A few days ago, the fitness- and bodybuilding wannabe writer Chris Shugart of T-Nation posted an article on what he deemed the “world’s easiest diet strategy.” Well, that’s quite a statement from someone I’ve had to correct hundreds of times while doing my article reviews.
Let’s see what he has come up with, and I’ll add my thoughts as an actual coach with 25+ years of real-world experience with hundreds of competing athletes at the highest level as well as hundreds of regular gym goers and severely overweight people who could hardly spell “protein,“ much less “exercise.”
“Protein is the enemy of love handles, belly fat, and even full-blown obesity. It’s the jet fuel for building muscle, the driver of healthy metabolisms, and the nemesis of aging poorly. Protein, in short, makes you feel good and look better naked.”
While protein is important, you should actually be focusing on all essential nutrients, be it vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and especially saturated fat and cholesterol. And you should also keep toxicity in mind, as toxic accumulation will stress the body, cause tissue damage, and interfere with a lot of its processes.
“Call it protein-based or protein-first eating. Better yet, call it metabolic eating because a high-protein plan speeds up and lays the foundation for long-term positive outcomes.”
No, it does no such thing. All you need is to cover your protein needs. You can eat all the extra protein you want, but if you have other nutrient deficiencies, you will not get the results you should be getting, and even worse, neglecting other essential nutrients will do great harm to your body and sooner or later you will crash and burn. And remember, there are no bioavailable nutrients in plants, only toxins. You can only get essential and bioavailable nutrients from animal foods!
“It’s not really a diet; it’s a practice that becomes an ingrained habit. It’s something you don’t have to think about anymore, like brushing your teeth. A protein-centric diet trends your body in the right direction: less fat, more muscle, more strength. And science backs it all up.”
Extra protein will only help if combined with any kind of short and intense exercise, providing your nutritional status is good, as in you are getting enough animal-based foods to prevent any nutrient deficiencies.
Also, that extra protein should mainly come from real bioavailable sources which chemical structures are close to our own cell structure and are rich in key amino acids, such as red meat and eggs. And as a bonus, these sources also provide all other nutrients that we need, as in vitamins, minerals, and animal fats.
The Power of Protein
“I’ve written thousands of words on protein science over the years, but let’s review some of the most fascinating bits.”
Yes, we know. I’ve probably reviewed more than 10 of your articles on protein, and I had to correct you several times in each and one of them — as you focus on the completely wrong things, and you obviously subscribe to bro-science and the backwards lying medical science and have no clue about the real sciences of biology, physiology or biochemistry.
“In multiple studies, when two groups of people eat the same number of calories to lose weight, the group that consumes more protein as part of their calorie allotment loses more body fat and retains more muscle. While both groups lose weight, the protein-centric eaters finish their diets with better body composition and healthier metabolisms.”
Yes, if the diet is the same for two groups except for the protein, the group with a higher protein intake will probably do better when it comes to fat loss and body composition, especially if the extra protein comes from actual real nutritious sources such as meat, eggs, and fish — as they will actually get more real bioavailable nutrients, as in vitamins, minerals, and animal fats. It’s not the protein in itself that does all the “magic.” The “magic” comes from getting actual nutrients that these starving bodies really need.
So with that said, simply pushing for more protein is dangerous, as it does not reflect the importance of all essential nutrients. Also, many will simply use a protein powder, which only contains protein and some traces of minerals. That is a far cry from the complete and extreme nutrient density of meat, organ meats and eggs, and simply using a protein powder could lead to nutrient deficiencies if the rest of the diet is bad, as in containing too much plant-based and/or processed foods and not enough animal foods.
“And this is huge: protein is the most satiating macronutrient – it keeps you full, especially if you’re getting the right type. Why do people fail diets? Because they’re hungry! Protein is the hunger killer, making dietary compliance much easier. As a bonus, protein also has a high TEF or thermic effect – your body expends more calories processing it than fats or carbs.”
No, Shugart. You stupid little twat. I’ve covered this many times, even when correcting you in the past. Protein will only temporarily block hunger. It’s a band-aid. And by using it, you neglect to actually deal with the real problem, which can cause you a lot of harm down the road.
Again, hunger and cravings are signals from the body that you need to eat because you are nutrient deficient, as in malnourished! Your diet is lacking in essential nutrients! And considering that most people today have been deceived to consume toxic and nutritionally deprived vegetables and other retarded plant-based foods while chewing down fake artificial supplements, they all have various degrees of nutrient deficiencies. And going on a diet, as in reducing your food intake, will accelerate the depletion of nutrients, really manifesting these nutrient deficiencies, hence the signals from the body to get you to eat more to remedy the problem. So, simply taking some protein to curb these signals are both stupid and dangerous.
