Let's Talk About Protein

The subject of “How Much Protein Should I Be Eating Every Day? came up yesterday on another part of OH. The person who wrote in is concerned because her hair has not been coming back in, and she is 2 years post RNY! What gives? I decided I needed to get the North West Weight Loss Surgery Support Group Blog Site off to a good start. Our first blog will be to talk about protein.   So, here is a start. Please do chime in with your own thoughts, ideas, knowledge base, etc.   Something I learned a week ago, and which I shared with my Saturday Teleconference folks, changed my thoughts on protein completely. I am 4 years out from my RNY, have lost close to 150 lbs with 30 to go. Here are questions you need to ask yourself. 
 

1. When you say you are good at eating protein, exactly what do you mean?

 

2. What kind of protein? Animal, vegetable, liquid, powder, a blend, an isolate? What?

 

3. Does your protein choice come from foods, such as chicken, beef, peanuts, or complimentary proteins from mixing beans with rice for example?

 

4. How much of your small intestines are let following your surgery?

 

5. What type of gastric bypass surgery did you have?

 

6. Do you “chew, chew, chew? your food liquefying it before you swallow the food?

 

7. Do you rely on liquid protein shakes?

 

8. What kind of protein is in these shakes?

 

1. Whey Protein Isolate blends?

 

2. Whey Concentrate (Lactalbumin)?

 

3. Other types of Proteins?

 

9. If you keep your daily records in FitDay.com or SparkPeople.com resources, do you automatically adjust the protein to consider not only the malabsorption as well as the BV (bioavailability) of protein? BV = Biologic Value

 

10. Do you need to be a math expert? No. You use simple math: you need to know how to add, multiply and divide numbers. You learned these skills in grade school.

 

11. Are you at your goal weight?

 

12. Do you still want to lose more weight?

  If you wish to become a member of my Saturday group where we will be continuing to discuss this important issue as we can, you need to go to my OH support group and register. www.ObesityHelp.com/group/BellevueWA   In the meantime, begin your own research on:  

1. How much of your small intestines are left following your surgery?

 

2. Calculate your own malabsorption rate. If you had lap band surgery, you do not have an MA (malabsorption) rate. For those who have had RNY’s or similar surgeries, the MA rate is typically considered to be 50%.

 

3. Research the BV of the foods you eat. This is a challenging area, I understand that! It seems that knowing the BV rate for the food given animals is more important than knowing how much protein available within a given protein source is actually usable by the human body! But, if you wait patiently, I hope to have the results of my own research published as a blog to this site very soon.

 

4. Keep your daily records, adjusted for both MA and BV.

 

5. Consider becoming a support group leader yourself working with me getting the word out about the benefits of being an active member of North West Weight Loss Surgery Support Group. You will learn so much from OH and me and you can truly help others being a blessing to them while you are helping yourself, blessing yourself as well

The point I’m raising is that we spent 1 ½ hours Saturday February 7, 2009 on the telephone discussing precisely these issues.  Based on our discussion, I immediately changed my approach to protein. Dramatic improvements in my already excellent health are ensuring!   I spoke with another person on the call who is almost 7 years post RNY. She said, “I can’t believe the difference! By making these changes, I feel like my body is tighter, my stomach smoother, and yesterday, I didn’t have a ‘melt-down’ day. I had a wonderful, happy, and most productive day. I credit what I learned Saturday with changes I've made in my approach to protein, and feel ever so much better.? Mary T.

• Tags:
• protein
• , malabsorption
• , bioavailability
• , bv

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