How Little Protein

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senecarr
senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I wanted to get ahead of the fad diets and nutrition advice. So, by process of elimination, I'm going to hate on protein. Anyone know how little protein you should consume to avoid all the diseases and conditions?

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  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
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    American Heart Association recommends 10-35%. How little does one actually need, backed up by scientific literature? IDK.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 17,959 Member
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    If you're Freelee, none at all! Just insert at least 4 bananas per day per orifice.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    Alatariel75 wrote: »
    If you're Freelee, none at all! Just insert at least 4 bananas per day per orifice.

    I'd settle for if she kept 4 in her mouth orifice at all times.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Isn't the raw thing usually 80-10-10, and in support I think you are supposed to point out that the Kenyan marathoners do that (ignoring the fact that 10% of the calories for an elite marathoner likely isn't that few grams). So I think you need to go under 10%.

    Similarly, the bare minimum recommendation is .8 g/kg body weight or some such, so you have to go below that too.

    How about the equivalent of extreme low carb: under 25 grams?

    There already is something of a movement along these lines: the China Study (etc.) "animal protein causes illness and death." Just expand it--I'm sure the protein in legumes is horrid too, and rice is already a (gasp!) grain and don't get me started on gluten!

    (Kidding, I personally have nothing against gluten. Gluten is a friend of mine.)
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Isn't the raw thing usually 80-10-10, and in support I think you are supposed to point out that the Kenyan marathoners do that (ignoring the fact that 10% of the calories for an elite marathoner likely isn't that few grams). So I think you need to go under 10%.

    Similarly, the bare minimum recommendation is .8 g/kg body weight or some such, so you have to go below that too.

    How about the equivalent of extreme low carb: under 25 grams?

    There already is something of a movement along these lines: the China Study (etc.) "animal protein causes illness and death." Just expand it--I'm sure the protein in legumes is horrid too, and rice is already a (gasp!) grain and don't get me started on gluten!

    (Kidding, I personally have nothing against gluten. Gluten is a friend of mine.)
    Under 25 grams of protein? Ok, I think I can hate on protein that much.
    Anyone got any more brilliant stuff like the China study so I can smack talk about protein causing all the health problems in the Modern World?
    Amusing anecdotes about someone who cut out protein and lost all the weight?

  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    Ah, here you go: McDougall.

    https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/protein.htm
    The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that men and women obtain 5% of their calories as protein. This would mean 38 grams of protein for a man burning 3000 calories a day and 29 grams for a woman using 2300 calories a day. This quantity of protein is impossible to avoid when daily calorie needs are met by unrefined starches and vegetables. For example, rice alone would provide 71 grams of highly useable protein and white potatoes would provide 64 grams of protein.
    In the 1940s, William Rose performed experiments on people which found daily minimum protein needs to be about 20 grams a day.

    My note: there are 2 grams of protein in 100 grams of potatoes, so his numbers seem to assume 3200 grams of potatoes, or about 2400 calories of potatoes. I really like potatoes and all, but that's kind of extreme given that we actually have other foods available and probably shouldn't just eat potatoes. However, he's really into the potatoes:
    Many populations, for example people in rural Poland and Russia at the turn of the 19th century, have lived in very good health doing extremely hard work with the white potato serving as their primary source of nutrition. One landmark experiment carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25 years old and a woman 28 years old had them live on a diet primarily of white potatoes for 6 months. (A few additional items of little nutritional value except for empty calories—pure fats, a few fruits, coffee, and tea—were added to their diet.) The report stated, “They did not tire of the uniform potato diet and there was no craving for change.” Even though they were both physically active (especially the man) they were described as, “…in good health on a diet in which the nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato.”

    The potato is such a great source of nutrition that it can supply all of the essential protein and amino acids for young children in times of food shortage. Eleven Peruvian children, ages 8 months to 35 months, recovering from malnutrition, were fed diets where all of the protein and 75% of the calories came from potatoes. (Soybean-cottonseed oils and pure simple sugars, neither of which contains protein, vitamins, or minerals, provided some of the extra calories.) Researchers found that this simple potato diet provided all the protein and essential amino acids to meet the needs of growing and small children.
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    senecarr wrote: »
    Amusing anecdotes about someone who cut out protein and lost all the weight?

