**ATTENTION PROTEIN SKEPTICS****

ingies2011

Protein is also thermogenic, meaning it takes more energy to digest then what an equivalent amount of calories of fat or carbs do, another reason to include it with each meal and snack.

spngebobmyhero

bump to read later

taem

If you are going to get protein from animals, watch this movie and then go right ahead.

http://www.documentarywire.com/earthlings

tigersword

I've had 2 Registered Nurses and a Dietitian just recently tell me that too much protein can be bad and that you should only eat enough for your body, add a little more if you work out and adjust to your level of fitness and how hard you work out. Otherwise the protein eventually turns into sugar/fat.

http://www.1stholistic.com/Nutrition/hol_nutr_does-excess-protein-turn-to-fat.htm

I have always done higher protein foods while trying to be healthier because they keep me full longer and tend to give me more energy. But, even though the calories were low and I was exercising, the scale was not moving. My doctor mentioned maybe it was too much protein.

Maybe I should come down on the protein a little bit and add some fiber for that full factor.

Excess CALORIES are stored as fat. Regardless of whether the calories come from fat, protein, or carbs. So yeah, too much protein can be stored as fat, as can too many carbs, and too much fat.

TK421NotAtPost

I love vegans, but not when they try to shove their anti-meat agenda at me.... Just sayin.

taem

I love vegans, but not when they try to shove their anti-meat agenda at me.... Just sayin.

LOL, I hear you! Those darn vegans and their save the animals view!

Lyadeia

I love vegans, but not when they try to shove their anti-meat agenda at me.... Just sayin.

+1

I honestly couldn't care less what some people's morals tell them not to eat as long as they don't assume that they are somehow above the rest of us who differ from them.

I get probably about 95% of my protein from tasty animals. :bigsmile: That's my choice, and no propaganda save the animals movies will change that.

ninerbuff

But hey if it works for you great, but not everyone is the same, and some people need higher carbs and if they take in this much, they would have less calories available for carbs and fat, which are both also essential.

Just a quick note: Protein and fat are essentials. Carbs aren't. Your body can survive without them.

http://www.ajcn.org/content/75/5/951.2.full
The currently established human essential nutrients are water, energy, amino acids (histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine), essential fatty acids (linoleic and α-linolenic acids), vitamins (ascorbic acid, vitamin A, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B-6, pantothenic acid, folic acid, biotin, and vitamin B-12), minerals (calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and iron), trace minerals (zinc, copper, manganese, iodine, selenium, molybdenum, and chromium), electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and chloride), and ultratrace minerals (4). (Note the absence of specific carbohydrates from this list.)

gauberger

You might want to read the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study_(book)
Overconsumption of proteins may not be as good as you think.

TK421NotAtPost

You might want to read the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_China_Study_(book)
Overconsumption of proteins may not be as good as you think.

the China study has been discredited for some time now...


http://rawfoodsos.com/2010/07/07/the-china-study-fact-or-fallac/

http://freetheanimal.com/2010/07/t-colin-campbells-the-china-study-finally-exhaustively-discredited.html

http://robbwolf.com/2010/07/08/the-china-study-junk-science-and-lies/

TK421NotAtPost

I love vegans, but not when they try to shove their anti-meat agenda at me.... Just sayin.

LOL, I hear you! Those darn vegans and their save the animals view!

No, actually I don't believe you hear me at all... You obviously have difficulty comprehending what I'm saying. I like vegans very much and there are many things I admire about them... I think they are wonderful people and I've befriended many here on MFP.

It's not the view or message I have a problem with. It's more the way you follow me around and preach your anti-meat gospel that I find really annoying. It's a practice that I believe most of the sensible Vegans on this board would probably not approve of.

FK1983

I've had 2 Registered Nurses and a Dietitian just recently tell me that too much protein can be bad and that you should only eat enough for your body, add a little more if you work out and adjust to your level of fitness and how hard you work out. Otherwise the protein eventually turns into sugar/fat.

http://www.1stholistic.com/Nutrition/hol_nutr_does-excess-protein-turn-to-fat.htm

I have always done higher protein foods while trying to be healthier because they keep me full longer and tend to give me more energy. But, even though the calories were low and I was exercising, the scale was not moving. My doctor mentioned maybe it was too much protein.

Maybe I should come down on the protein a little bit and add some fiber for that full factor.

Excess CALORIES are stored as fat. Regardless of whether the calories come from fat, protein, or carbs. So yeah, too much protein can be stored as fat, as can too many carbs, and too much fat.

^This

Not sure I would trust "2 Registered Nurses and a Dietitian" that say stuff like that...
The fact is, you have too many calories you put on weight, this isn't from having too much protein, its from having too many calories in general, same with carbs and fat.

I have looooads of protein, quite low carbs and very low fat, I'm in very good shape, lost 120lbs and am building good muscle while getting rid of the last bit of fat I wanted gone, the protein plays a HUGE role in this for me. I also don't get hungry during the day at all when I have high protein.

FatGirlSlim89

I love vegans, but not when they try to shove their anti-meat agenda at me.... Just sayin.

LOL, I hear you! Those darn vegans and their save the animals view!

No, actually I don't believe you hear me at all... You obviously have difficulty comprehending what I'm saying. I like vegans very much and there are many things I admire about them... I think they are wonderful people and I've befriended many here on MFP.

