The Truth about Protein

If your goal is weight loss, protein can be a very helpful tool! Protein is the macronutrient that takes the longest to digest and break down in your stomach compared to fat and carbohydrate. Due to the length of time it takes to break down, your body actually expends more calories digesting this type of food compared to foods that are rich in either carbohydrates or fat.
Also, because this type of food takes so long to break down, this creates a greater sensation of fullness. So, if you find there are certain times during the day that you are more hungry than other times, having a high protein snack can really help you feel satisfied.

Your body's requirement for protein is actually pretty small. In order for your body to keep itself running smoothly without creating protein deficiencies, it requires a small amount of protein each day. Generally, it's about 0.6 to 0.8 grams/kg of bodyweight. For someone who weighs 150lbs, their protein requirement would be 40-55g each day. You could easily meet this need with one 6oz piece of meat.

However, there are many other reasons to increase the amount of protein in your diet. Here is just a few examples of why you might want to:

- To help you lose weight, through the craving reduction and metabolism enhancing qualities
- To help you build muscle, protein is the building block of muscle
- To help combat infection and help recover from surgery


Protein has many functions in our bodies. It helps transport nutrients and helps repair damaged tissues. Protein can also take the place of carbohydrate when carbohydrate intake is too low(However, this is not the best method of using energy, your body will become quite taxed).

For people who are looking to either gain weight or lose weight, consuming more lean protein in your diet can be very helpful to meeting your goals. However, because most protein sources are meat products, these sources of protein can also be high sources of fat and saturated fat. If this is the case, these types of foods can increase your risk for heart disease.

So, the best approach is to look for leaner cuts of meat. Leaner cuts include: the meat furthest away from bone:

breast (for chicken and turkey)
loin (for beef and pork).
Other sources of protein:
Egg whites (the yolk contains the cholesterol and fat)
Non-fat cottage cheese
Low-fat cheese sticks
Most fish
Protein substitutes (like a protein drink or bar)

These types of protein sources are considered "Primary Protein Sources". This is because the primary macronutrient in the above list is protein. There are other foods that have protein in them but are not "primary" protein sources.

These non-primary sources include:
Peanut butter
Nuts
Most Beans (not green beans)
Dairy products

These foods will give you some protein, but there is another macronutrient that is more dominant. For example, black beans have protein (about 8g/svg), but it's primary macronutrient is carbohydrate (about 20-30g/svg).

If your goals is weight loss and/or muscle gain, it's best to try to stick with primary protein sources for your meals to help increase satiety, metabolism and decrease cravings. The non-primary protein sources can give your body other essential nutrients like healthy fats if you were to consume nuts. However, be aware that nuts have a lot of calories because they are very high in fat. These extra calories may be contributing to either weight gain or preventing you from achieving weight loss if that is your goal. Making use of the non-primary proteins often might derail your efforts to achieve the results you are looking for.

For someone looking to lose weight, I might recommend consuming 3-6 primary protein sources each day to help with the weight loss efforts. A good goal to shoot for would be to try to have a primary protein source in each meal. If you do this, you will notice how much longer that meal will keep you satisfied and help keep cravings down.

Something also to be aware of, you will want to make sure you are drinking plenty of water if you consume more protein in your diet. Protein is broken down into ammonia in your blood and in order to excrete this, consuming plenty of water will be needed to help take care of it. If you have healthy functioning kidneys, there is no problem with this whatsoever. By consuming more protein, you will probably notice that you will become more thirsty. This is your body's natural response for the need to excrete the ammonia in your blood, it's very normal. Just continue to drink plenty of water. However, if you do have kidney damage/disease, then I would not consider increasing protein at all and talk with your doctor about any dietary changes.

The recommendations that I have for protein consumption is about 25-30% of your total caloric intake. Carbohydrates should be about 50-55% and Fat should be 15-20% of your diet. This macronutrient breakdown is what I have found to be very successful with both myself and my clients in helping them to lose bodyfat and gain lean muscle.

If you have any questions about getting more protein in your diet, please don't hesitate to ask. :)


"I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’” Ezekiel 37:6 (New Living Translation)