I recently spoke with Marcus Antebi, the founder of Juice Press, and he had some very interesting insights about the American diet. Of course he’s anti-processed sugar: “Processed sugar is simple garbage and can make you sick in a general way. Chemical artificial sweeteners are the curse of mankind – poison – and these, despite their overall score cards for calories and carbs, can create the same response to processed white sugar in the body because the body is often fooled when consuming artificial sweeteners into thinking it is consuming a lot of real processed sugars.” But interestingly he also underscored that there’s such a thing as too much protein. “A common dietary mistake is that people are consuming protein way beyond their dietary needs. Protein is a problem in our Western diet, not a solution. I see this on a regular basis; people eat an eight-ounce steak at 10 o’clock at night with a glass of red wine and potatoes. The following day they’re counting the grams of sugar in raw pineapple and kale juice, and then avoid the pineapple juice because the grams of sugar terrify them.”
Why exactly is too much protein bad?
There are a few factors. First, many protein-rich foods like nut butters and red meat are high in calories, saturated fat and, sodium, meaning they can raise your risk for heat disease and lead to weight gain. It’s also been associated with dehydration and it has been shown that over-consuming protein can lead to deficiencies in a variety of nutrients, causing an array of gastrointestinal problems. Lastly, studies have shown that diets higher in protein put a strain on the kidneys and may even lead to kidney disease.
The average adult, according to the Institutes of Medicine, needs about 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight a day, which equates to about 56 grams of protein a day for men and 46 for women. Unfortunately, because protein is associated with the idea of “health food,” it has been turned into a marketing gimmick and as a result Americans have been consuming way more than the recommended amount.
For an idea of what protein translates to in terms of food, click here. It’s an important reminder not to fall for marketing ploys – very few things labeled, “high protein,” “low fat,” etc. are actually healthy. The healthiest foods tend to not need food labels with ingredient lists!