All protein sources count

[neverbeenalone]

I wanted do adress this since I have come around discussions about protein sources, but never regarding this specific question: Do all protein sources count for your daily protein intake? I have recently asked this question myself and did some research and came to the conclusion that yes, all sources count.

It's common knowledge among us that not all proteins are created equal (meat is better than broccoli) and that we should always include high quality protein sources with a high biological value. Among these are eggs, whey protein, meats and dairy. Of lesser quality are things like soy (but still good for being non-animal), vegetables like broccoli, spinach, kale and also legumes and nuts. Here's a list.

You'll see that whey protein is off the charts. That's because the quality of whey protein was tested later than the other foods listed and it turned out that it was even better than eggs, which has previously been the best rated protein source, receiving a rating of 100.

I've already said that all sources count and that greatly simpflies our protein-tracking, and also comes with a benefit: we reduce calories from excess proteins. If you only counted animal proteins you'd end up with way more protein than you wanted and also more calories.

Let's say you want 40g of protein with every meal:

100g of chicken: 23g protein

250g of broccoli: 7 g protein

100g of rice: 7g protein

150g if kidney beans: 10g protein

= 47g protein total

That's it. It's easy to reach that protein goal, and also easy to exceed that goal. You have even more than 40 grams without really trying. Now imagine you'd only count "quality" protein sources. You'd only have counted the 23g from the chicken and maybe would've filled the rest with whey. If you do this with every meal, it's easy to see that you'd end up with way more protein that you'd want (and need).

Here's a good video which helped me understand protein sources:

.

 

[frank69]

@neverbeenalone Honestly I know that I'm gonna get hate for this but how do people think vegetarian stay lean and healthy and get all their protein?

OF COURSE all protein count! Or they'd all be lacking protein or be fat from eating far too many calories to get their protein in.

I can't talk about vegan, as I know they have trouble getting certain vitamins, but vegetarians who eat eggs and cheese are perfectly fine because they count all protein source, yes including broccoli and soy peannut butter etc.

 

[lili2707]

@frank69

I can't talk about vegan, as I know they have trouble getting certain vitamins

The only issue is B12, but that's easily supplemented.

 

[lbauman]

@lili2707 Don't even need supplements if you eat fortified foods like nutritional yeast (which is awesome even as a non-vegan, sprinkle it on everything for some protein, b-12 and cheesy flavour)

 

[frank69]

@lbauman It dosn't actually come from the yeast, its mostly added to it. Vitamin B can be made from yeast, b12 not. Nothing against veganism, it can be a good diet but b12 is just not directly present in the diet, always supplemented.

 

[lbauman]

@frank69 yeah that's why I said "fortified foods"
same way milk and orange juice have added vitamin D because most people don't get enough sun

but also to be fair if you're eating food with the supplement added might as well just take the supplement itself

 

[frank69]

@lbauman Oh sorry, english is not my primary language and I thought it meant "strong/heavy food" (can't think of other words) but now I see it means "added to the food" or something along those lines. Have a great day by the way !

 

[lbauman]

@frank69 You too

 

[frank69]

@lili2707 Exactly, it has to be supplemented. I was just saying its not found directly in their diet. Nothing against vegan diet, just stating.

 

[sugarcookies]

@neverbeenalone I have never seen anyone dispute that all protein sources count when tallying up one's daily intake.

In terms of vegetable protein, the smart guys over at Examine.com also say that if you're worried about amino acid profiles for muscle growth, you can just eat more protein overall to compensate for the difference.

 

[sbrodhagen]

@neverbeenalone Guess I'll have to bust out my calculator at every meal

 

[mecajunboy]

@neverbeenalone You’ve done all this research without the base understanding of how MTOR functions. The whole point of consuming protein is to stimulate muscle protein synthesis as many times in the day as we can. Muscle
Protein synthesis is activated by MTOR which is kick started through consuming 2-3 grams of
Leucine, one of the 12 essential amino acids. Leucine is mostly only found in WHOLE protein sources. 2-3 grams of Leucine is found in roughly 30 grams of whole protein. So no, not all protein is made equal and if you are trying to maximise muscle protein synthesis you’d split your intake into 4-5 times throughout the day and have at least 30 grams of whole Protein sources in each meal. So you should aim for at least 120 grams a day from your, read meat, white meat, eggs etc

 

[kagenonikki]

@neverbeenalone The only thing I don’t really count is collagen protein, since it doesn’t contribute to MPS. I still count the calories and the protein grams from it, but I make sure that I hit my protein goal and then add the collagen grams on top of that.

 

[sbrodhagen]

@kagenonikki You could just count it in the same vein as carbs from a calorie and not building muscle perspective.