Behind the Bluff
Uncover best practices to participate in life on your terms. Every week, hosts Jeff Ford and Kendra Till guide listeners with short conversations on trending wellness topics and share interviews with passionate wellness professionals, our private club leaders, and additional subject matter experts offering valuable tips. Each episode conclusion includes Healthy Momentum, five minutes of inspiration to help you reflect and live differently. Subscribe now and discover the keys to living your greatest active lifestyle.
Behind the Bluff
How Much Protein You Really Need And How To Get It
We break down protein from the ground up with registered dietitian Lindsay Ford, turning hype into clear numbers, practical timing, and simple food choices. We set realistic targets for active adults, explain complete proteins, and show how to plan meals without crowding out carbs and fats.
• calculating protein minimums using grams per kilogram
• examples for a 180-pound active adult
• benefits for muscle repair, recovery and satiety
• complete proteins and essential amino acids
• digestion, absorption and the role of cooking
• animal versus plant sources with practical swaps
• vegetarian planning, volume needs and micronutrients
• macro ranges for protein, carbs and fats
• timing strategies after training and before sleep
• grocery picks and simple whole-food choices
• debunking the one gram per pound rule
Are you ready to live an active lifestyle? Welcome to Behind the Bluff, where we believe every moment of your life is an opportunity to pursue wellness on your terms. Today, we're diving into one of the most talked-about topics in wellness: protein. What you need, why it matters, and how to make it practical in your everyday life. I'm joined once again by registered dietitian Lindsay Ford, who is a familiar voice on this podcast and someone our community trusts for clear, grounded guidance. Lindsay always brings a mix of science and real-world simplicity. And today, she's here to help us understand protein in a way that supports an active, capable lifestyle. Lindsay, welcome back. Thank you so much. Always a pleasure.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I love doing it. We're here.
SPEAKER_01:Before we get into the details, I want you to go ahead and ground our listeners in the basics and make this personal for them. So how do you figure out how much protein someone needs in a day?
SPEAKER_00:I would say to keep things really simple, it comes down to any underlying issues, conditions. It comes down to activity level, I'd say is another one. I would say goals. So what goals they might have in mind. And then there's also some minimums that we know are important to consume.
SPEAKER_01:What would you say are minimums when it comes to protein?
SPEAKER_00:So minimum is 0.8 grams per kilogram. So it usually is helpful to kind of have some, you know, knowing their weight, the in-body screening, anything like that is also really helpful to have.
SPEAKER_01:Can we go ahead and just do some math on that and give an example just so listeners can have a breakdown?
SPEAKER_00:Absolutely. So if we're looking at math, um, knowing your body weight, so that's gonna be most likely in pounds, then we would divide that number by 2.2. Okay. So if we were to do once we get that number, then you multiply that by 0.8.
SPEAKER_01:Yep, right on.
SPEAKER_00:And that's gonna give you the minimum, the bare minimum that that every human needs.
SPEAKER_01:I like that. And I like that you slowed down there because we're gonna then look at activity level and we're gonna look at goals being two of the biggest factors of if we manipulate that higher or potentially lower.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now, I'd like to even go further by giving an example, let's say a 180-pound male.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Yeah, I love it. So I'm gonna pull out my hefty calculator just because it's usually helpful. Um, doing the math in my head's not gonna happen. So 180, if I divide that by 2.2, I get 81 kilograms. Um 81.8. So I'm just gonna add automatically multiply that by 0.8. Now that's 65 grams. I actually wouldn't suggest that for most people. I would actually automatically go up, but it's usually helpful for people to know, like, hey, at the bare, bare minimum, like we need at least 65 grams of protein. Okay. Um, but that's where like typically it just goes up from there. Rarely does it go down. If it goes down, that's usually some sort of kidney disease or something like that that's been yeah, diagnosed.
SPEAKER_01:Understood.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:And I think we'll take this further as we get going here, but that's a simple equation of how to come up with bare minimum.
SPEAKER_00:Bare minimum.
SPEAKER_01:There with the factors mentioned, there's gonna be a lot of increases, most likely.
SPEAKER_00:For sure.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Now, what are the top benefits of consuming enough protein?
