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May 2 - May 19, 2025
The current RDA calls for 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. I, meanwhile, recommend a baseline of 1.6 grams per kilogram,
every adult should consume at least 1 gram per pound of their ideal body weight each day. In particular, your first and last meals of the day should each contain a minimum of 30 grams of high-quality protein.
High-quality animal protein is the original superfood that plays a pivotal role in health. A recent study published in the Journal of Nutrition concluded that adults need to source 45 to 60 percent of their total proteins from animals to ensure sufficient levels of other nutrients.
red meat is even more nutrient-dense than chicken or fish. The combination of protein and all the other vitamins and minerals makes red meat a particularly bioavailable food that supports muscle health. While all animal-based proteins are highly bioavailable, red meat is one of the best dietary muscle meat sources of iron and B vitamins.
Red meat is as old-school as it gets—the highest source of bioavailable proteins and amino acids—it’s the OG of superfoods.
With a protein-forward approach, all other nutritional priorities fall into place.
We talk about protein as a single macronutrient, but it’s just the delivery system for twenty different individual amino acids,
all amino acids (AAs) have two primary purposes: Supporting the body’s physical structure. Supporting physiological functions such as neurotransmitter and antioxidant production and protein synthesis.
we don’t eat for protein, per se, but for AAs. Dietary protein is simply the vehicle.
When it comes to calculating our dietary protein intake, the real task is ensuring a proper balance of AAs absorbed through different food sources.
We need three different types of AAs to maintain overall health: Nonessential amino acids. Your body has the ability to synthesize these on its own. Conditionally essential amino acids. In times of injury or illness, your body cannot make enough of these and relies on dietary sources. Essential amino acids. These come directly from your diet.
three are uniquely important in characterizing food quality: leucine, lysine, and methionine. These work best when consumed together, and of these three, leucine is the most important for muscle health.
the dose of protein you eat in a single meal is either sufficient to trigger MPS or it isn’t.
studies on older adults have shown that older people can experience a “restorative” effect on MPS from consuming at least 2.5 grams of leucine per meal. That restorative level requires a minimum of 30 grams of high-quality protein at each meal.
the science shows that anyone who’s older or under stress should consume roughly double the current protein RDA,
I recommend that adults consume 30 to 50 grams of high-quality protein at each primary meal.
PROTEIN POWER MOVES Eat your protein first. This will make sure you take in the AAs that drive MPS, and it will help you feel full sooner. Before you attend an event offering unhealthy food, drink a 20-gram protein shake. Replace salty, crunchy snack foods with Carnivore Crisps or other protein chips. Balance a low-protein meal by throwing a packet of AAs into your water. This can help activate your muscle metabolism and lower a spike in blood sugar.6
Although some say total daily protein is most important, the literature suggests that distributing protein throughout the day is the optimal strategy for building and maintaining muscle.
Are you trying to gain muscle? Then, depending on your target daily total, you can increase your protein intake to four, five, or even six times a day.
It’s more effective to increase your total number of meals than to eat more protein at a single meal. For example, if your protein goal is 200 grams a day, and you’ve already planned three meals containing at least 40 grams of protein each, you should add an extra meal.
When it comes to making muscle, breakfast is by far the most important meal. By breakfast, I mean your first meal of the day, whenever that is. A robust dose of protein, first thing, will set you up for metabolic optimization, priming your body by stimulating muscle growth, reducing hunger, and supplying you with an AA dose to use for other biological processes. The second most important meal is the last one before your overnight fast. Choosing foods that provide your body with sufficient AAs to generate glucose can help stabilize blood sugar through the night and prep you for the morning. The
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A third pinnacle of protein timing is
Dosing protein after a bout of exercise, especially resistance exercise, promotes MPS.
having protein after a workout is helpful for muscle responsiveness. I recommend a shake with 20 grams of whey protein.)
By consuming enough protein throughout your day, you will be less likely to overeat.
Because of the fates of AAs within your body, it takes more energy to metabolize protein than carbs or fat.
say you’re maintaining a 2,000-calorie diet, and 800 of those calories come from protein; the digestion and assimilation of that protein will result in the burning of 160 to 240 calories. This is like consuming 20 to 35 percent less than the total protein calories tallied from your food labels.
