Ok, guys once again I am thinking how to re-jig my diet to start the pounds moving. I ate a mostly sensible diet watching the amount of fat, carb and protein, avoiding fast food and fatty foods. Fruit and veg is a big part of my diet as are reduced fat dairy products. The question is that, in the past, whenever I have had my diet analysed there has been a comment about overdoing protein. Now I have about 250g of either chicken breast, fish or (sporadically) steak with a plate full of steamed veg and mainly tuna, cheese or PB sandwiches during the week for lunch.
So what are the problems associated with this amount of protein and what happens to excess protein in the diet? Or is it like excess vitamins that get pissed away?
Dave Scott had a blurb in a recent Triathlete on diet, and he specifically mentioned protein. If I recall, it was ~1.5gm/kg per day for most endurance athletes.
Are you talking about 250 grams of prtoein or 250 grams of chicken, beef, or fish? Because they are drastically different things. Either could be appropriate depending on a bunch of factors.
Thanks Doc, I’ll have a trawl through the back issues for that article. I really think gout would require considerably more abuse in my diet and also I do not have the health issues associated with the condition (which I am aware of as my Mother is a sufferer).
It’s 1.5g of protein /kg of bodyweight. It doesn’t matter the source.
This can include whole-grain pasta sources, protein shakes, eggs, cottage cheese, dairy, veggies sources, etc. However, if you are a vegetarian make sure that you combine correctly to get a full-spectrum of amino acids: it’s actually the aminos which do the work you need it to do in your body.
However, the studies are showing that especially as endurance athletes, combine your carbs with protein post-training for best recovery, not simply the carb replacements. But you already know that…
It’s 1.5g of protein /kg of bodyweight. It doesn’t matter the source.
On the high end it is 2g per kg-- and endurance athletes need more protien than even body builders! BUT too much protien can lead to the Hypercalcuric effect: the leaching of calcium from the bones-- which can lead to ---- kidney stones!! YEEOUCH!!
I haven’t done extra research on ultra-endurance athletes’ protein requirements because it’s a little out of my league. Tri is truly a specialty nutrition… so when you say it’s up to 2g/kg bodyweight, I’ll take that under advisement.
I’ve been following as much as tri/marathon nutrition possible with everything I can get my hands on, because I am an advisor to my BF who is marathoning and plans to tri soon (after he heals from hand surgery). My normal clients don’t need such high nutrition intake as triathletes do.
so when you say it’s up to 2g/kg bodyweight, I’ll take that under advisement.___________________________________________
Absolutely, take it under advisement. It is the information directly from the ACE Personal Trainer 2nd edition. Of course as in all things in our industry it could change and even be out dated at this point. This just gives you a range of protien intake.
“I really think gout would require considerably more abuse in my diet and also I do not have the health issues associated with the condition (which I am aware of as my Mother is a sufferer).”
I don’t believe that there has to be health issues in order to have gout. I have it and I eat healthy, barely overweight (6’3" 210 lbs.) don’t splurge on protein. Painful as hell but is predominant among males in their mid 30’s on up.
Gout is caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream, which is a result of defficient purine metabolism (adenine and guanine). These purines need to be broken down to hypoxanthine and xanthine, by way of xanthine oxidase to uric acid. Usually this enzyme is too active and needs to inhibited for treatment. Thus, health may play a slight role in some cases, but most think its predominantly genetic or predisposed. It really has to do with metabolism sensitivity to excess protein and disturbing the solubility balance of uric acid in the bloodstream. It’s a fairly individual thing.
Gout is caused by excess uric acid in the bloodstream, which is a result of defficient purine metabolism (adenine and guanine).
Eating a high protein diet is much less likely to result in problems compared to taking protein supplements (shakes, etc). 2g/kg for me would be 150g per day, which you can get really fast with the supplements. Some of them digest easier than others, and digestion/metabolism of some produce much higher levels of ammonia than others. A sure sign of significant overdose is sweat that smells like ammonia (which can also be caused by dehydration) and breath that smells like ammonia. This is essentially the body’s attempt to flush the byproducts from your system in any way possible. Drinking lots of water helps with this…I don’t know about possibly health problems but I can’t imagine it’s good.