    A man ate nothing for over a year, lost about 0.7 lbs per day and kept it off after 5 yrs.

  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    Ah, here you go: McDougall.

    https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2007nl/apr/protein.htm
    The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends that men and women obtain 5% of their calories as protein. This would mean 38 grams of protein for a man burning 3000 calories a day and 29 grams for a woman using 2300 calories a day. This quantity of protein is impossible to avoid when daily calorie needs are met by unrefined starches and vegetables. For example, rice alone would provide 71 grams of highly useable protein and white potatoes would provide 64 grams of protein.
    In the 1940s, William Rose performed experiments on people which found daily minimum protein needs to be about 20 grams a day.

    My note: there are 2 grams of protein in 100 grams of potatoes, so his numbers seem to assume 3200 grams of potatoes, or about 2400 calories of potatoes. I really like potatoes and all, but that's kind of extreme given that we actually have other foods available and probably shouldn't just eat potatoes. However, he's really into the potatoes:
    Many populations, for example people in rural Poland and Russia at the turn of the 19th century, have lived in very good health doing extremely hard work with the white potato serving as their primary source of nutrition. One landmark experiment carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25 years old and a woman 28 years old had them live on a diet primarily of white potatoes for 6 months. (A few additional items of little nutritional value except for empty calories—pure fats, a few fruits, coffee, and tea—were added to their diet.) The report stated, “They did not tire of the uniform potato diet and there was no craving for change.” Even though they were both physically active (especially the man) they were described as, “…in good health on a diet in which the nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato.”

    The potato is such a great source of nutrition that it can supply all of the essential protein and amino acids for young children in times of food shortage. Eleven Peruvian children, ages 8 months to 35 months, recovering from malnutrition, were fed diets where all of the protein and 75% of the calories came from potatoes. (Soybean-cottonseed oils and pure simple sugars, neither of which contains protein, vitamins, or minerals, provided some of the extra calories.) Researchers found that this simple potato diet provided all the protein and essential amino acids to meet the needs of growing and small children.

    TOO scientific. We need sound bytes people. We want to be cool, not correct.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    You need to make some YouTubes.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    You need to make some YouTubes.
    Na, I'm saving my YouTube channel for drinking shots glyphosate (round-up) to get healthy and having all the anti-GMO get mad at me and keep giving me page views. I also have plans for doing a segment where I'll eat exclusively organic but go way over macros to gain weight.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    yarwell wrote: »
    senecarr wrote: »
    Amusing anecdotes about someone who cut out protein and lost all the weight?

    A man ate nothing for over a year, lost about 0.7 lbs per day and kept it off after 5 yrs.
    Clearly it was the zero protein that did it. You're awesome.
  • Sydking
    Sydking Posts: 317 Member
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    i eat 170g a day... or 0.9g per lb
  • Sydking
    Sydking Posts: 317 Member
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    when i lost over 25kg in the past on low protein diet i was still a flabby smaller version of my self.

    Need to keep LBM if you want to be able to eat lots and burn it easy and look good

    your choice

    And yes lift weights

  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    Sydking wrote: »
    when i lost over 25kg in the past on low protein diet i was still a flabby smaller version of my self.

    Need to keep LBM if you want to be able to eat lots and burn it easy and look good

    your choice

    And yes lift weights
    I think you missed the explanation of the sarcasm in this thread.

  • Sydking
    Sydking Posts: 317 Member
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    [/quote]
    I think you missed the explanation of the sarcasm in this thread.

    [/quote]

    you sir, are correct

    il hang my head in shame
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,391 MFP Moderator
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    senecarr wrote: »
    Sydking wrote: »
    when i lost over 25kg in the past on low protein diet i was still a flabby smaller version of my self.

    Need to keep LBM if you want to be able to eat lots and burn it easy and look good

    your choice

    And yes lift weights
    I think you missed the explanation of the sarcasm in this thread.
    And i think you clearly missed the rule that says no trolling ;)

    Thread locked for that.
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