What Does A High Protein Diet Look Like?

Everyone's talking about "high protein" — but what does that actually mean for YOUR body?

In this episode, Shanon breaks down the real science of protein as a registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics. She debunks the "1 gram per pound" gym myth, explains why those viral 75-gram protein bowls aren't helping you build muscle, and shares exactly how much protein you need per meal (spoiler: it's probably less than you think — but timed better than you're doing it).

You'll learn: 

✨ The actual RDA for protein (and the athlete maximum) 

✨ Why more protein isn't better — and the leucine science behind it 

✨ The 4 components of a balanced meal 

✨ Protein guidance if you're on a GLP-1 (this one's important) 

✨ Fun, realistic ways to add protein to every meal

4-Day mind-body reset designed to change your relationship with food:

Click Here for Our Food Freedom Reset

Are you ready to heal your relationship with your body and soul?
 Click Here to Learn More About Our Signature Program

Our Links:
Follow us on Instagram!
Like us on Facebook! 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Hello, my beautiful people. Welcome back to another episode. I had such a busy weekend, and it's nice to kind of come back and be back into a routine, even though everything's been really fun and exciting. It's going to be a busy week ahead. Um, lots of new clients coming in, which is really exciting. I always love to see that. So, welcome to everyone that's new. And if you haven't gotten a chance to sign up and experience sessions with me, maybe this is your sign. Especially if you clicked on today's episode, this could mean that you have some interest in starting to figure out what your intake should look like on a day-to-day basis. So if you don't already know, I'm a registered dietitian. I'm also a board certified specialist in sports dietetics. So you don't have to be an athlete to see me. What this really means is I have the background information that's needed when it comes to eating in a way that's in alignment with the way that your body moves. Yes, I can work with athletes, of course. This is something that I do have that specialty in, but I'm also really well versed in what it looks like to move and eat during pregnancy, what that means if you are diabetic or pre-diabetic, how to eat in alignment so that your female hormones are doing what they should be doing and that you're not undernourishing while trying to make changes for your body and for your health. So today's topic around high protein was really inspired by a conversation I had actually this morning. So I was interviewed by a local magazine on this exact topic. They want to start putting information out there, correct information, to really support healthy living and doing it in a way that truly aligns what is right for the human body and not just the aesthetic quickest means to an end sort of situation. Today with GLP1s, it is really complicated to figure out. And there's lots of trends that are coming back into practice that have been old. Okay. So part of this conversation, one of the things that this magazine editor asked me was around current trends and how they compare to 10 years ago. And something that I told her was that diets are kind of like fashion, they all cycle back. All right. So they're just rebranded under new names, but many of them have existed for quite a long period of time. Money that you just don't even know about, or ones that you didn't think you knew about, but now they're just, again, living under a different name. So it's good to be aware. And the truth about nutrition is actual true health advice typically does not change that much. Yes, there are new things that come out, new studies that give different indications. But when it comes to being a healthy individual, it doesn't change that much. Okay. What is good for you is typically the balance that looks good for most people. But you should always be aware that it when it gets to specifics or if there's blood like lab work that you have done, blood work, that gives us an indication on if there is something that is missing. Because again, at the end of the day, everyone's different. General healthy eating tips are great to take in and great to take into consideration on how to apply for your life. But at the end of the day, you always want to do something that is personalized and specific to the way that you move, your genetics, your gender, all of these things that impact our health and make a difference. So take everything that I say with a grain of salt. I'm going to give you some general information on what high protein actually looks like, how to apply that, what it actually isn't, so that you can start making some adjustments in accordance to this. But of course, I always, always, always recommend you getting one-on-one support so that at least you have a foundation that works well for your body and your specific goals and health requirements. Okay, so to start, I want to even just debunk the word or the phrase high-protein diet. This is even more confusing now than ever, I feel, because a lot of doctors are just giving this general nutrition advice, especially with the GLP1 craze. If people are going on GLP1s, they aren't always seeing a registered dietitian. And doctors will just kind of give, again, general advice saying, like, eat a high protein diet. But like, what does that actually mean? And what does that look like? And how much protein do you actually need? When it comes to that, the RDA for protein is actually 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. When you really break that down, that's actually less than a pound, half a pound of protein. Okay, I keep getting my words stripped up. So if you cut your pound weight in half, even less than that is your recommended daily