Whichever way you slice the argument, protein will ALWAYS be the cornerstone upon which a healthy nutritional protocol is built; barring those that have pre-existing renal dysfunctions, there really is no such thing as “too much protein”. And yet, the misguided consensus of the nutritional myth fairies has for some time been that high protein diets will wreak death and havoc upon the kidneys. Why?
Because some 40 years ago or so the experts were using GFR (glomerular filtration rate), or the rate at which the kidney filter impurities from the blood, as the primary indicator of kidney health; think of it this way: your kidneys are the coffee filters and your blood is the ground coffee/water mixture – as you pour the water into the filter, the ground coffee, i.e. the crap floating around in your bloodstream, gets collected and filtered, leaving you with nothing but a cup of freshly brewed coffee, i.e. freshly purified blood to once again circulate around the body.
The problems start when 1. There is too much ground coffee AND 2. Your filter’s micron rating, or the size of the openings through which the boiling water must pass through, is too small to allow for a sufficiently swift flow.
What does this mean practically? Well, if you eat more protein there will be more crap in your bloodstream for your kidneys to filter; more crap to filter out = slower GFR.
The point here is that if your kidneys are healthy, i.e. the micron rating of your filtering cloth is large enough to allow for the optimal flow of liquids, you don’t have to worry about the additional clumps of crap that will need to get filtered out of your system. How do we know?
Science motherfucker!
Forget the bullshit FDA recommendations of .8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight; that is the bare bones minimum recommended protein intake for gym virgins and eunuchs; the last 20 years worth of research has shown quite conclusively that ingesting between 1.2 and 3.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight will NOT cause the multiplying wraths of Ares to strike down your kidneys [1-4].
And while it’s true that people with kidney damage should limit their protein intake, making the cretinous claim that high protein diets will cause ALL kidneys to burst into slithering tongues of hellfire is analogous to saying that peanut butter is the cancer that will violently eradicate all life on earth just because people with nut allergies would do well to you know, not fucking eat nuts.
Newsflash sweetie pie, renal complications are far more complex a proposition than “he must have eaten too much protein”, so how about you stop blindly believing the fuck cunt bullshittery that is progressively corroding the collective IQ of the nations?
Think about it logically for a second: MILLIONS of bodybuilders all over the world have been eating protein til the damn cows come home, that is, ALL DAY ERRRRRR’DAY, for DECADES now; if high protein diets were, in fact, the harbingers of death alluded to in the book of Revelations, don’t you think that bodybuilding in and of itself would have become extinct due to a worldwide epidemic of kidney failure?
Yea, no. Protein powder to this day continues to be the highest selling nutritional supplement on the market for bodybuilders and strength enthusiasts because it’s safe, effective, and convenient.
In fact, not only is protein perfectly healthy, it is also BY FAR your greatest ally in your quest for fat loss and jacktitude.
- Muscle sparing properties: anyone that has ever tried losing weight by ruthlessly chopping away at their calories without so much as a fuck given about proper protein intake will INEVITABLY have found that by the end of the diet that strength, vitality, and muscle mass have been severely compromised.
Why? Because your stupid survivalist imperatives force your body to break down protein at a higher rate during a cut, which is why those that have intelligently dieted down to single digit body fat levels by eating a metric fuck of protein (at the expense of carbs and fats) can attest to the muscle sparing magical voodoo of high protein diets.
2. Muscle building: I could go full on medical thesis on your ass about the merits of a high protein diet in the context of hypertrophy, but let’s be real here – you aren’t going to read it. all you really need to know about protein is that if you don’t eat it, you’re not going to build shit.
3. Satiety: protein-based dishes will keep you fuller for longer; VERY handy thing to keep in mind when you’re dieting hard for swimsuit season no? Go ahead, test this shit out for yourself: what’s going to keep you fuller for longer, 500-1000 calories worth of steak or 500-1000 calories worth of cheesecake? Coffin, meet nail.
The bottom line is that IF your kidneys are A ok, AND your primary goals are physique driven, you should be eating protein like your gains depended on it.
Because they do.
So eat your fucking protein.
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References:
[1] Poortmans JR, Dellalieux O. ,Do regular high protein diets have potential health risks on kidney function in athletes? Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2000 Mar;10(1):28-38.
[2] Phillips SM, Chevalier S,, Leidy HJ. , Protein “requirements” beyond the RDA: implications for optimizing health. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. 2016 May;41(5):565-72
[3] World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, United Nations University, Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition, Report of a joint FAO/WHO/UNU expert consultation (WHO Technical Report Series 935)
[4] Marta Cuenca-Sánchez Diana Navas-Carrillo Esteban Orenes-Piñero, Controversies Surrounding High-Protein Diet Intake: Satiating Effect and Kidney and Bone Health, Advances in Nutrition, Volume 6, Issue 3, 1 May 2015, Pages 260–266