SPEAKER_00:So, top benefits, first and foremost, we we only make our body only makes so much protein on our own. So we have to consume it through food. When we get those amino acids from food, it's gonna be linked to muscle growth, muscle repair. Uh, it's gonna be the the building blocks. Protein in essence are the building blocks of of so many things that that are existing in our body. So if we're not getting enough protein, we're not getting the building blocks, we're also not repairing, recovering. It is essential that we're getting protein and enough protein.
SPEAKER_01:Now that we've covered the fundamentals, let's let's zoom in on what actually defines the protein we eat. And I think this is what many of our listeners are confused by because right now it is a craze going on with recommendations around protein. So let's back up and define it. What defines a quality or complete protein?
SPEAKER_00:So, yeah, people, a lot of people have probably heard of the term complete protein. What that is referring to, most likely for for most, is that it is a protein source, a food source that contains all nine essential amino acids. And these essential amino acids our body cannot make. So we have to consume it through food. And so when we look at a quality protein, it's most likely that's what I would consider, is it's got all of those essential nine amino acids.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Quality or complete protein, nine essential amino acids. We can keep the definition that simple.
SPEAKER_00:We can keep it that simple. And when we go to the grocery store, it's not like they're listing what those essential amino acids are typically on our food sources. Like we're not gonna pick up a carton of eggs and it's it's listing out all of those essential amino acids. Um, so, so that's where, you know, it can I don't want to call it confusing. It's just it, there's no need to go into that level of detail, but that's what we would consider a quality or complete protein.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's helpful. And as we start to define out the different types of things that someone out there can purchase, I think we can lean back into that concept of a complete protein. Are all proteins viewed the same in the body or absorbed the same?
SPEAKER_00:Great, yeah, great question. So when we think about digestion and then absorption and getting those nutrients literally kind of basically into the bloodstream and then going to where it needs to go, protein, based off its nature and structure in general, tends to be harder to digest and as a result, slower, I would say, and in general, slower to absorb into the system compared to, let's say, something carbohydrates. Like if I were to put a cracker on my tongue, it automatically starts to dissolve, right? Whereas if I have like, I don't know, like a nut, like an almond or a cashew, like that doesn't start necessarily breaking down right away. Now, chewing helps. So I'd say in general, protein tends to be harder or longer to digest and absorb. Now, from an ease perspective, cooking usually always makes things easier to digest and absorb. So I don't think anyone's gonna go around eating like like beans that are not cooked or like meat that isn't cooked, that's just weird, not typically not safe. And we we are always gonna cook those things that helps denature those proteins to make it easier to digest. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Now I'm sure we'll get into this, but animal protein versus non-animal protein, is there a difference in how it's absorbed in the body?
SPEAKER_00:The fat content is gonna play a role. So whenever we have fat alongside, it's gonna probably slow it down. Uh anytime we're eating protein, we're also probably having a meal. So rarely are we ever just eating straight up chicken. We're having things around it. So when we have fiber, when you have roughage, all of that is going to slow it down. So in general, I would say our plant sources of protein, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, they can be a little bit, I don't want to say harder, but for some it might feel harder, um, a little slower. Those fibers are gonna slow that down a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Where do we get protein across common diets? You've mentioned lots of plant-based options here. You've mentioned chicken. Mentioned some chicken, yeah. What what are we looking at? If we're gonna try to build that diet, where are we gonna get the majority of our protein from?
SPEAKER_00:So we've got our animal sources, that's our red meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, um, those are some of the big eggs. Those are like the big ones that we typically think of. Then we have our plant sources: beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, those are some of the big ones. Whole grains can be thrown into that. You know, we can throw in some dark leafy greens into some of those plant sources too. Soy would be another one that's more plant. But I would say for most people in this country, um, in America, a lot of people are relying on, I would say, more animal sources than they are necessarily plant when it comes to when we're preparing a meal, when we're, when we're thinking about what's for dinner, what's for lunch, most of us kind of have that animal source often kind of in the forefront of the brain when we're thinking about what to cook and what to prepare.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a good point. Most of the time, if we're gonna go to the grocery store, pick up and prepare a dinner off the cuff, we're gonna build it around the protein first, which I personally love.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I mean, I think I I bet a lot of chefs kind of think that that's kind of just how we tend to operate is what's that mean protein source gonna be and then kind of building around there to some degree.
