The Power of Protein

Because of the numerous responsibilities of protein in the body (from muscle regeneration to energy production) consuming the proper amounts daily are imperative for both health and performance. Daily, your body continually makes new cells for your muscles, organs, glands and bones. All of these are built on the foundation of protein, their main building block.

The argument about how much protein is needed for optimum health and performance has become so convoluted, it has been revised by the RDA 10 times since 1943! The RDA’s current recommendation of 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight has been declared too low by many doctors and nutrition experts. Some of these professionals believe that the gram per kilogram needs to be increased by 3–4 times this amount to maintain proper lean muscle mass, recover from exercise and keep the blood chemistry healthy.

As declared by leading researcher and clinician, Dr. Phil Maffetone, the issue of protein needs dictated by body weight is very distorted and inaccurate. These inaccuracies are created because if you are going to use grams per kilogram of body weight, it needs to be calculated off lean body mass (total weight minus your body fat). It is your lean muscle that needs protein, NOT your stored fat. Keep in mind that over 50% of the dry weight of your body is protein.

As you can see, this can get complex and consuming quite quickly. It is for this exact reason that I don’t want you to count calories, calculate grams or weigh your food. Why? Because you can determine your personal needs by listening to your body, document your mental clarity and performance results and capture eight simple body measurements to determine how your protein, carbohydrate and fat intake is affecting your health, wellness and ultimately your performance.

Like everything we eat, it isn’t just what you consume but also what you absorb that improves your health and performance. The important component of protein is an element called amino acids. Think about amino acids as the “building blocks of muscle”. Amino acids must be digested in the intestine and broken down into amino acids for absorption. Once absorbed, the amino acids are used either as individual products or recombined as proteins. For example, the amino acid tryptophan is used to make certain neurotransmitters in the brain. Additionally, recombining many amino acids provides for the manufacture of new muscle cells.

One topic that pops up when discussing amino acids is “complete amino acids” and “incomplete amino acids”. Because animal protein sources: meat, fish, cheese and eggs contain all amino acids, they are what we consider complete amino acids. The only non-animal product that is a complete protein is tofu. Vegetables foods contain only some of the amino acids; with this in mind, you can produce a complete amino acid profile by combining various vegetable foods. Keep in mind that it is NOT necessary to eat all of them in one meal. For non-meat-eating individuals, the combination of whole grains and legumes will provide a complete amino acid profile. Simple examples are brown rice and beans or almond butter and whole wheat bread.

Many people are afraid of eating too much protein – and justifiably so; excessive protein intake is harsh on your body with painful side effects (i.e. kidney stones). However, if your body needs 100 grams of protein per day, then 100 grams is not too much but rather your personalized protein needs!

A quick side note, many times kidney stones are a result of chronic dehydration, not excessive protein intake. If you are consuming half of your body weight in ounces of water and calculating your sweat rate during exercise, you will minimize your risk of dehydration and the development of kidney stones.

One of the big misconceptions of building muscle is that you can accomplish this task by eating tremendous amounts of meat, nuts and protein shakes. The truth about building muscle has little to do with the amount of protein you take in, but rather the demands of the body to “need” more protein to rebuild stressed muscle tissue. If you consume more protein that your body needs (and your liver processes), the excess protein is broken down into carbohydrates and passed as urea waste.

The key to building more muscle mass is to stress the tendons, ligaments and muscles in a systematic manner to break down the muscle tissue without tearing it. This is a big problem with athletes who try to grow too fast, they overstress the system and instead of developing new muscle (natural anabolic growth mode) they put their bodies in a tear down mode (catabolic mode).

As you incrementally add more load and stress on your tendons, ligaments and muscles, consuming high quality protein will result in increased muscle mass as the body “absorbs” the much needed amino acids which build new muscle (in addition to repairing the torn down existing muscle tissue).

Keep in mind, when exercise and/or riding goes beyond 90 minutes, you need to incorporate protein into the fuel mix. After 90 minutes, protein will provide 10-15% of your calories (a process known as Gluconeogenesis) and is unavoidable. If you don’t supply the necessary amount of protein into your fuel, your body will literally take it from your own muscle tissue. This muscle break down is know as catabolism or “protein cannibalization”. This breakdown causes premature muscle fatigue as well as muscle depletion and post-exercise soreness. Another side effect is a compromised immune system, which leads to increased frequency of colds, flu and other diseases.