allowance. So what you really should be getting at a minimum to meet your protein needs so that it can do what it needs to do. Even if you are a high-performing athlete, at most the recommendations is a little over double that. So you can go up to maybe even 1.7 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. And keyword is kilogram. I know we don't mess around with kilograms a whole lot, but just do the math. It's like whatever your pounds are in body weight divided by 2.2, roughly, or you know, you can Google it. Okay. This gives you a general idea of how much you actually need in a day. What's important to note about that, more is not always better. And this is what gets people tripped up a lot. There is like this huge trend of places just putting protein in all the things, which in many ways, like, sure, yes, I love that. We love adding protein into things that do not have protein for the sake of achieving balance. But if you're just having a whole lot of protein without the balance, that's not really improving your health. It's like kind of like saying, you know, if your tank is full of oil and you're like, you know what, I'm just gonna keep pouring oil into my gas tank, it will overflow and pour out, and it is not helpful, right? Like you're just kind of spending extra money trying to put fuel into your tank that's not gonna sit in your tank. Okay. You only need so much protein. At that point, it does not benefit you to have protein at the cost of necessary carbohydrates and fats. Carbs and fats are not the enemy the way the media has made them out to be. It is really important that we seek balance anytime we are eating. Yes, it's great to prioritize protein if we're typically lacking in it, but it does not mean that we eat protein in lieu of other things that are also necessary. Some really common things that I hear from clients and things that they see in the media is around like, okay, you definitely have to eat your protein first, and whatever there's room for at the end, you can eat. But when you're building a meal, you want to look at it as like all parts are equal and important. So we should really look to consume all of these together. One exception to this rule is if you have, you know, gestational diabetes or diabetes in general. Sometimes these things can be helpful from a blood sugar standpoint to consume the protein first and then the carbohydrates. But if you are just like someone that is looking to eat healthier, live a more balanced life without insulin resistance, then this tip isn't super helpful. But again, eating everything together typically is totally fine, even if you have diabetes, if you're eating these foods at the same time, you know, taking some bites of protein and then carb and protein and carb, however, you like to consume your food, you don't really have to worry about changing it. But again, we're not gonna get into specifics about any kind of medical nutrition therapy that specifically you should absolutely 100% see someone one-on-one if you are trying to heal a specific ailment. Um, this is, I'm not gonna be giving medical advice out here on the podcast world. So for specifics, definitely sign up for a one-on-one because again, anything like that, you really need to have your specific lab values taken a look at to see how your body specifically responds so that you can get the proper balance for yourself. But anyway, again, back to general high protein intake. I don't even like saying high protein because truly it's not about eating high protein, it's about eating balanced. It's about getting adequate amounts of protein to meet your needs. When we build a meal, what that typically looks like is there are four major components I recommend. Your first component's gonna be your protein, your second component will be a carbohydrate, third, some type of healthy fat. And then fourth, we want a good fiber source. Typically, I recommend some type of vegetable, or you can throw in fruit in there, just depending. Okay. Anytime you're building out a meal, you want these four components. It's a little bit different with snacks. You do not need all four of these components for a snack. Typically, when I look at snacks, I look at the three major macronutrients, and you want to try to couple any two of the three major macronutrients: fat, carbohydrate, protein. Okay. I would recommend at least one of your snacks, depending on how many snacks you average a day. I normally am recommending somewhere between one and three. Again, your numbers specific to your needs and what your meals look like and timing and what's available to you. But I would recommend at least one of those being a protein source. If it helps to have numbers, which I do think is helpful for you to start considering, when we build meals, normally for your average female, I'm recommending somewhere between 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal. With snacks, I usually say somewhere between 10 and 20 is pretty adequate. If you're more active, if you have a goal of building more muscle, if you are an athlete, that is going to look a little bit different. We might increase the number of snacks you're having protein at. But you know, if you're an average gym goer, you like to walk, stretch, do yoga, you're doing some type of physical activity for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week, um, kind of in that range, that's where 20 to 30 grams of protein definitely suffices. For men, it can look a little bit different. Your portion sizes might look a little bit larger. Um, with most men, we're putting them somewhere between 30 to 50 grams. And again, it really depends on your specific goal. We're really only at that higher end of the range, just depending on how much lean body mass you have and what your goal is if it's around building muscle, which I do see quite often just because I