Protein questions

i am 5 months post op and have lost 105 lbs. i keep hearing and reading about needing to get your protein in. i mostly eat skinless, boneless chicken, baked eggs, low fat cottage cheese, turkey, greek yogurt and flaxseed meal. today i was told by a pharmacist that a person can get too much protein and that it can be harmful to your kidneys. so how much is too much? i eat alot of protein because i don't want to gain weight and also it fills me up. any comments or helpful tips would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Rule 1 - follow the plan given to you by your medical team. The pharmacist may not know about bariatric diets and issues.

Rule 2 - Drink you water. If you drink enough water, it shouldn't be an issue.

Rule 3 - repeat rule 1.

Working with my team, I eat about 115 grams of protein a day (I'm a 5'3", 150 pound woman now). I drink about 90 ounces of fluids. I shoot for 100, but don't always make it. I'm 2.5 years post surgery and my kidneys are just fine. Because I'm following my doctor's plan.

Too much protein would only be a problem if you have an existing kidney problem. I eat 140g of protein a day. No problem.

Most pharmacists see people with renal issues, those with chronic kidney disease, severe diabetics, on pre-dialysis meds, etc, and those patients can't have high meat protein in general. But every plan I have seen for WLS nutrition is minimum 70 gr. daily.

Now Americans are the most overfed on protein than any other nation, average is 100+ gr. Livestrong..com site (and others) has 46gr as minimum for women, 56gr for men.

So we are more used to eating that volume. anyway Lastly, not connected to WLS are the 25% of American with undiagnosed kidney disease... these are overweight, diabetics and others who are already in a lower function range..theer are 5 Stages 5 i requires dialysis now (unless there is an immediate diet change-which most can't pull off), 3 is the warning stage for people with 2 kidneys. BUT there is no way to know which person will develop PAST 3 to stage 4 or 5. So MDS mostly never say a word to you!!! only when a future test shows being at bottom of stage 3 (3b specifically) do they bring up diet and cutting back protein.

I have seen some very angry family members over their loved one not being told until dialysis is the best option, but that has a whole other negative for anyone to deal with. Education before hand, at Stage 3 or 3b might have saved them from dropping further, but they have to act.

I have mixed feelings on not educating patients- the average person simply won't give up cheeseburgers or meat, some will, but not be consistent, because you don't FEEL anything until CKD is advanced. Moderate meat protein is recommended, substituting other protein foods, etc.

There is an excellent PUBMED article discussing telling people or not, does it scare them unnecessarily, etc. and with the fast pace of seeing your GP these days it is unlikely they even do a renal blood test.

If talking with your MD helps you could ask about protein, and your kidneys, but the 70-90gr seems to be the best, for a long time now, that works for staying as a healthy WLS patient.

Our typical bariatric diets are only high protein relative to everything else being kept very low so that we can lose the weight, but the typical guidelines (usually somewhere around 60-80g for women and 80-100g for men) are in the neighborhood of our normal body maintenance level, plus a bit of overkill margin. Yes, the Western diet tends to be somewhat over-proteined (and by over animal proteined by some opinions). So, if you are following your program's guidelines on protein, then you should be fine. You may want to revisit the topic in a year or two when you are eating more normally and make some adjustments then if you find that things are too far out of balance.

Your surgeon should check your bloodwork on a regular basis. He/she will look at your kidney function, which will give you a heads-up if there's any trouble.

Sounds like you're eating all the right things for a WLS patient, so I would be inclined to trust your surgeon over your pharmacist and keep doing what you're doing!