This is why we who are fully carnivore, or follow an high animal-based diet, never get hungry and never get cravings, not even if we go on a 7, 9, or 11-day fast totally without food — because our nutritional stores are full, we are fully nourished and we can withstand starvation and even being without food for long periods of time.
However, someone coming from a lacking diet and trying to do a fast will get hungry within the first or second day.
“The list of benefits goes on and on, so just remember this: protein is the master autoregulation agent. Eat enough of it and just about everything else falls into place, from calorie management and craving control to making better food choices.”
No, it’s not. Among the macronutrients, once you cover your protein needs, saturated fats and cholesterol are way more important, as these are your energy sources and the building blocks for all cells and hormones! And hormones are key if you want to change your body’s appearance. Getting enough cholesterol is the most important thing once you have covered your protein needs, which is about 1,6 to 1,8 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body weight.
So, if you’re a flabby 100 kg dude with an ideal body weight of 70 kg that you want to reach, as in somewhat visual abs and a body fat percentage of 12%, your lean body mass would be around 62 kg. So, your minimum protein need is about 100 (62×1,6) to 112 (62×1,8) grams of protein. That’s less than 500 grams of red meat a day. Actually, you could cover that with 250 grams of meat and 7 eggs a day. That’s nothing and extremely easy to do. However, I do recommend around 2,2 grams of protein per kilogram of lean body weight if you are very active and/or if you lift weights. So, that’s 136 grams of protein a day for that dude with about 62 kg of lean body mass. And that is covered by 600 grams of red meat, or 400 grams of meat and 6 eggs.
The Metabolic Eating Plan (LOL!)
“Eat roughly a gram of protein per pound of body weight from whole-food sources and protein powder. (Don’t sweat it if you’re 10-15 grams off in either direction.) That’s a one-sentence diet that works just about every time. If you’re very overweight, choose a realistic, healthy goal weight and eat that many grams of protein per day. Don’t worry about counting calories and other macros; just keep a casual eye on protein grams.”
Well, a gram of protein per pound of body weight is the same as 2,2 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, as in what I just recommended above for active people. However, I go by lean body weight, as fat tissue isn’t a metabolic tissue and has no requirement for protein. At least, that is how we do it within physiology, biology, and as bodybuilding/body transformation coaches. You know, Shugart, it’s quite a big difference for a 250-pound man with 30% body fat who wants to get to 220 pounds to try and consume 220 grams of protein a day when he actually only needs 175 grams a day.
However, there’s no need for a protein powder unless you’re a sissy-eater. And natural bodybuilders will never get that big, as in achieving so much lean body mass that eating becomes difficult and they need a powder to cover their needs. Only enhanced lifters, as in those using anabolic steroids might benefit from some additional protein powders, but that is mainly because their protein synthesis is through the roof 24/7, and they need at least 4 to 5 grams of protein per kilogram of bodyweight to take advantage of the drugs and build unnatural amounts of muscle mass (that is required to move into the pro-ranks.) In other words, they need to double their protein intake, at least. And that can be troublesome if relying only on whole foods, especially if they’re stupid and are consuming carbohydrates and fiber that blow up their stomachs and destroy their intestines causing a chronic healing/inflammation response, giving them that pregnant look (which can get even worse by the use of insulin and GH.)
Still, most of the protein should always come from red meat, followed by eggs, as these are the real superfoods, especially for body composition and building muscle mass. Nothing beats fatty beef for building or maintaining muscle mass.
“Use MD Protein to make it all easier. It contains only the most expensive and effective forms of thermogenic micellar casein and whey isolate. It contains no added fillers, and the flavor beats anything on the market. Along with regular foods, consume 4 scoops of MD per day. That’s 440 calories and 88 grams of protein.”
88 grams of protein from a powder? That’s more than half of what most people will need in a day. That’s crazy, even for people training hard at the gym. And keep in mind that most protein powders only deliver about 76 to 82 grams of protein per 100 grams and those with whey- and/or casein also come with some natural milk sugars. The more isolated, more expensive powders, might deliver 86 to 92 grams of protein per 100 grams, which is extremely pure as there will always be a few grams of moisture.
Now the MD-crap that Shugart recommends, which allegedly is made from whey isolate (which should be 84 to 90 % pure,) and a filtered milk protein containing “micellar casein” only yields 22 grams of protein per 30 gram serving and a whopping 4 grams of carbs, which comes to a laughable protein content of only 73%! That is only 72,6 grams of protein and a staggering 13,2 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams! Not to mention all the useless and toxic fillers such as flavorings, sunflower (linoleic) oil (!), dextrin (!), soy lecithin, cellulose gum (!), and sucralose. That is utter crap. You should be ashamed for selling something as impure and useless as that pile of dogshit!
