How Much protein is burned/needed? : Forum Answer


Question from our forum


“I know that the body always burns some fat and even some protein for fuel at all times even when there is sufficient dietary carbohydrate intake, do you have any numbers on that? Like how many calories for example…

Does it vary in relationship to other factors like bodyfat/type of exercise/carbohydrate intake etc?”

Doug Graham:

Remember we always use the order of: carb/pro/fat. Roughly, when eating sufficient quantities of carbs to meet those needs, the numbers burned in terms of percent of calories are 50/statistical zero/50.

When insufficient carbs are consumed, numbers range:

such as in fasting: 0/.5/99.5

or in a ketogenic diet where 15% of calories come from carbs: 15/0.25/84.75

During the (roughly 8 hour) transition period from a carb-sufficient diet to no food at all, the body will choose protein first, because it takes time to ramp up to the full-blown gluco-neogenesis required to utilize fats: 10/2/88.

These numbers are of course all approximates, but I have worked out the math on this question several times over the past 30 years, and it’s always come out the same.

Essentially, in fasting, when using 1000 calories per day, as much as roughly 1 gram of labile protein (as opposed to structurally integrated, hence stabile protein) is used daily.

On a ketogenic, low-carb diet, using 2000 calories per day, roughly 1 gram of labile protein is used daily.
During the 8 hours of transition phase, when roughly 500 calories are used, as much as 1 gram of protein could be used.

structurally integrated protein is never used for fuel except in the case of extreme starvation

For folks not totally savvy with metric conversions, there are 28.3 grams in an ounce, meaning that even when on a total fast for a full month, a person isn’t likely to use much more than one ounce of protein.

What does all this mean, really?

It means that although the body builders are correct when they say that protein is required to fuel the body, they are incorrect in their assessment of how much protein is required. They have been lied to by marketeers, and have repeated the lie until it has become as if it were an established fact that we need masses of protein or else the body will lose all it’s muscles for fuel. Completely a myth. In fact, structurally integrated protein is never used for fuel except in the case of extreme starvation. But if body builders wanted to reduce the body’s use of protein as fuel, that goal could easily be achieved by the consumption of more carbohydrates, as taught in Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and in The 80/10/10 Diet.

Additional Resources

Articles:

Retreats:


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Practical Skills To Thrive


Self-Study Materials:


Raw Athlete’s3 Book Combo


The 80/10/10 Family
Membership


80/10/10 Bootcamp
How To Live 80/10/10

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.