Mitigating blood-sugar spikes is one reason my patients learn to combine protein and/or fat with their carbs rather than eating carbs solo.
For every 100 grams of protein consumed, roughly 60 grams of glucose are produced in the body.
Although it’s true that we don’t need to consume carbohydrates to provide glucose as part of a healthy diet, we do need fiber.
the Lyon RDA for carbs calls for eating about 14 grams of fiber for every 1,000 calories you consume.
With my plan, two practical relationships drive dietary decision-making: the ratio of carbs to protein and the ratio of carbs to fiber. The carb-to-protein ratio defines how many grams of carbohydrates you can have at a meal and still maintain metabolic balance. To promote weight loss, your overall dietary carb-to-protein ratio should be less than 1.0,
I also recommend that you never eat carbs alone; instead, combine them with either fat or preferably protein, ideally at least 10 grams. I always recommend that you “preload” with protein or fats before eating carbohydrates.
Foods with a carb-to-fiber ratio of less than six have a low glycemic load and high levels of fiber. (A ratio of 8:1 offers a bit more flexibility for those who tolerate carbs such as whole grains and starchier vegetables for a little more nutrient diversity.)
Here are some examples of high-fiber carbs that I recommend based on these ratios: 1 cup of broccoli contains about 7.8 grams of carbs and 4.6 grams of fiber. Doing the math (7.8/4.6 = 1.7) shows a carb-to-fiber ratio for broccoli of 1.7. For green beans, the ratio is 2.5. Raspberries, 1.7. Strawberries, 3.1. Blueberries, 5.1. Most beans, 3.0.
Foods to avoid or eat in moderation include potatoes, rice, pasta, and breads, which have carb-to-fiber ratios of 10 to 30, and fruits such as bananas and watermelon with carb-to-fiber ratios greater than 10.
To make resistant starch rice, cook white rice with a fat source like olive oil and then, after it’s done cooking, cool the rice in the fridge. Together, the addition of fat and the cooling process catalyze the formation of resistant starch from the once simple starches present in this food.4 The same can be done for potatoes, except the fat is added after cooking, followed by cooling.5
cooked and cooled beans and chickpeas are another great source of both resistant starch and fiber,
It helps to gauge carbohydrates based on a per-meal threshold. Proper dosing ranges between 20 and 40 grams
The key is to ensure that your body uses all that you take in. Being able to get rid of the carbs we eat is called postprandial glucose clearance. This critical factor establishes our carbohydrate meal tolerance. To avoid post-meal elevations in blood glucose, or hyperglycemia, a carbohydrate meal must be efficiently cleared within two hours.
Sources of monounsaturated fats include: Olives Avocados Nuts, including almonds, hazelnuts, and pecans Seeds such as pumpkin and sesame Sources of polyunsaturated fats include: Walnuts Flaxseeds Fish Fish roe Shellfish
when we choose our calories wisely, polyunsaturated fats are the ones to prioritize.
Dietary saturated fats become a risk only if you’re overconsuming calories and carbohydrates.
saturated fat itself does not pose a problem. Instead, its calorie density can lead to intake of too many calories if overconsumed.
fats also have a higher satiety value, meaning they tend to leave you feeling full, unlike carbohydrates, which can make you hungry,
Fat is a very efficient fuel for skeletal muscle, and individual fatty acids are essential for every cell membrane—especially the unique protective layer around nerve structures in our brains. This makes fatty acids an essential requirement, but the minimum amount we need is very low, only about 3 grams of essential fatty acids per day. Diet-wise, that translates to eating between 25 and 35 percent of our daily calories from fat to get the minimum 3 grams of essential fatty acids.
Consuming no less than 30 grams of fat per day is ideal for most people.
High-quality protein is the basis for any nutrition plan. Your goal is to take in at least 1 gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight,
30 to 50 grams of protein per meal will help maintain your skeletal muscle mass.
Every ounce of food from land mammals contains 7 grams of protein, while fish contains 5 grams of protein per ounce.
