The Protein Puzzle

What You’ll Discover Inside:

• The Numbers You Can’t Trust – Why the most commonly quoted protein guidelines may be setting your clients up for failure.
• The Invisible Variable Sabotaging Your Plan – What you're likely overlooking when you calculate protein needs—and how to factor it in.
• A Surprising Source of Protein Confusion – How some “clean” diets can backfire without one critical adjustment.
• What Your Plate Might Be Missing – The underappreciated nutrient that determines whether protein helps or harms.
• The Truth Behind the Trends – Why you should question influencer advice—and what functional practitioners need to do instead.

Resources and Links:

• See the Full Transcript here
• Download our FREE  Protein Charts
• Get the Recording from the 90 minute Protein Puzzle Masterclass
• Get the Replay and Recordings from the Wellness Reset Weekend
• Join the Next-Level Health Practitioner Facebook group here for free resources and community support
• Visit INEMethod.com for advanced health practitioner training and tools to elevate your clinical skills and grow your practice by getting life-changing results.
• Check out other podcast episodes here

 

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Transcript

Dr Ritamarie

If one more person tells me that everyone needs at least 100 grams of protein a day, I might just scream. Because here's the truth. That might be right for someone, but not right for everyone. And definitely not right for you ,unless you know your body type, your goals, and your metabolic profile. 

 

Today we're going to bust through the noise, clear the confusion, and give you a grounded personalized way to figure out how much protein you actually need, and your clients actually need, without buying into the latest influencer trend or protein panic. Have you noticed that? 

 

This episode will change how you look at your plate and how you guide your patients and clients to look at theirs.

 

Dr Ritamarie (01:11)

So why is protein confusion so rampant? There's a protein war happening on our social media right now. High protein, carnivore advocates versus the protein “ages you” crowd. 

 

Some people are quoting the RDA numbers like gospel, forgetting that those minimums are there to avoid deficiency, not targets for optimal function. And others are telling you that everybody needs hundreds of grams of protein a day. So what's missing in this conversation?

 

It's context, bio-individuality, and function. So what actually determines a person's protein needs? Well, there's a number of factors. It's not just about muscles. It's about hormones and enzymes and neurotransmitters, immune function, and bodily repair. So it is important that we get enough protein and that we get the right amount. But here's what you need to consider, body weight and composition.

 

Lean mass burns more. It needs more protein. Activity level, sitting all day or lifting weights. Healing and aging. More is needed during healing, during menopause and during aging to prevent sarcopenia, muscle wasting. Metabolic health. If you have high insulin, you may be converting excess protein into glucose. So what's the formula? 

 

I like to start with 0.8 to 1.2 grams per kilogram of body weight. A kilogram is 2.2 pounds. That's a range and some people need higher and maybe a few might need lower. 

 

The lower part of the range is for people who are sedentary and the higher is for people who are active or aging or healing. We need to focus on spreading it throughout the day. 

 

Sometimes 25 to 30 grams per meal is considered perfect for muscle synthesis, but it varies from person to person. And we also have to think about the amino acid leucine, not just the total protein, because leucine triggers muscle building. And there's a threshold for triggering muscle building of leucine. And the recommendation is usually 2.5 grams of leucine per meal.

 

Some people say it's a certain amount per day. Some say it's a certain amount per meal. But it's really looking at the leucine threshold. 

 

What does this all mean to you when you're working with your clients? And how can you hit that on a plant-based diet? 

 

A lot of people want to do a plant-based diet, but they're told over and over again, you can't do that unil you look at these guys who are lifting weights, and they're telling you about their plant-based diet. So, there's so much myth out there. There's so much propaganda out there. I think it's the meat industry trying to get us to eat more meat, but whatever it is, it's totally not true that you can't reach those targets on a plant-based diet. 

 

And I have some charts that I'll put in the show notes in the description down below that you can download, and you can see what I did. I spent a lot of time compiling charts on this. 

 

Lots of people think you need a lot of tofu if you're on a plant-based diet to meet your protein needs. And yes, tofu is a good source of protein if it's organic and non-GMO, and you're not allergic to soy. 