SPEAKER_01:So let's flip the table. What should vegetarians pay attention to?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so we can consume enough protein from our plant sources. So if someone were to come to me and say, hey, I'm choosing to be vegetarian for these specific reasons, it's okay, well, how can we make sure we're getting enough protein? Because here's the thing with our plant sources is we have to consume more volume typically in a plant source to get the same number of grams of protein in comparison to an animal source. So if we were to take a cup of Greek yogurt, all right, we might get roughly 30 grams out of that one cup of Greek yogurt. It would be roughly maybe two, two and a half cups of cooked lentils to get that same equivalent. And that's going to be physically hard to do. Um, for most people, they're not going to cook that much. Unless you love lentils. Unless you love lentils. And that's your jam. It's cool. So when we think about volume, our plant sources, we tend to have to consume more in order to get the same number of grams. So if we kind of think about going back to the vegetarian, it's can we make sure that we're getting enough of our daily need? And then I think variety is also very important. So if we go back to those essential amino acids, we want to make sure we're getting a variety of plant sources so that we can meet those essential amino acids. The other thing would be the micronutrients that we get from our animal sources can be lacking in our plant sources. So iron, B12, um, vitamin D, especially for somebody that's not consuming dairy. So, you know, and then I know some of the products can be fortified and that kind of, but there is some thinking, and I would say planning that really typically has to take place to make sure we're not missing anything. That over time it's whoa, something's off here. I'm not feeling as energized. I'm trying to eat well, I'm trying to eat more plant-based, but then boom, something hits. So, so you kind of have to make sure that that there's some planning involved.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I appreciate that breakdown because understanding that number one, it's difficult to get the same amount of protein with the same volume versus like animal source versus vegetarian. And then the micronutrients, I never thought about it in that context that we're getting different micronutrients from animal source proteins than we are from plant source. Yeah. Yeah. So have a plan.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Have a plan. Make sure it's varied. Yep.
SPEAKER_01:That gives us a solid understanding of quality. Let's shift into a practical side so listeners know how to apply this to their day-to-day. And I'd like to start with a simple, smart macro framework framework for proteins, carbs, and fats. In in a diet today, regardless of if I'm eating animal or plant-based approach for my protein, what should protein, carbs, and fats look like?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would say I'm gonna break it down in percentage, just because everyone, I that if we look at caloric intake and energy intake, then we're all gonna probably be somewhere different. But in very general, I'm talking just based off of like general recommendations. Um, I would say carbohydrates somewhere between 35, 30, and 45%. I know that's a fairly large range.
SPEAKER_01:That sounds so low compared to 20 years ago.
SPEAKER_00:I mean, I would say carbs classically have been, you know, 50, 60 percent. But I also think that's maybe communicating for those that are highly active, uh, for those that are always on the on the go, like very active individuals, to be honest. Um, we're just probably not moving enough to to require that amount of carbohydrate. Yes, perfectly said. Yes. Protein, I would say somewhere between 20 and 30 percent of energy intake, somewhere in there, that could sometimes creep up to the 35%. Rarely would I encourage somebody to go below 20%, to be honest. Now, the only time it might go go below 20% is if you have somebody that is in a larger body where their energy requirements are so high, where they're they they want to keep that high caloric intake. Most this might not be a lot of our listeners, but then if you break down gram per kilogram, the amount of calories actually coming from protein in comparison to their energy needs is actually a low percent.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's still meeting the protein requirements, but the percentage doesn't have to be as high. Correct.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. And then fat somewhere between 30 and 40, 45 percent. Sweet. Somewhere in there.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. Yeah. For very active individuals, we've been all around that in the conversation here. And you said earlier that 180-pound male, the minimum at that 67 to 70 grams. So let's let's take that in perspective here. We've got, let's say this is an individual who works out six days a week, three days strength, three days cardio. They're active on the pickleball courts, they play golf. I'm I'm speaking a high percentage of people who live here at Pulmetal Bluff. What changes in daily protein needs would you have for that person, just from a volume perspective here, grams?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so I I would 0.8's not gonna be enough for them. Um, again, that's like the bare bone minimum. I would probably put somebody like that in the range of 1.2 to 1.6. Now, what's interesting is that for those that were to say even go beyond the 1.6, probably not gonna necessarily hurt them. What I would say, because you mentioned at the very beginning, protein is a very hot topic. All right. It is being pushed, it is being encouraged. I'm not anti that. I actually think it's great because I think protein's very important and a lot of us could probably benefit from consuming a little bit more. The thing is, is that we could overlook the benefits that we get from carbohydrate and from our fat sources as a result of being so focused on protein. Um, I did a session with a client back here, and he would probably fully admit like it was protein, protein, protein, which is not necessarily, I mean, I get it. If you've been missing it and now you want to make that a priority, awesome. So the thing that was lacking though was the carbohydrate, because he was getting more active. So I know that's not it's in your question right away, but it can we can overemphasize. Um, so if we kind of go to the 1.2 to 1.6, the 1, you know, 80 pound, very active. Again, I would go convert that back into the kilograms, which is 81.8. If I multiply that, just let's just go right in the middle, 1.4, that's 114. 115, a very big difference.
