Depending on your age, gender, weight, and weight-loss goals, your protein “number” (number of grams per day) will vary, but we can say without a doubt that most people simply don’t get enough protein, in part because of various official recommendations. For instance, the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine recommends daily allowances ranging from 13 grams a day (for a child one to three years old) to 56 grams a day (for adult men); but in our opinion, that’s way too little. While the recommended numbers provided by government agencies and medical groups may in fact be the minimum numbers for basic survival, they are very far from the desired numbers for optimal health. In fact, we believe they are inadequate when it comes to weight loss. We think the ideal range of protein intake for most adults should be somewhere between 80 and 120 grams. If you’re petite, your needs will be closer to 80 grams, but if you’re physically large or very active, you’ll more likely lean to the higher end of the recommended amount. Please remember that we’re talking about clean (or lean, if you can’t find clean) protein sources, not the mean protein you find in fried chicken, burgers, sausage, and deli meats. Much has been written about Americans eating too much protein, and no doubt many eat too much mean protein. But because the “official” protein recommendations are so low to begin with, we doubt that most Americans are eating too much.
Aim for a minimum of 20 grams of protein at every meal. If you pick five protein servings a day from foods on our list, you’ll easily meet this goal; but we want to point out that 20 grams is a minimum per meal, so if you’re having a salad for lunch, for instance, keep that in mind. A fiber-rich salad with spinach and other greens, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, bell peppers, and mushrooms may seem superhealthy, but it’s protein-poor. Once in a while a big salad for a meal is fine, but as a general rule, you’re better off adding a couple of hardboiled eggs (18 grams) and half a cup of chickpeas (6–7 grams) and making it a smart fat lunch. You’ll be getting 24 grams of hunger-curbing protein and you’ll be satisfied until dinner. Or add one egg, one slice of organic dark-meat turkey bacon (6 grams), and the chickpeas. Once you understand just a few basic numbers, punching up the protein is simple.
If you’re trying to lose weight, we recommend 20 to 30 grams of protein at breakfast. Protein is essential for muscle development—and the muscle cells are fat-burners. Therefore, the more muscle you have, the more effectively you can burn body fat. Eating more protein at breakfast stimulates your metabolism to burn more calories all day, even if you’re sitting during much of your workday.
Here are some single-serving protein options that deliver slightly varying amounts of protein. As we’ve pointed out, roughly 1 ounce of an animal protein food like chicken will deliver 7 grams of protein. That’s why so many 4-ounce servings deliver 28 grams of protein! Beef and pork, as you’ll see, contain more protein per grams than poultry, and the white meat of chicken contains more than the dark meat.
If you eat five servings of clean protein a day, using the list below as a guide, you’ll easily fall into the 80–120+ gram range without doing any further calculation, and that’s exactly where we want you to be.
4 ounces grass-fed beef (about 28 grams) (sirloin has 30 grams; prime rib has 27 grams) 4 ounces pastured pork tenderloin (24 grams)
4 ounces leg of lamb (33 grams)
4 ounces free-range poultry, dark meat (19 grams) 4 ounces free-range poultry, breast meat (24 grams)
4 ounces coho (silver) salmon (preferably wild-caught) (28 grams) 4 ounces tilapia (28 grams)
Three cage-free, organic eggs (18–24 grams) (large eggs have about 6 grams; jumbo eggs have about 8 grams)
1 heaping cup cooked lentils (20 grams) 1⅓ cups cooked black beans (20 grams) 1⅓ cups shelled edamame (20 grams)
Two scoops (or one serving, per manufacturer’s guidelines) of whey protein powder (20–30 grams)
Two scoops (or one serving, per manufacturer’s guidelines) soy protein powder (20–30 grams)
Two scoops (or one serving, per manufacturer’s guidelines) pea-rice protein powder (20–30 grams)
1 cup organic Greek-style yogurt, plain (22 grams) (Greek-style yogurts are generally higher in protein than regular [plain] varieties)
1 cup cubed tofu (20 grams)
You may find on this list a lot of animal protein that you aren’t used to eating or preparing. But we’re not telling you to consume meat, poultry, and fish five times a day—though you certainly could, provided, of course, that it was clean. What we are telling you is to eat five servings of protein a day from any source —not just animal foods. In fact, both of us follow this program, and Steven doesn’t eat meat at all and Jonny eats it frequently.
