Protein for dummies
Can someone explain in a nutshell why we require so much protein? Is it the malabsorption? I understand the whole thing about protein going in first because of the size of our pouch - and that's the most important part of our diet, but before surgery diets made vegetables and grains more important than protein. I'm having a hard time switching my brain to protein first after years of veggies and whole grains.
Cindy
Cindy
Cindy
"Sure you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But if catching flies is a priority, nothing beats a dead possum." American Cowboy Magazine
"Sure you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar. But if catching flies is a priority, nothing beats a dead possum." American Cowboy Magazine
Cindy,
Excellent question, actually. And there are two ways to think about it.
FIrst is that pre-surg, we were always trying to "fill" ourselves with food. It was all about volume and finding "free" or "safe" ways to fill up that volume without adding huge amounts of calories or fats or carbs or whatever we were concerned with in the diet of the week. (remember the "volumetrics" menu by nutrisystem?) Hence VEGGIES (bulky, good vitamins, not a lot of other stuff) and whole grains (which swell in your stomach and make you feel more full and have a ton of fiber) were a big emphasis. It was assumed that if you were eating a "typical" omnivore diet, that the protein would come pretty naturally - it's not really all that tough to get 50 - 100g protein in a day when you're eating "normal" people portions.
Post-surg, it's no longer about volume. It's about quality, not quantity. So every bite you take in needs to count nutritionally. Protein density counts... so lean proteins that give you a nice "dose" of protein without eating a large volume will enable you to then incorporate more variety into your diet, by adding veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, etc.
Due to malabsorption, protein is also even more important. High protein nutrition promotes rapid healing and tissue rebuilding, as well as the building of muscle mass. The tissue rebuilding and creation of muscle tissue will accellerate your weight loss, because muscle burns more calories pound-per-pound than fat cells do. So the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, and the faster the fat will burn away... and the more calories you can take in and still lose weight (or maintain weight). Tissue rebuilding comes into play early on not only with muscle building but with healing from surgeries and reducing scarring. So you'll hear folks who are multi-year post surg talk about going back to high protein diets when they approach plastic surgery or have other surgeries.
Finally, the higher protein intake MAY help reduce hair loss after surgery in that 3 - 8 month timeframe that many of us struggle with it. I know it certainly helps make my hair and nails grow faster and stronger!
Hope this makes sense!
Karen
Excellent question, actually. And there are two ways to think about it.
FIrst is that pre-surg, we were always trying to "fill" ourselves with food. It was all about volume and finding "free" or "safe" ways to fill up that volume without adding huge amounts of calories or fats or carbs or whatever we were concerned with in the diet of the week. (remember the "volumetrics" menu by nutrisystem?) Hence VEGGIES (bulky, good vitamins, not a lot of other stuff) and whole grains (which swell in your stomach and make you feel more full and have a ton of fiber) were a big emphasis. It was assumed that if you were eating a "typical" omnivore diet, that the protein would come pretty naturally - it's not really all that tough to get 50 - 100g protein in a day when you're eating "normal" people portions.
Post-surg, it's no longer about volume. It's about quality, not quantity. So every bite you take in needs to count nutritionally. Protein density counts... so lean proteins that give you a nice "dose" of protein without eating a large volume will enable you to then incorporate more variety into your diet, by adding veggies, fruits, grains, nuts, etc.
Due to malabsorption, protein is also even more important. High protein nutrition promotes rapid healing and tissue rebuilding, as well as the building of muscle mass. The tissue rebuilding and creation of muscle tissue will accellerate your weight loss, because muscle burns more calories pound-per-pound than fat cells do. So the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, and the faster the fat will burn away... and the more calories you can take in and still lose weight (or maintain weight). Tissue rebuilding comes into play early on not only with muscle building but with healing from surgeries and reducing scarring. So you'll hear folks who are multi-year post surg talk about going back to high protein diets when they approach plastic surgery or have other surgeries.
Finally, the higher protein intake MAY help reduce hair loss after surgery in that 3 - 8 month timeframe that many of us struggle with it. I know it certainly helps make my hair and nails grow faster and stronger!
Hope this makes sense!
Karen
Wow! That was a better reply than what I could have hoped for! Thank you. I have been concentrating so much on volume of protein - which I am not having trouble with - and I was concerned with the limited diet. So are grams of protein based on height? age? gender? I am on 64 g a day, and when I actually started adding up what I was eating I was actually getting around 80 g a day.
Cindy
Cindy
It's based on all three, plus overall muscle mass (BMI). As you get farther out, your protein intake needs decrease. So while my initial post-surg protein range was 78-98g/daily, it's dropped to 60-80 at a year out. Keep in mind that the goal you were given is most likely either the low end of the range or possibly the midpoint of the range - check with your nutritionist to see what the actual range is. (for every nutrient, there's a range, not a single number)
K.
K.
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