The Importance of Animal Protein, It’s Not Just for Weight Lifters

Proteins or amino acids are the basic building block of every cell in our body (not just for muscles). Protein is the precursor for DNA, every neurotransmitter, helps control hormone balance, and balance blood sugar, so it is very important for everyone. In practice I notice the patients that recover the fastest are getting plenty of protein. At a minimum aim for 1.5 grams/kg of bodyweight per day. This number can go up to 2 grams of protein/kg if you are working out and highly active.

To find the minimum amount you should be eating every day follow this formula:

• Body weight (lbs) / 2.2 = body weight (kg)
  • Body weight (kg) x 1.5 = grams of protein needed per day
  • Divide that daily number by 3 to find the amount you need per meal (yes, you should eat 3 meals per day).

For example a 200 lb person would need 136 grams of protein per day or ~46 grams per meal. A 130 lb person should aim for 89 grams of protein or 30 grams per meal. Take the time to track your protein intake for a few days to get an idea of where you can improve. Keep in mind one egg is 6 grams of protein so if your breakfast is 1-2 eggs and some toast you need to up your breakfast game. Add in some greek yogurt, cottage cheese, sausage, bacon, steak, whatever animal product you like to eat for breakfast to meet your goal.

The best protein sources are animals or are from animals (meat, fish, dairy, eggs). Plant proteins don’t get absorbed as easily. Protein absorption of plants is only about 50-75% of the protein in the plant. Meaning 30 grams of plant protein will only equate to you absorbing 15-23 grams. On top of that most plant proteins don’t have all the essential amino acids needed for human life. So you will absorb less and may be missing key proteins. This then means in order to get an adequate amount of all essential amino acids, you would need to eat 2-4 times more plants than animal products. That would be difficult for most people to eat that volume of food each meal, maybe not for Joey Chestnut, but any mortal won’t be able to maintain that long term.

I want to be clear, I think we should be eating plant foods for their many other benefits, but only eating plants leads to a diet low in protein, B12, choline, essential fats and many other nutrients. Metabolic flexibility is crucial so we can enjoy a wide variety of foods that helps create a balance in diet and health. Eating only one type of food or food group emphasizes the drawbacks from eating those foods. If we eat a variety of different foods the unique benefits of each food outweighs any mildly harmful effect of other foods. This of course is in the context of eating whole foods. Many harmful effects from ultra-processed foods will be difficult to negate with an otherwise healthy diet.

I hope this helps to explain why eating adequate protein from an animal source is necessary for optimal health. If you have any questions please leave it in the comments below!