 

But if you are allergic to soy, you can actually buy non-soy protein like fava bean tofu or pumpkin seed tofu. It's actually called pumfu. Or you can make your own from lentils or pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds or other legumes. I've done all of that except the other legumes. The ones I've tried are lentils, pumpkin seeds, and sunflower seeds. And they're quite delicious and easy to make.

 

Dr Ritamarie (04:49)

So Tempeh is another good source that's touted. Again, it's a soy product and it's a fermented soy product, but there are non-soy varieties available made from like split peas or hemp seeds even. But there are lots of other great sources of plant protein. Hemp seeds. Hemp seeds are loaded with them, and I have a chart that you can download that gives you the list, and shows it, and compares it to the things that are considered high protein sources. 

 

Hemp seeds are amazing. Spirulina is amazing. Lentils are amazing. And I love eating lentils and cooking them in a dal or something like that. But you can also take the lentils and soak them overnight and then blend them up. And you can make a bread out of them. It makes a really nice bread. So there's a lot of ways you can get these things. 

 

But you don't need to be eating legumes. I hadn't eaten legumes in probably five or six years. And I just have been experimenting a little bit with lentils now and then again. 

 

But even things like greens, broccoli, and kale, they're all good sources of protein as well as sea vegetables like nori. So there's no shortage. And if you really want to know, eat a balanced plant-based diet with lots of veggies, with some nuts and seeds, and legumes if you want, and then do a calculation on one of the program softwares like Fitday or my favorite is Chronometer.

 

Dr Ritamarie (06:04)

Some plants are considered to be lower in leucine, and we need enough leucine for muscle synthesis. But when you combine various foods, it's really easy to do. 

 

I put together some protein charts, including the plant approaches to getting the recommended amount of leucine. And it's linked in the show notes. I even have more charts inside my Wellness Weekend Reset. So if you're coming to that, or you've come to that, or you want to get the videos to that, we welcome you to do that, because you're going to learn a whole lot about customizing diets there.

 

So what are some of the signs that you're getting too much or too little protein? Well, too little? Fatigue, hair loss, poor muscle tone, slow wound healing. Too much? Well, constipation, blood sugar spikes, because the protein that's not digested as protein or not needed in excess, can convert to glucose, and that causes an increase in insulin, which can cause blood sugar spikes.

 

Well, insulin can cause fat gain, and increase blood pressure, and the increase in the blood sugar happens, and that triggers also, an increase in insulin.

 

So it also can contribute to kidney stress in susceptible people, especially if paired with low fiber. So this is why we don't guess, we test, we track, we personalize. You can't just say everybody needs 100 grams of protein every day. 

 

Protein needs aren't determined by a meme, or a macro, or some cute little girl on Facebook or Instagram jumping around and telling you to eat more steak. It's confirmed by you, by your clients and patients, by the person, the individual, the metabolism, the lifestyle, the goals, whether they have osteoporosis or osteopenia, whether they have kidney disease, all of these things determine how much protein a person really needs, and there's a wide range. 

 

That's why I call this solving the protein puzzle, because the pieces only get together, and come together, and form the whole, when you understand the big picture, when you understand what influences protein needs, and where to get it. 

 

So if you want to go deeper, download the protein comparison charts. I have them in the show notes and on the description. And access the Wellness Reset Weekend materials for your full personalized plan. If that is over, if it's already passed, we'll be making videos available for that. 

 

You can also watch the replay of a 90 minute protein puzzle training that I did recently where we went into a lot more depth on the science and all that. And I have some good charts that will help you to determine and put in your numbers, and look at some markers, and see how much protein you might really need. 

 

And it's up to experimentation, right? You experiment, you play, you look at numbers, you look at labs, and you look at how your body is responding.

 

So functional practitioners are the future of healthcare. Those of us putting the care back into healthcare and replacing the outdated focus on symptom suppression and disease management. 

 

I've dedicated my life to empowering people to take back control of their health, to supporting health practitioners in getting to the root cause of chronic illnesses, and to helping people to optimize and personalize their diets.

If you're ready to take your practice to the next level, I invite you to visit our website at inemethod.com. We have lots of resources there. And if you want to learn more about protein, be sure to visit the show notes for important links. Together, let's continue the movement to reinvent healthcare. And until next time, shine on.