Dr. Christopher Gardner

So forget the protein bars and the protein powders and everything else. The average American doesn't do that. And the average intake is like 1.2 grams per kilogram body weight per day. Or higher. Of quality protein? Just food. So just food. So let's stop here. Just food. So the fun thing was that Stu and I got together. I said, you know, Stu, you hate that 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight.

So forget the protein bars and the protein powders and everything else. The average American doesn't do that. And the average intake is like 1.2 grams per kilogram body weight per day. Or higher. Of quality protein? Just food. So just food. So let's stop here. Just food. So the fun thing was that Stu and I got together. I said, you know, Stu, you hate that 0.8 grams per kilogram body weight.

And you're saying people should have one gram per kilogram body weight or maybe even 1.2, which would be 1.2 would be 50% higher than 0.8. That's the average American intake. And he said, well, that's true too. So he hates the 0.8, but he realized it's almost an irrelevant number because most people get more than that.

And you're saying people should have one gram per kilogram body weight or maybe even 1.2, which would be 1.2 would be 50% higher than 0.8. That's the average American intake. And he said, well, that's true too. So he hates the 0.8, but he realized it's almost an irrelevant number because most people get more than that.

And you're saying people should have one gram per kilogram body weight or maybe even 1.2, which would be 1.2 would be 50% higher than 0.8. That's the average American intake. And he said, well, that's true too. So he hates the 0.8, but he realized it's almost an irrelevant number because most people get more than that.

I just served on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and we looked at those same data, and it's still true. Americans eat more protein than the RDA on a general basis, without trying, without knowing about it. It's just in more foods than you think. So the second issue is, well, if so many people are eating more, is there anything bad about the extra? Like, what do you do with the extra?

I just served on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and we looked at those same data, and it's still true. Americans eat more protein than the RDA on a general basis, without trying, without knowing about it. It's just in more foods than you think. So the second issue is, well, if so many people are eating more, is there anything bad about the extra? Like, what do you do with the extra?

I just served on the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee, and we looked at those same data, and it's still true. Americans eat more protein than the RDA on a general basis, without trying, without knowing about it. It's just in more foods than you think. So the second issue is, well, if so many people are eating more, is there anything bad about the extra? Like, what do you do with the extra?

There's sort of infinite capacity to store fat in your body. You probably know this. In your belly, in your butt, in your underarms, everywhere. Limited capacity for carbohydrate store. You can store... I actually heard Gabrielle Lyons talk about how much is in your liver and how much is in your skeletal muscle.

There's sort of infinite capacity to store fat in your body. You probably know this. In your belly, in your butt, in your underarms, everywhere. Limited capacity for carbohydrate store. You can store... I actually heard Gabrielle Lyons talk about how much is in your liver and how much is in your skeletal muscle.

There's sort of infinite capacity to store fat in your body. You probably know this. In your belly, in your butt, in your underarms, everywhere. Limited capacity for carbohydrate store. You can store... I actually heard Gabrielle Lyons talk about how much is in your liver and how much is in your skeletal muscle.

But if you are a marathon runner and four hours after 20 miles or so, you bonk because... You've exhausted all your carb stores. You can exhaust all your carb stores in four hours, where it would take days and days and days with fat. But there is no storage depot for protein. At the end of the day, if you ate more than you needed, you're not storing any for the next day. It's not in your big toe.

But if you are a marathon runner and four hours after 20 miles or so, you bonk because... You've exhausted all your carb stores. You can exhaust all your carb stores in four hours, where it would take days and days and days with fat. But there is no storage depot for protein. At the end of the day, if you ate more than you needed, you're not storing any for the next day. It's not in your big toe.

But if you are a marathon runner and four hours after 20 miles or so, you bonk because... You've exhausted all your carb stores. You can exhaust all your carb stores in four hours, where it would take days and days and days with fat. But there is no storage depot for protein. At the end of the day, if you ate more than you needed, you're not storing any for the next day. It's not in your big toe.

It's not in your spleen. It's not in your liver. It's nowhere after you made all the enzymes, hormones, hair, fingernails, and muscle tissue that you wanted, you break off the nitrogen. You have to eliminate that as ammonia in your kidney.

It's not in your spleen. It's not in your liver. It's nowhere after you made all the enzymes, hormones, hair, fingernails, and muscle tissue that you wanted, you break off the nitrogen. You have to eliminate that as ammonia in your kidney.

It's not in your spleen. It's not in your liver. It's nowhere after you made all the enzymes, hormones, hair, fingernails, and muscle tissue that you wanted, you break off the nitrogen. You have to eliminate that as ammonia in your kidney.

And you turn the carbon skeleton into carbs, which if we do get back to the keto diet is throwing the meat eaters on the keto diet out of ketosis because you just turned the protein you're eating to avoid the carbs into the carbs that you're avoiding. But we won't go there. For the moment, we'll just say, There's no place to store it. So you're not really getting any benefit about it.

And you turn the carbon skeleton into carbs, which if we do get back to the keto diet is throwing the meat eaters on the keto diet out of ketosis because you just turned the protein you're eating to avoid the carbs into the carbs that you're avoiding. But we won't go there. For the moment, we'll just say, There's no place to store it. So you're not really getting any benefit about it.

And you turn the carbon skeleton into carbs, which if we do get back to the keto diet is throwing the meat eaters on the keto diet out of ketosis because you just turned the protein you're eating to avoid the carbs into the carbs that you're avoiding. But we won't go there. For the moment, we'll just say, There's no place to store it. So you're not really getting any benefit about it.