As you can see, there are many sources of nonanimal protein. Even a vegetarian can achieve our recommended protein intake. For example, have a protein-rich Smart Fat Shake for breakfast (25 grams of protein), a bowl of black bean soup for lunch (20 grams), edamame and fruit for an afternoon snack (another 10–15 grams), lentil and vegetable Indian curry for dinner (20+ grams), and a bowl of organic Greek-style yogurt with fruit for dessert (21 grams). Voilà! Five servings of clean protein without having to eat meat, fish, or poultry—and this day didn’t even include eggs.
Keep in mind that a 4-ounce portion of chicken is actually very modest and will rarely satiate a
hungry eater. Six ounces is a more adequate and realistic portion, so 6 ounces of chicken counts as 1.5 servings. Many of our recipes feature servings of clean protein that are between 5 and 8 ounces.
Restaurant servings of meat, fish, and poultry are frequently 8 ounces or more—a double serving.
(Note: If you eat out regularly, it’s especially worth familiarizing yourself with portion sizes and what they look like; restaurant portions are usually too big.) In the case of the 8-ounce grass-fed steak, or the 8-ounce serving of chicken or seafood per person in a recipe, figure those amounts as two servings.
As you can see from the examples of 4+ ounces of meat, poultry, and fish, you don’t need to consume animal protein five times a day to get to five servings a day.
You can also power up your protein intake significantly by using protein powder, which is why it’s such an important ingredient in our morning Smart Fat Shake (see Chapter 10 for recipes). Adding beans and legumes to your meals, as well as plain Greek-style yogurt, is also a smart way to increase your protein intake. See our website, www.SmartFat.com, for more protein sources.
EAT FIVE SERVINGS OF PROTEIN:
At least 20 grams per meal, 80–120 grams per day.
SMART MOVE: EAT MORE PROTEIN, LOSE MORE WEIGHT
We think that most people aren’t consuming nearly enough clean protein and that the standard recommendations are too conservative. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, for example, recommends 0.8 grams of protein per every kilogram of body weight. (To calculate:
Divide your body weight in pounds by 2.2 to convert it to kilograms, then multiply by 0.8.) This works out to about 47 grams of protein for a 128-pound woman—practically half of what we’re recommending.
Furthermore, the recommendations don’t take into account such questions as whether our hypothetical woman is overweight or underweight. Is she pregnant? Is she an athlete? Is she menopausal? How old is she? All of these factors affect her protein intake, but except for basic human survival, 47 grams wouldn’t be adequate in any scenario.
Nutritionist Donald Layman has done a significant amount of research on protein and weight loss, and he suggests that if your goal is weight loss—meaning reducing your level of body fat, not just lowering your body mass index and the number on your bathroom scale—the ideal amount of protein for you to eat is closer to 1.4 to 1.5 grams per kilogram of body weight—
almost twice the amount recommended by some health organizations. (By Layman’s formula, our 128-pound woman should be consuming closer to 90 grams of protein, assuming she wants to shed weight, which works out to about double the minimum requirement.)
If you are trying to lose weight and lower your body fat, start by calculating your protein needs using the formula above (convert your weight to kilograms and then multiply by 1.4–1.5), and eat 20–30 grams of protein at breakfast. (For more information on the importance of protein
in the morning, see the section on shakes and protein powders later in this chapter. And for more on the importance of losing body fat, not just losing weight, and for tips on the best ways to track your weight loss, see Chapter 7.)
Many popular weight-loss diets recommend protein intake based on a percentage of calories (for instance, the recommendation that 30 percent of your calories should be from protein, or for some diets, a mere 10 percent). But that’s a complicated way to think about your daily diet. It’s also misleading. Your body needs a certain amount of protein, not a certain percentage of protein. If a tiny woman who weighs 100 pounds and consumes 1,200 calories a day ate 10 percent of her calories from protein, she’d consume only 30 grams a day. But you don’t have to worry about these percentages with the Smart Fat Solution. Just eat five servings of protein every day, and you’ll be fine!