am a sports dietitian. Um, you know, I'm always encouraging people to support their lean body mass because at the end of the day, that is very important. We all want to be doing that. We all want some type of activity in our day. But what that looks like again, you know, I feel like I'm saying this 278 times during this episode, but using these numbers, just know that to figure out these specifics, it's going to look different for everyone. But something that I generally can say that it's very, very rare. And I would say the only time is like if you were a bodybuilding competitor getting ready for a show, that's the only time I would go above these recommendations in terms of how much you're taking in in a day. I hear it very, very often because a lot of people starting their wellness journey or starting to get into eating healthy or getting back on a bandwagon that they fell off of. They go to a gym. And I think that is so beautiful. They often receive advice from personal trainers who are not certified in nutrition, or maybe they have like a weekend certificate, which is very different than working with a registered dietitian. I had to go to school for six years after high school, right? A college degree and a master's with board certifications in order to be able to teach people about this and cater to every individual's needs. And I'm not saying that to toot my own horn, but I am saying that to just remind you that you have to be mindful about who you receive this advice from because it does not work for everyone. And some advice can be very damaging to your health. Generic gym advice does not work for most people. For example, a really common recommendation I see is eating one gram of protein per pound of body weight. And there is never really a time, like I said, with the exception of being a bodybuilder, that I would ever recommend this to someone. Even, you know, bodybuilding is just not a sport for longevity. That is something that you could do for a time period. Even then, I'm not gonna get into that. You know, I have a history of doing it a while ago. Um, it's been many years since I have stepped on a stage and I don't anticipate doing that ever again. I mean, I guess you could never say never, but it is not on my radar in the slightest. It did not support me having a healthy relationship with my body, the gym, food. So personally, I don't really coach it. I don't train people in it. Um, and again, when we're talking about just general wellness or general athleticism, whether you're playing soccer, baseball, you're doing CrossFit, um, power lifting, these sports, even with the higher intensity of lifting, you do not need this excess amount of protein. I'm gonna get into the science of it for my science-y friends. So we have essential amino acids. I think there's eight or nine. I want to say eight. Maybe not. Okay, anyway, they're essential amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There is one specific BCAA, a branch chain amino acid called leucine. Leucine is kind of the one that is primarily responsible for supporting building muscle mass. So there is a certain point where taking in more leucine no longer benefits you because leucine starts to oxidize. So when we're taking in high volumes at one time, and I'm gonna call out Chipotle, they're promoting this like 75 gram of protein bowl. If you eat 75 grams of protein, it really does not benefit you to have it all at once. It benefits you a lot more to break it up over the span of the day. So that's why we encourage eating three, maybe four meals. If you're an athlete, we might throw in a fourth meal, depending on how your training schedule looks. But for most people, eating three meals a day suffices. Having those multiple snacks throughout the day really helps, especially if you have a training schedule that revolves around some type of resistance training that day. You don't need to be eating 75 grams all at once. You really, really don't. It does not benefit your muscle mass. You get more benefit from breaking it up throughout the day. Most studies actually use 20 grams of protein as that optimal amount to take in, sometimes 25, maybe 30. Okay. When you're building out a meal, I do think it's okay to go up to the 30 gram mark, especially as females. Men, again, tend to take in a little bit more at one time if we're in that like three meal a day framework. Male athletes, again, that's totally different. But just like an average human, you really don't need to be taking in excess amounts at one time. Breaking it up is always going to benefit you. And so when we see these promotions for these like super high protein meals, or people are like really proud that they're building these super high protein meals. Again, it does not work in your benefit. You don't need to be slamming protein. It's most meals, it's like not even that enjoyable just from a taste perspective. There are a lot of nutrients that we miss if we're taking in that much protein because that has to come at the cost of something else. Or then we're at the point where we're overall taking in too much food at one time. And again, that's not the goal. The goal is to take in what feels right for your body, what's doing best for your body and what your needs are. When it comes to taking supplements, like if you are someone that is currently taking a GLP1, you don't always feel your hunger. A lot of that is dulled by these medications, which is which isn't necessarily the best thing because it might turn off your brain signals for a time that you actually should be taking in food. It can be helpful to quiet noise if we have an overactive food noise brain or element of our brain that's going on, but it's still important and something that I see many people on GLP1 struggle with is making sure that they are actually eating enough. That's why one of the biggest concerns with