How Much Protein?

[Martin.A]

I'm finding it difficult to find clear guidance on how much protein should be in my diet. One article I found said an adult should have 56g per day. Another said to take 0.75 of your weight in kilos and have that many grams. Another said take your weight in kilos and have that many grams. Older people, apparently, should have more to compensate for age-related loss of muscle mass.

Being on a low carb diet means I have added extra fat and protein to my diet and I do record how much I have each day. I generally exceed the RDA for protein but at my age I assume that's OK.

It's confusing.

Martin

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Not sure whether this is going to help or just add to your confusion, but I saw a specialist once who told me that I should be eating more protein, and also make sure I had protein containing all the amino acids. (He was a dysautonomia specialist rather than a diabetes specialist or dietician, and I was consulting him abut my ME/dysautonomia, but as it happened he'd done his original doctorate in the field of diabetes.) At the time I was eating around 75-100g of protein per day (but almost entirely in fish)*, and weighed around 50kg.

If someone can come up with a definitive answer to your question I'd be very interested to hear it too. I've increased my protein and the variety of it, but I've no idea whether I've increased it enough or in which sources of protein I'd find all the amino acids I was apparently lacking ...

*doh - sorry, had a brain fog moment. I should have said 75-100g fish per day, which is about 20-30g protein!

 

[Drummer]

I don't think it is all that important, to be honest - as long as you eat enough to satisfy your appetite and your physical requirements it should be OK.
I think type ones need to calculate more closely but an excess is not all that significant for a type two.

 

[Eddy Edson]

I'm finding it difficult to find clear guidance on how much protein should be in my diet. One article I found said an adult should have 56g per day. Another said to take 0.75 of your weight in kilos and have that many grams. Another said take your weight in kilos and have that many grams. Older people, apparently, should have more to compensate for age-related loss of muscle mass.

Being on a low carb diet means I have added extra fat and protein to my diet and I do record how much I have each day. I generally exceed the RDA for protein but at my age I assume that's OK.

It's confusing.

Martin

When I started looking into this stuff after diagnosis I came to the conclusion that nobody really had a clear view on what an ideal level of protein is & that the common 0.75g per kg guideline should be seen more as a minimum than a maximum.

As Juliet says, you do need to make sure yr diet is amino acid complete, but for a non-vegan it will be anyway.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Sorry, there was an error in my post above 😳 - have now corrected it!

 

[Matt Cycle]

in which sources of protein I'd find all the amino acids I was apparently lacking

Quinoa has all 9 essential amino acids as well as various vitamins and minerals. Widely available now in all the supermarkets compared to when I first started having it and it was health food shops only.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

Quinoa has all 9 essential amino acids as well as various vitamins and minerals. Widely available now in all the supermarkets compared to when I first started having it and it was health food shops only.

Thanks, Matt, that's interesting. I've never had quinoa, so had to google it to see what it was. I might get some to try. It seems to be a lot more carbs than protein though, and I already eat a lot of carbs, so I'd really prefer to have more sources of protein that are carb-free or low carb if I can.

 

[Eddy Edson]

Thanks, Matt, that's interesting. I've never had quinoa, so had to google it to see what it was. I might get some to try. It seems to be a lot more carbs than protein though, and I already eat a lot of carbs, so I'd really prefer to have more sources of protein that are carb-free or low carb if I can.

Chia and flax seeds are also amino acid complete, without the carbs & with a bunch of unsaturated fats and a pretty good protein load also.

 

[Matt Cycle]

Thanks, Matt, that's interesting. I've never had quinoa, so had to google it to see what it was. I might get some to try. It seems to be a lot more carbs than protein though, and I already eat a lot of carbs, so I'd really prefer to have more sources of protein that are carb-free or low carb if I can.

On the occasions I have quinoa it's always as a rice substitute (even though technically it's a seed not a grain) with curry or whatever so carb wise it's a lot less than rice. (Most of the time I do have wholegrain rice though). As Eddy mentions there's chia seeds and flaxseeds. I have both in my porridge along with blueberries and raspberries. They're the type of things you add to other stuff as they're not very appetising on their own. Chia seeds have a gelatinous coating which thickens things up. Flaxseeds are better already milled as I read somewhere the body can't utilise them when they're unmilled. I get all 3 from Aldi - quinoa, chia seeds and milled flaxseed.

 

[TheClockworkDodo]

I will have a look at all of them, thanks. I do have a lot of food intolerances though so I might not be able to eat one or more of them. Seeds are not usually very good for me, my body doesn't seem to digest them.