dense which means it contains more vitamin B than vegetables and even more minerals on average. It is the very food our body was designed to eat. Pringles and processed sugar may taste good but we were never designed to tolerate, digest and flourish eating those foods. We are meat eaters. Westin A. Price back in the 1930’s, traveled the globe in search of healthy civilizations to study natural diets of people living in underdeveloped areas. He never found a single “vegan” culture. Every population he studied ate some form and amount of meat. You can be a vegan if this appeals to you but don’t confuse that with being our natural or our healthiest diet.
Estimates by experts claim that the cavemen ate nearly 80 to 90% of their diet in fat and protein, as this is a natural food for our body. Back in the year 1900, heart attacks were a RARE phenomenon and we were consuming the vast majority of our fat intake from animal sources. Our genes are still that of the caveman but we have gotten so far away from our original healthy diet and the genes we have are missing out on adequate protein and receiving far too much carb and this drives heart disease. The American Heart Association would have you believe that red meat is bad and saturated fat is evil, but they can’t offer any hard science to support their position. They are simple WRONG and fueled by pharmaceutical industry money. The American Heart Association sold their souls to corporate interests almost 90 years ago and their opinions are for sale to the highest bidder. But let’s return to protein.
Here are virtues of protein that I want to share with you:
• Meat is nutrient dense – loaded with vitamins and minerals beyond its protein content.
• Meat is a ZERO carb food.
• Protein contributes to weight loss better than carbs or fat.
• Protein promotes a higher metabolic (calorie burning) state than carbs
• Protein supports muscle health which is linked to longevity
• Protein is the most potent appetite suppressing food, beating carbs or fat.
• The fat naturally found in meat is ideal for our brain, heart and overall health.
• Minerals in meat (phosphorus & others) contributes to stronger bones.
• Amino acids in protein are critical to support the immune system
Do I have your attention? Good. Let’s explore how to accurately measure and acquire enough protein in our daily diet but first a few cool fun facts:
• Protein is thermogenic, it increases metabolism. 30% of the calories in protein are consumed just in the digestion and assimilation of the protein into the body. Compare that to carbs which only use 5-10% of the calories consumed in its digestive process. That means if you ate 100 calories of protein you would really only take on 70 calories in stored energy whereas 100 calories of carb would leave you with 90-95 calories to store.
• Burning fat – if Bill goes on a high protein diet he will burn 100 extra calories per day compared to his brother Sam who is on a low protein diet. At 100 extra calories per day, Bill might lose 1 pound of fat in 35 days just by eating high protein.
• Protein has the greatest ability to quiet our hunger and keep our appetite under control over time. The second-best food for quieting appetite is fat and the worst is carb. Protein intake is an appetite suppressant.
• Out body’s response to protein over time diminishes so an older body needs MORE protein intake than a younger body. Taking in more protein as we age slows the rate of aging and supports muscle mass.
• An equivalent 100 gram serving of meat vs vegetable, the meat has higher levels of all of these nutrients: magnesium, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, Vitamin B1, B3, B5, B6, and B12.
How much protein do I need each day?
• Minimum is 0.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight. Couch potato.
• Ideal or healthier is to get 0.7 grams of protein per body of body weight. Moderate exerciser.
• Heavy exercisers may require up to 0.9 grams per pound of body weight.
What if I am really overweight?
If you are calculating your ideal protein and you are overweight by a good amount then target your ideal weight as you make your calculation. For example if you are 300# and your goal is to be 200# then make your protein calculation based on 200# or maybe 225#
Example: I weigh 182# and exercise 5 days per week at a variety of different intensities.
• 182# x 0.7 = 127 grams of protein per day.
• If I increase my exercise and intensity in preparation for an event then I would need more: 182# x 0.9 = 164 grams. How in the heck can I get all of that protein.
Protein Sources
Meats plays a central role in our desire to get protein as it contains collagen and nutrients that protein powders don’t provide. Take your total protein needs, for me its 127 grams and set a goal to get 65% of that as actual meat. For me that would be 82 grams. One ounce of meat has 7 grams of protein so I would need to eat 11-12 ounces of meat per day to get near my goal. That's easy and is usually two meals each with a 6 ounce serving of meat.
The remaining 35% can come from protein powders, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans, soy, or other sources. I usually have a protein shake that has vegetables and olive oil blended in and contains 40 grams of vanilla protein powder from Thorne Research. That brings my total to 124 grams. Bingo. If I feel I want or need more than I eat some cheese or have a hard-boiled egg or make egg salad to have on hand as a quick snack.
Nuts and seeds are also a great way to get a few extra grams if needed.
In the past I have reported that the body can’t assimilate more than 35 grams of protein in one meal but this is not actually correct. As I have studied further there is ample evidence to show that protein can be absorbed easily at any concentration and so there are NO HARD RULES when it comes to eating protein. If we eat protein with fat and fiber from vegetables it will slow down how fast it is absorbed and this can be an advantage. Here are a few general guidelines but again NO HARD RULES:
• Try to distribute your protein throughout the day. Multiple smaller amounts rather than one huge volume.
• Try to get this with a small amount of fat. Add olive or coconut oil to your smoothie, add butter or avocado to your chicken or beef.
• Making your breakfast mostly protein and very little carb is a sure fire way to aid weight loss and control appetite.
• Have a “Carnivore” day once per week where you eat nothing but meat. Try it - you may be surprised at how good you feel. Try this for 3 days in a row and see if your “inflammation” eases.
Have fun with this. Find YOUR way to engage this ideal. It’s essentially a simple and easy path but may require some adjustment to your food patterns.
Protein Key:
- 1 ounce of meat = 7 grams of protein
- 1 egg = 6 grams opf protein
- Protein powder = generally 20 grams of protein
- 1/2 cup beans = 7 grams of protein
- 1/4 cup of nuts = 7 grams of protein
- 1/2 cup soybeans = 11 grams of protein