it is muscle wasting. What happens is if we're not eating, you know, a really common pattern that I'll see is people saying, like, I don't really eat much for breakfast, I don't care for it, I'm not hungry, I'll have a coffee and like a yogurt, and then just like breeze through the morning and I don't even realize it's lunchtime, and then I try to eat something small and I have a big meal at dinner because that's when I actually finally feel hungry. This pattern does not work. It is not optimal for your body. It is better to eat consistently throughout the day, spreading out your protein intake. You know, I would say on average, like your meals maybe are gonna be like four, anywhere from three to five hours apart. Okay. Again, every person is a little different. So your meals are gonna be somewhere in that range apart, your snacks maybe one to two hours before or after meals. When we eat in that flow, you support more of your muscle mass, more muscle growth, more muscle growth equals increased metabolism, which equals increased longevity. We want to be supportive, no matter who we are, of that lean muscle mass because that is one of the top indicators for longevity and how long you live. You know, you want to be able to be independent, you want to be able to do things on your own, continue to work all the muscles in your body so that you're supporting strength, which again is just gonna make the quality of life that you experience better. So now that we kind of looked at what this breakdown looks like per meal going throughout the day, we talked about some common mistakes that pop up. I'm gonna give you some specific examples of things that you can start to consider. Number one, you know, when it comes to adding more protein to breakfast, this can be hard for some people. Not only making sure that you're getting enough protein, but also making sure that you're getting fiber in every meal. That is so important to couple up with the foods that you're eating. Most of us are not having vegetables for breakfast. And like a really common breakfast I see is going to be like some type of quick yogurt or quick bar or something like that that doesn't provide enough protein and doesn't really have that appropriate balance of like fiber and healthy fats in there. And in general, most people undereat for breakfast when it comes to these like quick on-the-go items, unless it's something that like you're picking up at Dunkin' or something like that. Even then, especially if we're making health-conscious choices, they don't always necessarily provide us with adequate nutrients or calories to sustain us. When we're building these meals, you know, think of some good ways to complement your primary protein source. Most of us are not eating meat for breakfast, though it can be a good complement, like adding in a little bit of steak with your eggs, um, adding in some, I'm trying to think of some other good ones, maybe like turkey bacon or even regular bacon along with what you're consuming. If we are having yogurt, some complementary proteins you could throw into your yogurt could be peanut butter, nuts, or a high protein granola, seeds, chia seeds, black seeds. These can all add little bits of protein to it without being a primary protein source, but helping you get past that 20 gram threshold. Okay. Some other things, personally, I'm loving beans for breakfast. And when I cook my beans, I use bone broth. So that's another way for me to add complementary sources of protein to get enough for that meal. You can also use ancient grains. So oatmeal does provide a little bit of protein, but you know, you can make like a savory or sweet breakfast quinoa bowl. You can use things like ferro and amaranth in some type of hot breakfast cereal. Um, you can toast them and throw it in as a granola into your yogurt. I know sometimes it sounds a little weird, but if you really take the proper steps to season it in a way that you like it or flavor it in a fun way, adding honey or cocoa powder, or like I said, nuts, peanut butter, these things can definitely make it more exciting to add nourishment and get that like crunchy experience while still doing something that's going to benefit you. With lunches and dinners, again, leaning into those ancient grains, a lot of your carbohydrate sources do provide good complementary sources of protein. You can do things like tofu and cheese. Cheese, beans, and these can be your primary source of protein, and then using those complementary sources to add to it. Like a lot of wraps will provide some protein, bagels provide protein. Um, and again, they don't provide the complete source of protein, but those complementary sources again when we're trying to mix in meals that are high in fiber and not always leaning into the animal proteins. There's nothing wrong with consuming animal proteins. I also do recommend from time to time throwing in some vegetarian meals because they provide different types of nutrients and it gives our diet a more balanced intake. You don't always need to be eating meat. And I know there are people that always want to prioritize meat or like it's just really mentally easy to be like, okay, I'm gonna throw some type of animal meat protein, chicken, fish, shrimp, whatever. Um, but that's kind of limiting us with what we could be doing with our nutrition and meals that we could be enjoying that we stay away from because we feel like it's not enough protein. You can get enough protein from like a bean taco, right? Like a chickpea taco. You can get enough protein from a vegetarian lasagna that you throw cheese in. You can get enough protein from eating pizza. There are a lot of ways to get protein without making it an animal protein. Getting that variety is going to expose you to different vitamins, minerals, and oftentimes more fiber, which I feel like is always underrated. I feel