How much protein should I eat?

I like to say that I am lucky that I don't have a sweet tooth. I've never craved cookies, cake, or brownies. I might, on occasion, want a vanilla shake. It's not that I dislike chocolate, but I tend to find it too sweet. Vanilla, however, has an almost slightly salty/savory flavor to me. And it's that salty/savory flavor that is my biggest weakness.

I can eat an entire bag of salty tortilla chips. Potato chips and sour cream and onion dip? Yeah, there is a reason I never kept that stuff in the house or I'd weigh as much as a truck. So, knowing that salty/savory snacks are terrible for you, the next best thing is, of course, meat.

Ah, bacon... my meat candy; how I love thee. A well-seasoned grilled steak is worth the work. Ribs, fried chicken, chorizo tacos, pulled pork... there isn't a meat that I don't like, especially when prepared well. For the great majority of my life, it's safe to say, protein has been the largest portion of my diet. So going into changing my food lifestyle, what do you think the first thing was that I looked up? Yep... how much meat could I eat?

That's kind of an incomplete question because it forgets all about what kinds of protein we should be eating. Nevertheless, the caveman in me wanted to know quantity. (Probably measured in terms of plates of bacon.) So, mentally ignoring the fact that some of our protein comes from the plants we eat, and ignoring that certain animal sources are much better than others, I looked up the answer which is...

...wait for it...

...8 oz to start, daily. What? I'm sure I misread something. I re-read that sentence two or three more times. Nope, it's exactly that. How can this be??? So where the hell did this number come from?

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics states the following:

• 0.40 g of protein per pound of bodyweight for sedentary people
• 0.55-0.65 g of protein per pound of bodyweight for endurance athletes
• 0.65-0.80 g of protein per pound of bodyweight for strength athletes

For the sake of example, the typical 165 pound non-athlete needs only 66 g (2.33 oz) of daily protein! That's pretty astounding. And for those of you that think additional protein will help you put on muscle, well, a 2018 report in the British Journal of Sports Medicine concluded that after reviewing 49 different studies, protein intake over .73 g per pound of bodyweight provided no additional improvement in building muscle mass.

Now, you might ask, "Why is the recommendation for 8 oz of meat?" Take, for example, a 4 oz boneless, skinless chicken breast. Is that 4 oz of protein? Nope, not even close. That 4 oz piece of chicken breast has about 34 g (1.2 oz) of protein. For most meats, the rule of thumb is that the protein content is just a tad under 1/3 the weight. So that 165 pound non-athlete I talked about earlier could eat two 4 oz chicken breasts a day to cover their needs.

Dr. Gundry recommends taking your protein intake down to 1/2 that amount once you get used to eating his way. Why is that acceptable? Remember when I said that the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommended these levels? Well there are plenty of other doctors and nutritionists out there that believe that's still more than necessary. They believe 0.37 g per kilogram (0.17 g protein per pound) of bodyweight. Do your research and you will see all sorts of recommendations in between those two extremes. My take is I will see what works best for me in this range.

As much trepidation as I felt about this particular issue, I can honestly say it hasn't been a problem for me. I don't believe there has been a single day where I've felt like I didn't get enough meat. Not to mention the fact that I've been eating better meats as well. All I can say is I'm surprised, and so-far-so-good.