Too Much Protein

Actually, yes, you can get too much protein. Your kidneys have to clear the byproducts of protein breakdown. When you eat too much protein, you make your kidneys work harder and push the toward dysfunction. Here's an article about what you are talking about:

By Miriam Nelson
WebMD Feature

Reviewed By Gary Vogin

Seems like everyone at the gym is doing it: filling up on protein to bulk up those biceps. But it's a misconception. Eating extra protein actually doesn't do much toward boosting your muscle mass and strength.

In fact, medical research shows that consuming too much protein -- more than 30% of your total daily caloric intake -- could actually harm your body, says protein expert Gail Butterfield, PhD, RD, director of Nutrition Studies at the Palo Alto Veterans' Administration Medical Center and nutrition lecturer at Stanford University.

She says that a diet containing excess protein can have the following adverse effects:

Adding more protein but not more calories or exercise to your diet won't help you build more muscle mass, but it may put your other bodily systems under stress.
Eating more protein and increasing total caloric intake while maintaining the same exercise level will build an equal amount of additional fat and muscle mass, according to a study published in 1992 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
Too Much Protein
So think twice when you consider sacrificing the carbohydrates for a protein-dominant diet, Butterfield says. Drastically cutting carbohydrates from your diet may force your body to fight back.

She says that's because a diet in which protein makes up more than 30% of your caloric intake causes a buildup of toxic ketones. So-called ketogenic diets can thrust your kidneys into overdrive in order to flush these ketones from your body. As your kidneys rid your body of these toxic ketones, you can lose a significant amount of water, which puts you at risk of dehydration, particularly if you exercise heavily.

That water loss often shows up on the scale as weight loss. But along with losing water, you lose muscle mass and bone calcium. The dehydration also strains your kidneys and puts stress on your heart.

And dehydration from a ketogenic diet can make you feel weak and dizzy, give you bad breath, or lead to other problems.

How Much Protein Do I Need?
The amount of protein you require depends on your weight and your daily caloric intake. Most Americans consume more than enough protein in their daily diets. A few specific groups of people are at risk for being protein-deficient, including elderly women and people with illnesses or eating disorders. A protein deficiency is defined as eating 50% to 75% of the recommended amount of daily protein, Butterfield explains.

Ideally, you should consume 0.36 grams of protein for every pound of body weight, according to recommended daily allowances (RDA) set by the Food and Nutrition Board. So if you weigh 170 pounds, you need about 61 grams of protein each day.

Protein should also make up approximately 15% of your total daily caloric intake, also according to the RDA. In a diet of 1,800 calories a day, for example, about 270 of those calories should come from protein.

It's Essential
Although limiting protein intake is important, you should also realize that protein is essential to our bodies' normal functions. It assists in synthesizing enzymes and hormones, maintaining fluid balance, and regulating such vital functions as building antibodies against infection, blood clotting, and scar formation.

Protein is also a building block for our muscles, bones, cartilage, skin, hair, and blood. Protein-rich foods include meat, cheese, milk, fish, and eggs. For vegetarians, protein can be found in soy products such as tofu as well as in combinations of foods, such as rice or corn with beans.

Whether you are an avid strength trainer, a marathon runner, or just an average exerciser, a balanced diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, fish, and complex carbohydrates is what nutritionists recommend.

The rules I follow are no more then 30 g of protein ia sitting your body doesn't absorb more then that...

OH MY GAWD!!! I will have to call our world class burn doc and tell him to stop ordering high protein diets for all our severe burn patients. Their kidneys are already at risk, surely all that protein will put them into failure!!!

Oh wait.......

Lol. This ^

The truth is, while our body will learn to utilize what it's being fed to sustain itself, it will never turn a protein into a carb... That's just idiotic.

Your body's last source of energy is muscular catabolism.

That would mean that your body is 100% carb depleted, glycogen stores are depleted and you're performing such an intense calorie burning activity that your body fat is not enough to keep going.

OH MY GAWD!!! I will have to call our world class burn doc and tell him to stop ordering high protein diets for all our severe burn patients. Their kidneys are already at risk, surely all that protein will put them into failure!!!

Oh wait.......

Lol. This ^

The truth is, while our body will learn to utilize what it's being fed to sustain itself, it will never turn a protein into a carb... That's just idiotic.

Your body's last source of energy is muscular catabolism.

That would mean that your body is 100% carb depleted, glycogen stores are depleted and you're performing such an intense calorie burning activity that your body fat is not enough to keep going.

It doesn't? So you're saying the gluconeogenesis metabolic pathway either doesn't exist or doesn't actually do anything? Gluconeogenesis, you know, the metabolic process of converting protein into glucose? Glucose, you know, a carb?

It's one of this things. People make such a big deal about macro ratios, but to be totally honest, unless you have a specific medical condition, it's not that important. Your body can manufacture protein out of carbohydrates, it can manufacture carbohydrates out of protein, and it manufacture fats as well. So regardless of whatever ratio you insist on eating, your body reengineers it to whatever it happens to need, no matter what you eat. Now yes, there are essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that the body can't manufacture and you have to get through food, but those make up less than 50% of the amino and fatty acids your body uses. You can eat minimal protein, and as long as you get the right amounts of essentials, your body will manufacture all the protein it needs to support your muscle tissue, as long as you fuel it with enough total calories to do it.

Also, if you're trying to lose weight and eating tons of protein at the expense of carbs, then your body will be using gluconeogenesis to convert the extra protein to glucose to make up for the lack of carbs. The downside to that is the liver can only do one thing efficiently at a time, if it's doing gluconeogenesis, it's not burning fat, which kinda sabotages the whole idea, doesn't it?