It's not the view or message I have a problem with. It's more the way you follow me around and preach your anti-meat gospel that I find really annoying. It's a practice that I believe most of the sensible Vegans on this board would probably not approve of.

I agree, as a former vegan myself. I respect others for their views and feel that in turn they should respect mine.

Also, if people do choose to eat meat, they may be educated about their decision, and may care for animals. For example I buy my eggs from the free range farm down the road, so I know they are from happy chickens. I also have managed to find suppliers of meat from free range farms where the animals are treated well. Anyway I don't want to get away from the OPs post!

I agree with the protein need, it needs to be reinforced especially to the female market how great it is for you and how much it aides your diet. I think it's a great and informative post!

gargoyle999

I like the 1gram per 1lb of lean body mass idea!

TavistockToad

Bump

Elle408

Huge protein fan over here! I did low carb last year before MFP and managed to shed most of my weight then just cutting out bread, pasta's, refined sugars etc. Then I joined MFP and started the 1200cals-fits-all semi-starvation diet, which admittedly, worked, but I was hungry ALL THE TIME and pretty miserable. I was having food cravings so bad I could barely think about anything other than my next carb hit.

Just recently as a week ago I decided to head back towards a high protein diet and within days I noticed a huge difference, i'm rarely hungry, I haven't craved sugar or chocolate or carbs and generally feel happier about the food that i'm eating. I now eat pretty clean and cook most of my meals from scratch.

However, today I had a meeting at work, lunch was provided and I wasn't in a position to take my own and they brought out sandwiches, potato chips and cakes. I figured one carb-y lunch wouldn't hurt, within ten minutes of eating the sandwiches my heart was racing and I went on a mini-bender looking for cake and sugar! I ended up eating 3 pieces of cake (admittedly small pieces and they were home made) but I could have easily eaten a lot more. Now i'm paying for it, can barely keep my eyes open and feel pretty miserable. I'll stick to my 100g Carbs, 150g Protein a day thank you!

Oh and also, Quorn is pretty high protein these days, I use a lot of Quorn products to get my protein, no animals were hurt in the making of Quorn mince!

FK1983

Huge protein fan over here! I did low carb last year before MFP and managed to shed most of my weight then just cutting out bread, pasta's, refined sugars etc. Then I joined MFP and started the 1200cals-fits-all semi-starvation diet, which admittedly, worked, but I was hungry ALL THE TIME and pretty miserable. I was having food cravings so bad I could barely think about anything other than my next carb hit.

Just recently as a week ago I decided to head back towards a high protein diet and within days I noticed a huge difference, i'm rarely hungry, I haven't craved sugar or chocolate or carbs and generally feel happier about the food that i'm eating. I now eat pretty clean and cook most of my meals from scratch.

However, today I had a meeting at work, lunch was provided and I wasn't in a position to take my own and they brought out sandwiches, potato chips and cakes. I figured one carb-y lunch wouldn't hurt, within ten minutes of eating the sandwiches my heart was racing and I went on a mini-bender looking for cake and sugar! I ended up eating 3 pieces of cake (admittedly small pieces and they were home made) but I could have easily eaten a lot more. Now i'm paying for it, can barely keep my eyes open and feel pretty miserable. I'll stick to my 100g Carbs, 150g Protein a day thank you!

Oh and also, Quorn is pretty high protein these days, I use a lot of Quorn products to get my protein, no animals were hurt in the making of Quorn mince!

Wow! everything you said describes exactly how i was before I went to high protein, the snacking and wanting more and more was a nite mare and happened so often (and how I got so big in the first place!), then after binging on all sorts of rubbish I'd feel really guilty and depressed for letting myself eat so bad.

I now have a LOT of high protein/low fat food for dinners, e.g chicken or turkey breast (no skin) or fish (tuna mainly) etc and good quality whey protein three times a day to reach around 150g of protein per day, since doing this the improvements are absolutely amazing (honestly, amazing!). I don't get hungry between meals at all now, I have looooads more energy and never get those low blood sugar drops where I used to get all shaky, I recover from exercise so much quicker, I've also noticed much better/bigger muscle tone/definition, and I am sleeping better because I'm more energetic in the day.

And the best thing? I'm still losing the last bits of fat fine! me = very happy

joejccva71

I agree with most of what you wrote until I got to this. This is not a general rule of thumb this is your opinion and the opinion of others (where are the studies to back this up). I have also read studies that suggest that 1-1.5 grams per Kg is all you need, and there is no benefit in getting more, although more is not necessarily bad, just not necessary.
If you change your argument to 1 gram per lb of lean mass then I would be more inclined to agree with you, as you don't need to feed your fat protein, just your muscle. so if you weigh 200 and are 15% body fat you only need 170 grams, not the 200 as you are suggesting.

^^ 110% accurate. 1-1.5g of protein per lb of LBM is completely correct, although in order for people to find their LBM they need to know their bodyfat% in which most don't know. So with that, people can still go by the .5 to 1lb of protein per lb of bodyweight. It's not gonna hurt them.

But I completely agree with you.

spngebobmyhero

Interesting read! I thought it was probably good that my protein was always in the red and I was under my carbs by a lot!

beachbodycoachsherry

Great read! I completely agree! Every day my protein on MFP is that god awful red..LOL I always look at it and say, I dont care!!!!

We just need to make sure we dont get more than a certain amount at a time. It needs to be spread out throughout the day. So dont eat 70 grams for breakast then 20 every other meal.