SPEAKER_01:We've jumped by about 50 grams from the bare minimum for the active individual.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. Because what we want to do is we want to hold on to muscle. We want to help recover, repair, we want to also enhance performance. Um, we also we don't want somebody to feel like broken down as they're as they're going into something. The other thing is it's a hunger regulator. So protein is also very filling, it's satiating. And so, and and this would be the case for even a non-active individual, but we we want to make sure that people also feel satiated and full, and protein does a very good job of that.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and I think that's important for someone who's highly active when you you're burning a lot of energy throughout throughout a day. You want to be able to feel full when you eat. And if we're not getting the right amount of protein in the diet, I can see how not just from a repair perspective, but from an appetite perspective, it makes a lot of sense to figure this out. Now, humor me. I want to keep going with this example. Let's say this individual wants to prioritize building muscle. And you could maybe veer off of the 180-pound person, but let's just say it's a 180-pound male who is lacking muscle. We've got them on the in-body. What would we do? Would we make any adjustments? Would we go even higher than you're recommending?
SPEAKER_00:I would say we could test going higher. I'd say another thing to do would be could we have a high protein snack before bed? We our highest level of like repair is happening while we sleep. So could we actually take advantage of that, get a higher protein snack into the evening? Greek yogurt, cottage cheese. Um, most people aren't gonna be making scrambled eggs at nine o'clock at night, you know? But I'm just thinking, can we get it?
SPEAKER_01:It's probably the same person who's eating all those lentils who's making the scrambled eggs late at night.
SPEAKER_00:Totally. Um, but can we get a higher protein snack? Can we optimize the recovery? So after all of that movement, can we make sure that within an hour, hour and a half, we're getting enough protein shortly after? Now so there's like a window. It I think in general, though, where the science lies is we have to get enough over the course of that day. Because our body's gonna be in breakdown, in essence, over the day. And then the body while we sleep is, and this is where sleep is really important, is we we do all that repair. That's where growth hormone, human growth hormone is gonna be at its highest over the course of the evening, you know, those those sleeping hours. So we want to take advantage of that.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a good point. Between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., human growth hormone is secreting at its highest level. So between your protein intake and your sleep hygiene, I can see that making all the difference in someone's progress. Huge. You you were all over it right there, Lindsay. I I think you stumbled into a question I had timing. So, yes, we can focus on some different timing strategies, like you mentioned with a little more protein before bed, protein after activity, maybe even prior. Do you have other suggestions for folks in general for timing their protein?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I would say I'm really big on routine and structure when it comes to eating in general. And so I think it's much easier to get our protein needs when we're doing that. Because if we wait till the end of the day to try to get it all in, I just think it makes it not gonna feel good. And it's just it can be hard. So can we get, you know, can we get adequate at breakfast? Can we get it in at lunch? Can we think about protein as a snack? Can we make sure we're getting a solid source at dinner? Like if we're spacing it out, we're usually then at the end of the day, we're gonna be getting enough. It's when meals get skipped, it's when the timing actually gets completely away from us, where we're probably not getting enough. And then we're prone, we're probably trying to play ketchup. And that's for those that are really doing the math and they're really looking at it. Is that as I've I've heard that, is they're like, oh my goodness, it's it's four or five o'clock, and I'm already, you know, I've got a lot of room to make up. And then people are like trying to stuff, you know, trying to get more protein, and that's that they're being really diligent with it. Um, so making sure, you know, higher protein breakfasts can be really helpful. Um, making sure that we've got protein options available to us for lunch so that it's just easy. That's a big one. Lunch can easily get lost. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. No, that's helpful. I it overall, it sounds like have a plan for your protein needs over the course of the day, but do it on an individual meal level. Correct. Once someone knows what they need, the next challenge I find for the majority of people is choosing the right foods in real life. Let's let's talk through how to navigate that. Lindsay, in the grocery store, what would help someone choose one protein source over another?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So I would say if we're looking at meal development and we're looking, I mean, you're you're probably gonna think about dinners. We're probably going behind the counter, picking something. We might be talking to, you know, somebody actually um wrapping something up and giving it to us. So when we're thinking about that, I mean, that's kind of leaning into our animal sources to a little bit. That's I'm not trying to knock the vegetarian options. Um, our plant sources are gonna be more in the middle aisles, simple ingredients, um, probably minimally. I mean, if we think about all the protein sources that I listed before, eggs, red meat, poultry, seafood, beans, lentils, uh, our nuts, our seeds, our so I mean, these are all whole foods. These are all whole. I mean, if anything, the only reason why they be processed is because they've been put into a package or they have been literally cut into a certain um cut that then we can then purchase.
SPEAKER_01:So the decision making should be quite easy as well. It should actually be very easy.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Let's go into myths, limits, and and safety around protein. Obviously, you know, I listen to a lot of podcasts. I try to stay educated on what the the evidence is showing and then what the experts are are sharing with with communities like ours. Um, I think we've we've nailed the useful base basic side side of things. So I'd like to give you a moment to address the noise and confusion around protein. There's so much out there right now. Specifically, one main recommendation I continue to hear is one gram of protein per one pound of body weight. And I know that's getting generalized. What do you make of the hype around protein right now? And and that recommendation specifically.
SPEAKER_00:I don't love it. Now, do I think that's going to be harmful for a lot of people? No, not necessarily. Do I think it's going to of course it's a general recommendation, right? So it's meant to hit, you know, a lot of people. But let's think about the 200-pound person. 200 grams of protein is extremely difficult to consume and probably not necessary for the individual. So if we were to lay out our breakfast, calculate how many grams, lunch, how many grams, dinner. To get 200 grams is so hard. The level of thinking, the cost, we're probably involving supplements at that point.
SPEAKER_01:That's like eight chicken breasts. I'm doing the math quickly.
SPEAKER_00:So 200 grams of protein. Um, so just for our listeners, for every one ounce of animal protein raw, it's equivalent to seven grams. So even just consuming the the classic four ounces of poultry, we're getting 28 grams of protein, roughly, give or take. So if we've got like 200 and we divide that by seven, that's 28, that's you know, 28.5 ounces of uh let's just use chicken as our example. That's a lot of chicken.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's what I was saying. It's in the seven to eight chicken breasts.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So yeah, I would say the one gram, the seven grams per pound. Wait, what was that?
SPEAKER_01:One gram per pound of body weight. But let me preface it's ideal body weight. So when you use the example of a 200-pound person, if that individual, let's say at a healthier weight is 175, sticking with maybe the male body, for instance, there are going to be some males who are at a healthy weight at 200 pounds, without a doubt. But what we're hearing is that it's targeting that towards ideal body weight. And I think you nailed it a little bit, where it's trying to simplify, get more protein in, I think is the main message here.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Um, and it's it's a lot of protein.
SPEAKER_00:Well, and who's deciding ideal body weight?
SPEAKER_01:That's gonna be up to the person.
SPEAKER_00:And then I would, you know, when we look at, I'm just gonna use the O. Whoever's on the O, you Ozempic, semiglutides, okay. When we're calculating protein, similar concept, is you actually base protein needs off of the predicted kind of weight loss that you would see. So it's not at their current level. So that's gonna be the complete game changer, is not where somebody potentially is knowing that they're gonna be probably in a in a deficit if we're looking specifically at protein.
SPEAKER_01:Gotcha. And that is like