“Whether you’re using MD Protein or regular protein foods, consume 30-44 grams of protein for breakfast. Studies show that a high-protein breakfast helps control your appetite for the rest of the day and reduces nighttime overeating.”
Do not use MD-crap for God’s sake. The message should be that you should always have a “breakfast,” as in getting some meat and perhaps some eggs and butter. Considering that you should always go to sleep on an empty stomach and in a fasted state, as in having your last meal 3 to 6 hours before bedtime, you need to get your first meal in as soon as possible after waking up. And for regular people, 2 meals a day might suffice, while those wanting to gain weight and build muscle might need 3 to 4 meals a day.
And as for a “high-protein” breakfast helping control appetite for the rest of the day, it’s not as much the protein but the other nutrients that are only available in protein rich foods such as meat and eggs, as well as the life-essential saturated fats and cholesterol. Using a protein powder for this will not work, it will only give a few hours of feeling satiated — and that is why the sneaky and lying Shugart recommends an extreme 4 separate servings of this protein powder a day(!).
“What about the rest of your diet? You’ll naturally reduce hunger with the supplemental protein intake, but be sure to “fill in” however many grams of protein remain with chicken, eggs, beef, turkey, fish, etc. Choose smart carb sources like rice, potatoes, and oats, and throw in whatever vegetables or berries you prefer. Stick to healthy fat sources like avocado, fish oil, raw nuts, and olive oil.”
Chicken is one of the worst foods from the animal kingdom. Pretty low in nutrients. Only the drumsticks with the skin on are somewhat good. Turkey is even worse. But beef and eggs are superfoods.
And a “smart carb source?” What the f**k is that? All carbohydrates turn into extremely toxic glucose in our bodies, saturating the blood and damaging soft tissues while the body desperately tries to decrease the levels by pumping out insulin. It does not matter if it’s deemed “fast” or “slow.” I covered this hundreds of times.
We humans are obligate carnivores, we produce our own glucose through gluconeogenesis in the exact amounts that we need for any possible scenario. Adding in extra glucose from external sources such as carbohydrates are extremely detrimental to our health and tissues.
However, the imbecile does not stop there with his damaging and retarded recommendations, he actually refers to the extremely toxic unsaturated fats from plant-based sources as “healthy.” Seriously Shugart, how stupid are you?
Humans have zero need of unsaturated fats from plants — because they differ in the configuration of the double bonds from unsaturated fats stored in our and other animals tissues. Therefore, they are not compatible and need to be converted, which causes a lot of oxidation damage. However, what is even worse is that plant-based fatty acids oxidize the moment they are exposed to light and/or oxygen and your body cannot recognize them. We only need saturated fats and the tiny amount of unsaturated fats found in animal food. This has been established in biology and physiology for over a hundred years.
As Shugart’s awful article and even worse advice came to an end at that closure, let’s conclude that you should not follow any of this extreme nonsense. Instead, let me provide you with the best and healthiest approach to fat loss.
How to actually lose body fat efficiently while improving your health!
There is nothing better than fasting to protect your muscle mass and to simultaneously lose body fat, as fat is exclusively used as fuel when you fully abstain from eating. And this is crucial, you may only drink pure water or simply dry fast. Nothing else that can interfere with digestion and slow down fat mobilization or interfere with the protective hormones that are released in a fully fasted state.
So, to continue, your “diet” should be fully carnivore or at least an animal based ketogenic diet, as in mostly animal foods and absolutely no carbs. You should eat as you normally do with these foods five days a week. It does not matter if you go a bit above your “maintenance,” as the goal is to nourish the body. Focus on meat from ruminants, such as beef or lamb. And, preferably, get some organ meats every week.
Then, pick two separate days when you do a full day of fasting, preferably starting in the afternoon the day before the day of fasting, so you get about 36 hours of fasting twice a week.
This will use up more body fat as fuel than any other regular diet, and by eating normally five days a week, especially focusing on nutrient dense foods, you will be fully nourished and your body will work and function at its highest level.
And, as a bonus, the days of fasting will accelerate detoxification and any healing- and repair processes taking place in your body, including autophagy, the breakdown of useless and damaged cells, actually making you healthier and reducing your biological age while comfortably losing body fat! It’s the best of all worlds when taking health and longevity into consideration, put into one simple strategy.
You can read more about it in my articles “Fat Loss Made Simple – Forget About Calories and Cardio,” and “Starting a Fat Loss Plan is Not Really That Complicated.”
If you need more help or a detailed plan tailored just for you, please visit my coaching pages and check my services.
If you need help with any kind of health problems or transitioning from your current way of eating to our natural species-appropriate, species-specific way of eating, I’m available for both coaching and consultation.
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