Too much protein?

[Marye]

I'm had problems with my digestion and doing the auto-immuunprotocol. Also eating a lot of bone broth. This has helped a lot, i feel so much better eating that way. But i'm still a little concerned. I don't eat very starchy vegetables and i do exercise (Crossfit). So i eat a lot of meat and fish to give me energy and get my full. But is there a limit to the use of protein. I'm worried that the protein can become toxic at large amounts. How much protein is safe to eat?

[Tom Denham]

Marye - It's hard to eat too much protein when you are eating real food. You are likely to get tired of chewing and swallowing before you get too much unless you have specific health problems. Using the palm of your hand as a measure, how many palm-size portions of protein are you eating per day? You need 3 to 6 for good health.

[Marye]

Around 6 then? I eat about 500 - 600 grams of meat/fish a day i guess.

[Melissa Urban]

If your kidneys are functioning normally (healthy), then you can get up to 25-30% of your daily calories from protein without any ill health effects. If your consumption is at or above that, I'd suggest ramping down, and substituting some healthy fats in place of protein, to keep your calories up.

Melissa

[Guest]

Marye, if eating that much protein is driven mostly by your desire to be sated after meals, maybe you could add more healthy fats instead of so much animal protein. Like Tom said (so well), we're not concerned with you overeating protein from Real Food since it's really hard to do. Furthermore, there are adaptations that occur to the way your kidneys process nitrogenous byproducts of protein digestion/usage that are NOT pathological. Just like your body will adapt to a higher fat diet, your body will adapt to a high-protein plan like you're on, but that doesn't mean it's overtly damaging to your health. The exception to this scenario is if you have pre-existing renal damage/disease and your kidneys' ability to adapt is impaired. All that being said, eat a little more fat, reduce your protein incrementally, and see how you feel. Also, is there a particular reason that you're avoiding starchy veggies? Most of the time, for people doing very high intensity training (like the Crossfit you mentioned), we'd recommend some starchy veggies (pending your metabolic "context"). Something to consider. Just to be clear, no one EVER made themselves metabolically deranged with beets, sweet potato, and butternut squash.

Dallas

[Marye]

Thanks for the answers. I will up my fat intake and see how it goes. I do eat beets and butternut squash. Just avoiding sweet potato's, yams and Parsnips. I though that it was good to avoid those if you might have problems with leaky gut or candida.

[Marye]

And about the Crossfit. I focus on strength training and some short met-cons. I try to avoid long met-cons.

[TheLazyCaveman]

Marye,

How are you bowel movements? If you're suspecting leaky gut or candida, I'm guessing you aren't a 4 on the Bristol Stool Scale (aka pooping like a rockstar). In that case, you may benefit from a daily prebiotic and a probiotic at meals until you can build up a sufficient colony of bacteria to do your digestive work. Once your symptoms improve, transition to eating more naturally fermented foods.

[Melissa Urban]

Thanks, Badier. I know have that Shop Boyz song "Party Like a Rock Star" going through my head, except they're singing "Poopin' like a rock staaaarrrrrr...."

Awesome.

[Marye]

Bowel movements are a problem. Have had lot's of trouble with diarrhea. Should i take it together with my foods? I now take some probiotics before i go to sleep.

[TheLazyCaveman]

So the way that probiotics are most effective is if you take a prebiotic at the beginning of the day so that the bacteria have something to eat and multiply with (think fertilizer). I've had good experience with Biotagen from Klaire labs (get the capsules if you can swallow them, the powder is annoying) http://www.klaire.com/prod/proddetail.asp?id=K-BTGC

To start, take a good probiotic with every meal. This is one I've used before(http://www.jarrow.com/product/227/Jarro_Dophilus_FOS), though there are lots of different ones out there, so if you find something that works better for you, take it. You may need to ramp into it slowly, so that you don't have a die off, but really, since I'm guessing you're so low on beneficial bacteria already, it shouldn't be a problem.

Stick with that for a few weeks. Once your digestion improves, you can start introducing fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchee, kombucha (without added sugar), and slowly wean yourself off the pills.

Let us know how it works!

[Marye]

Thanks for the advice, i will give it a try and let you know.

[Chiaya]

Is there any particular reason why one can't just start with the fermented foods instead of the pre and probiotics? I'm in a similar boat as Marye, except I have chronic constipation. I'm on day 4 and taking probiotics, but I also made some homemade sauerkraut last week and am eager to start eating it.

[TheLazyCaveman]

Hi Chiaya,

The reason that I recommend the probiotic first is that some people just can't tolerate fermented foods like sauerkraut and kimchee right away because they are FODMAPS, and FODMAP-intolerance and low beneficial gut flora go hand in hand. I like to get beneficial gut bacteria up to a high level, then replace the prebiotic and probiotic with resistant starch (like sweet potatoes) and fermented foods (like sauerkraut and kimchee), so that the levels becomes sustainable.

However, your chronic constipation is a different story, and I'd invite you check out this thread: http://forum.whole9l...pationbloating/

If those problems aren't similar, start your own thread!

[Marye]

Should i take my other supplements or just the prebiotics en probiotics at the moment?

Normally i'll take:

- Fish oil

- fermented cod liver oil + butteroil

- Vit D (extra during winterperiod, in summer just the cod liver oil)

- Magnesium

- super enzymes

[TheLazyCaveman]

Sorry for the late reply, I've been traveling. Yes, continue to take those supplements, none of them are contraindicated with pre/probiotics.

[Marye]

Thanks a lot Badier.

[Jena]

I hope this isn't a stupid question.

I thought to get the jarrow Dophilus yesterday but didn't because in the long list of "other" ingredients the first one was maltidextron (whoever you spell it). Isn't that an added sugar? Or is this acceptiable while on Whole30 if needing a probiotic?

[MeadowLily]

So the way that probiotics are most effective is if you take a prebiotic at the beginning of the day so that the bacteria have something to eat and multiply with (think fertilizer). I've had good experience with Biotagen from Klaire labs (get the capsules if you can swallow them, the powder is annoying) http://www.klaire.com/prod/proddetail.asp?id=K-BTGC

To start, take a good probiotic with every meal. This is one I've used before(http://www.jarrow.com/product/227/Jarro_Dophilus_FOS), though there are lots of different ones out there, so if you find something that works better for you, take it. You may need to ramp into it slowly, so that you don't have a die off, but really, since I'm guessing you're so low on beneficial bacteria already, it shouldn't be a problem.

Stick with that for a few weeks. Once your digestion improves, you can start introducing fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchee, kombucha (without added sugar), and slowly wean yourself off the pills.

Let us know how it works!

Excellent post.