Everyone seems to be obsessed with protein these days. High protein this, high protein that - but how much do you actually need? And what if you don't want to be all big and muscly?
I have a confession - before I became a nutritionist, I hated protein
I didn't like the taste and I thought it was seriously overhyped. I thought that if I just got the minimum daily amount of 0.8g/kg, I'd be grand.
I didn't realise that protein was about so much more than bodybuilding and muscles. Turns out you need protein for:
- A healthy immune system
- Healthy organs
- Bone health
- Wound healing
- Avoiding sports injuries
- Keeping full and avoiding weight gain
- Supporting healthy fat loss
- Having strong hair and nails
- And of course supporting healthy muscle
I also didn't realise that how much protein you need is dependent on how active you are
That 0.8g/kg in many guidelines? That's to avoid literal malnutrition - diseases like Kwashiorkor (an illness commonly seen in African children where their belly looks really big due to protein deficiency).
If you're sedentary, you can probably get away with 1g per kilo of your bodyweight. But given that exercise is one of the best things you can do for your health, you probably need a bit more!
Overall, the science seems to suggest that 1.2-1.6g/kg is the sweet spot most of the time. If you're overweight, this can seem like a seriously overwhelming amount of protein - so in that case go for 1.2-1.6g/kg of your ideal bodyweight (this is because your needs are actually based off of your 'lean' mass, but most people have no way of measuring their lean mass, so experts use 'bodyweight' or 'ideal bodyweight' as a bit of a shortcut.)
Any more than that isn't better - it's actually probably just crowding out other good foods you should be eating.
And that the older you are - the more you need
One of the special things about the protein in food is that it signals to your body to create protein in your body (organs, muscles, etc).
Unfortunately, the older you get, the more you develop 'anabolic resistance'.
Anabolic resistance is like the muscular equivalent of older people losing their hearing. Your muscles and other protein tissues don't respond so well to protein signaling. You need to 'yell' at them by eating more protein, and in bigger boluses.
By the time you're in your 60s, you should consider eating up to 2g/kg of protein per day, or having at least one meal which alone has 0.6g/kg.
Not every single meal needs to have protein in it
This is where the gym junkies get a bit too carried away.
While it's probably a good idea to have a couple of big boluses of protein each day, as long as you're eating the recommended amount overall, it doesn't really matter if you have low protein meals too.
That said, if you're on a weight loss journey it's a good idea for your meals to mostly be high protein (25g+) because this will help you have fewer cravings.
But what does 1.6g/kg actually mean in 'food terms'?
So far you've seen a lot of numbers. But how much protein is there actually in a piece of toast? Peanut butter? A chicken nugget? Broccoli? Potato?
It all adds up. Click here to download my free guild to translate protein in grams to real food!