Just the Tips: Protein

Protein is the second macronutrient I wanted to talk about in detail. I think it’s the least contentious of the three big ones (carbs, fats, and proteins) — most seem to happily accept a need for protein in their life. This isn’t a story about the ethics of specific protein consumption, this is meant to be as objective as possible and ethics ARE opinions. Here are some actual facts about humans and consumption.

1. Humans are omnivores, with the physiological ability to eat and process both animals AND plants.
2. Plants and fungi are on the bottom tier of the energy economy. They therefore provide the basis for fueling the rest of that economy.
3. The more steps you take in the energy economy, the less efficient the process is — humans eating corn is definitively more energy efficient than humans eating chickens that ate the same corn.

Personally, I’m an omnivorous human. I like eating meat, as a whole sensation. If I needed to, I could do a plant-based diet, but for now I’ve not heard the argument that I NEED to.

Oh jeeb, look at all of these tasty ways to consume protein!

I really want to focus on protein as it pertains to regular, healthy nutrition though. Protein serves a few key functions in your body:

• Protein helps provide the building blocks for muscle growth AND regeneration.
• Proteins facilitate a slew of other necessary processes throughout the body including structural, digestive, and transportation of smaller chemicals.
• Protein acts as an energy source if needed.

That last point is admittedly a doozy, but speaks to a need for diversity in our protein intake.

Rule Five — Your body needs a lot of different proteins, so make sure you’re taking in protein from a diverse set of foods.

There are plenty of sources for protein thankfully, and nourishing yourself with several of them will help provide you the full gamut of proteins your body needs while also addressing a lot of your body’s vitamin and mineral demands. Protein comes from:

• Animal meats like fowl, beef, pork, seafood, and bugs AND animal byproducts like eggs or offal.
• Legumes and nuts like beans, peanuts, cashews, or chickpeas.
• Dairy products like milk, cheese, yogurt, or butter.
• Wheat-based products like flour, pasta, bread.
• Processed protein products like soy or whey isolate protein powder.

Given that it’s the future, you can definitely get your protein needs met regardless of your ethical stance on carnivorous eating, but as I said, it’s important to make sure all of your bases are covered. If you’re going to step toward veganism, be it through vegetarianism, pescatarianism, or something else you define — DO YOUR RESEARCH. You owe it to your body to make sure that you are supplementing your diet appropriately to meet your physiological needs.

Remember, while protein CAN be used for energy (like any of our organic macronutrients), its primary function is muscle growth and regeneration followed by a slew of necessary cellular processes. What that tells me is that protein does not fill the same role as carbohydrates in my diet. It’s not ‘for fuel’ exactly, though it can be burned same as a piece of toast. That might make me assume that I need more carbs than proteins in my diet on a regular basis. That’s an assumption, and one we often take to an absurd level.

Rule Six — Protein is as essential as carbohydrates and in most cases should not be grossly outweighed by them on your plate.

These numbers change based on your goal — this is a good breakdown for a healthy diet that maintains.

Proteins, like carbohydrates provide four calories per gram ingested. For a healthy diet aimed at maintaining weight and function, it is recommended that your diet be broken down with only a slight favoring toward carbohydrates as an energy source. More specifically for carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, aim for a 40-30-30% split in your calories, respectively. We’ve been cultured to have a heaping helping of potatoes or pasta with a fistful size at most of meat. In general, we want pretty equal portions of our three macronutrients, with a very small additional helping of carbs. The way I like to think of this is actually equal parts carbs (traditionally speaking), meat, and fat, with a helping of fruits or vegetables (also carbs) to round out my diet and provide crucial vitamins and minerals. I find that this leverages our existing mindset of “carbs are bread, pasta, and potatoes” with our need for only slightly more carbs that we will get from fruits and vegetables.

It will continue to boil down to balance, and a mindfulness toward your goals. For the person maintaining their weight and body composition, it’s recommended to intake about ¾ of a gram of protein per pound of body weight. That’s really the lower bound, and we should be mindful of an upper bound as well. While it won’t be an issue for most people, most nutritional science recommends avoiding ingesting over 1.5 grams per pound, and really suggests that anything over 1.2–1.3 grams per pound goes beyond our bodies natural ability to utilize protein intake.

That said, when you’re eating too much protein, you’ll know it. Excess protein works its way into the urinary tract, and so that particular waste stream will start to pick up a very peculiar scent. Additionally, the protein that DOES stay in your GI tract won’t be absorbed and your gut bacteria will have a field day trying to process it. As a result, they will be producing more gas and so that will smell too. In general, if you’re eating too much protein, you’re going to smell terrible; when this happens, it’s a good sign to revisit your food intake and recalibrate your levels.

Rule Seven — Your body will tell you when you’re screwing up. A healthy diet means healthy function; conversely, unhealthy function can often be traced to an unhealthy diet.

This sand is flavored for enjoyable protein consumption.

Lastly, I want to leave a simple note about protein supplements. There’s the notion that these are only meant for people trying to build muscle and should be avoided otherwise. I’ll meet this with my own opinion — protein powders and supplemental products are a great way to introduce protein into your diet if you’re following a stricter diet overall. A lot of protein supplements have been specifically designed to provide a diverse set of amino acids that you need for bodily function, while stripping away the dietary weight that comes with animal products/byproducts and potential risks of a heavily nut-based diet. I’ll say that I personally avoid protein bars or cookies because they’re often still soaked in sugar or sugar replacements. Candy is still candy. But I do use protein powder as a way to add protein to my oatmeal, pancakes, yogurt. And if you’re in need of an easy boost to your daily protein intake, protein powders are an excellent tool. That said, there’s a huge array of protein powder products, so I’ll have to follow-up with more detail on finding the right one for your needs in another piece.

As before, if you’re looking for quick advice:

Make sure to get protein from as many different sources as possible, AND eat only a little less protein than you would carbs.

Sincerely Not Smelly,

August