Fast Food #007: Protein is King
One of the most beneficial things you can do for your health and performance is to consume adequate protein, specifically animal protein.
A landmark 2022 study found that “the top sources of priority micronutrients are organs, small fish, dark green leafy vegetables, bivalves, crustaceans, goat, beef, eggs, milk, canned fish with bones, mutton, and lamb. Cheese, goat milk, and pork are also good sources, and to a lesser extent, yogurt, fresh fish, pulses, teff, and canned fish without bones.” (1).
I’ve often guided many athletes and clients towards prioritizing protein — specifically animal protein. This case is so strong that even pro-plant-based enthusiasts acknowledge the improved bioavailbility of animal proteins (2).
When you prioritize eating protein (1) enough, and (2) first in your meal. A lot of problems go away. This, of course, doesn’t mean you get a free pass to pound the Little Debbie’s cakes after a steak.
What it means is that I’m much less worried what you eat after, if you still have room for it, a 1-2 lb. ribeye. This has to do with a number of factors unique to protein as well as the health benefits of animal protein specifically.
The Protein Leverage Hypothesis:
In short, the “protein leverage hypothesis” states that there is a disproportionately satiating effect to the consumption of protein compared to other macronutrients (carbohydrates, alcohol, and fat). By extension, there is the assertion that humans may continue over eating until protein requirements are met (1, 2) — though this could be due to the vast nutrient density in protein (particularly when it’s sourced from animals with the incumbent animal fat).
“In our study population a change in the nutritional environment that dilutes dietary protein with carbohydrate and fat promotes overconsumption, enhancing the risk for potential weight gain.” (3)
We also see the importance of protein consumption in older adults to aide against the onset of sarcopenia and osteoporosis. One study (4) notes that “Findings indicate clear evidence for (protein leverage) on (total energy intake), but not on BMI, likely because of aging, body composition, sarcopenia, or protein wasting.”
What does that mean? Likely that muscle mass was preserved and that body composition was beneficially altered!
We have also seen the inverse of the protein leverage hypothesis heavily manipulated by the ultra/processed food industry. That is, there are separate “reward systems” in our body for fat and carbohydrates, and an incredibly “addictive” effect takes place when they’re combined (5).
Eating Healthy is Expensive, Right?
In an altruistic sense, this is absolutely false. Healthcare is expensive. Diabetes is expensive. Being sick is expensive.
A landmark study from Ty Beal in 2023 (6) really put all of this to rest by analyzing the nutrient density of various foods — to say nothing of bioavailability (how efficiently those nutrients get from your gut to your blood).
I did a little leg work on my own, browsing Wal-mart’s and Kroger’s websites to further debunk this myth that eating healthy and eating meat are “too expensive.” Since the hard work (by Beal) was deducing nutrients per gram, cost per gram (or ounce) was easy enough to find, and it’s a simple calculation to put the two together.
If you were on an uber-tight budget and wanted to get the most nutritional bang for your buck what should you eat?
liver
ground beef
shellfish
eggs
Past and leafy greens cost about twice as much to provide 1/3 of your daily nutrients compared to ground beef and eggs. Apples? Over three times as much.
Protein Intake Recommendations:
Typical government guidelines estimate protein far too low (7), and we’ve already seen that there’s plenty of evidence why that’s detrimental. At any rate, pretty common ballpark references are to eat 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight (or ~2g / Kg) (8, 9).
Some more recent literature has even recommended 3g / Kg (10); which is about where I’m at (~80 Kg and ~250g per day).
These recommendations can vary depending on sex, goals, and current vs. goal body composition — e.g. if you’re very overweight, estimating your need based on your goal bodyweight will be more accurate.
To simplify things a bit, there’s about 100 - 120g of protein per lb. (2.2 Kg) of 80% lean ground beef. At the above recommendations, most people are going to want to aim for 1-2 lbs of meat / day.
There’s a lot of nuance and much debate about protein sourcing, but that will have to wait for another day. The point here is that, of a handful of dietary recommendations that will absolutely help just about everyone, is prioritizing protein.
Bonus: For the others I’d include:
Stop eating junk.. you know what it is (candy, cookies, cakes, chips, etc.)
Avoid vegetable oils.
Debunking Other Protein Myths:
Protein intake does not harm your kidneys, in fact it has a negative relationship with kidney disease (11).
Meat intake and post-cancer diagnosis, did not get worse (12), nor was pre-diagnosis meat intake associated with post-diagnosis survival rate (13).
Meat is not “bad for the environment” (14).
Meat is not fascist, it is food justice (15).