like we don't talk enough about how beneficial fiber is, especially in this day and age. Many of us get fiber from unnatural fiber sources. For example, if you're eating like a fiber one bar or a protein bar that has like a chicory root added to it. Yes, chicory root is something that is natural, but it is a fiber that is often not naturally occurring in the food or the protein bar specifically that you are eating. You know, no one's just like munching on chicory root. It is a common additive to give something the illusion, like, I don't want to say illusion, but to make it seem like something has more protein to add it to the label. It's definitely there. But some people respond differently to chicory root than something that is naturally occurring in a tofu or some other type of bean, nuts, and seeds. It's still important to make those a priority in your diet. You're gonna get different types of fiber from different types of fiber foods. So your fruits and vegetables provide a different type of fiber than your grains and starches. It's important that we have both. They're both nutritionally necessary. And so finding ways that we can add these things into our diet to complement the protein and make sure, again, that we're still getting some type of healthy fat mixed in there, that balance is always key. It's not one over the other. It is all. Okay. All of them and okay, think of it that way. How can I add more of this into my day to find the balance that I am seeking and to find ways that it's actually fun. Another thing that I want to just bring up is when we're eating these super high, like overly high protein diets, many people say it's really hard because we don't naturally crave that high of protein intake. So if we want to actually make this something that sticks and lasts, we want to choose foods that we look forward to eating. We don't want to just be like, oh, you know, it's the end of my day and I was supposed to get in 200 grams of protein. So I'm just gonna like chug three protein shakes. It doesn't have to feel that way. That is not good health. That is not good balance with most people's lifestyles. It's about finding what you can do consistently. If you're not all the way up to that 20, 30 gram mark, you can start slowly building up to that. Um, I mean, with protein, you really don't have to slowly build up. It's not like you're gonna have an adverse reaction in that sense, but I always say, you know, making steps towards what is ideal is better than making no steps towards it at all. If I tell you to add, you know, or get to like 30 grams of protein with lunch, and currently your lunch is a bagel with cream cheese, you're probably not more than 10 grams of protein. If you said to me, like, okay, I'll consider drinking a glass of milk with it, just as a random example, like, okay, that is great. That's still not quite 30 grams of protein, but that is getting you there. Once you get comfortable with that, finding other ways. Like, okay, if I'm kind of getting stuck at that 20 gram mark, can I add some more protein into my snacks? Again, steps towards what is ideal is better than no steps at all. So always remember that. You do not have to be an all or nothing mindset. Not every day has to be perfect. Are there meals that even I eat that are not hitting that protein mark? Yes, it does happen. And that is okay. It's what you do a majority of the time that makes all of the difference. It's not those one-off times or a week-long vacation that's gonna derail you. If you're traveling in Italy and you just want to eat pasta the whole time, I'm not gonna stop you. It's okay. When you come back from your trip, that's where you can really seek that balance and come back into that sense of normalcy. Because again, you know, I do believe that it's good to still add in nutrition the best that you can when you're on vacation. But again, you know, as long as you're still eating comfortably and there's no desire to binge, it's okay that things are different on vacation versus what they normally are. It will not derail you. I promise you that. But if you're not meeting that goal of 20 to 30 for most of your meals at all right now, it would be a great idea to say, like, I'm gonna tackle one meal at a time, get really consistent with ideas, and I'll build off of that. I do have a protein cookbook available. So if that is something that is of interest to you, my meal prep cookbook is specifically designed to show you some really fun meals that you can incorporate that hit that mark of the protein recommendation. All of them have 30 plus grams of protein. So again, they can work for men or women. Um, depending on what your goals are, sure you can tweak them, but most of them are pretty nutritionally adequate and perfectly balanced. These are going to be really exciting ways. You know, I have things in there like pizza, tacos we already talked about, um, galzones are even in there, um, a big mac and cheese recipe. So I have a lot of fun stuff that I've personally really enjoyed, and people who've taken my cooking classes in the past have really enjoyed. And so if you're trying to figure out where to start, this is a great place to start. And I will link it in the show notes so you can purchase it. I am working on getting it in hard copy, but right now it is available virtually, which is even better. I think you can access it right away and then you can print it out. Some people I know like to print it out, you know, if you have that available to you. But I hope this helps. Again, if you are looking for specifics, sign up for a consultation with me. This is going to give you exactly what you need for every meal to make sure that it is balanced, to make sure that snacks are balanced, to make sure that what you are doing is specifically aligned with what your personal goals are. Thanks for tuning in today, guys.