Thanks for the informative post. I agree with you about diet sodas and other artificially-sweetened beverages. The only time I recommend diet soda is when a someone drinks a lot of soda throughout the day. If they can’t go “cold turkey” and cut out all the soda at once, I allow a few cans of diet soda throughout the day. This is only a temporary step until they can fully stop drinking any type of soda.

I will have to disagree with you about the protein intake. First let me just mention that these articles are aimed at those who are into strength training. So the protein intake should be higher than the RDA amount.

Second, I have consumed various amounts of protein on various diets. Everything from the RDA to 2g/lb body weight. I found that anything over 1g/lb body weight is not needed. But I did notice that my muscle size and strength increases peaked at 1g/lb body weight - anything more was just a waste. That’s why I recommend it.

For more information about protein intake check out Dr. John Berardi’s article:
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/proprejudice.htm

Also, see JB’s article on protein and kidney function:
http://www.johnberardi.com/articles/nutrition/kidney.htm

Thanks again, Ryan, for taking the time to post.

There are a few points that I just wanted to add…

First, with the part about non-calorie beverages - I think it’s important to exclude diet sodas or other artificially-sweetened beverages. There are studies showing that you’re more likely to gain weight by drinking such beverages. The reason this happens is because your body will end up separating “sweet” from “nutritious”. In other words, when drinking an artificially sweetened drink, such as a diet soda, you’re taking in sweet ingredients without also getting any nutrients. Although it helps you feel full for the time being, your appetite increases when you actually do eat a meal. This is your body telling you that you need nutrients - basically, diet sodas trick your body into thinking it’s getting something useful when it’s not.

The other thing is that I respectfully disagree with the protein intake - 1g per lb of body weight is way, way too much. This is still far too much even if you’re a bodybuilder. For a less-active individual, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 0.8 g protein/kg of body weight. To make it easy, multiply your body weight (in lbs) by 0.364. So, if you’re 160 lbs, as in your example, you would only actually need ~59g of protein per day.

On the other hand, if you’re a weight lifter or any sort of athlete, you can increase this number slightly! Instead of the 0.8g/kg body weight, increase it to between 1.2 and 1.8 g protein per kg body weight (if your 160 lbs, that’s between 87.3 and 130.9g of protein per day). The upper number is for the serious weight lifter while the lower is more for an endurance athlete like a runner or soccer player.

If you take in more protein than you need, as you promote in your article, all the extra protein is either excreted in the urine or stored as fat (proteins are more easily converted to fat than metabolized for energy). Furthermore, taking in more protein than you need doesn’t do anything for muscle development. Even after you finish a workout! Taking too much is detrimental (it’ll slow your progress in the weight room) while taking too little will cause muscle wasting! There’s a balance that should be achieved.

Furthermore, chronically (or over a long period of time) taking in too much protein can have detrimental effects on the kidneys later in life. There’s no actual “proof” of this as of yet since we haven’t been on these high protein/low carb diets for long enough to follow the long-term results. But, studies to indicate a decline in kidney function and the development of kidney stones and dehydration.

A lot of this probably wasn’t what many people want to hear, but it’s just the scientific truth. I’m a medical student that’s taken 4 years of chemistry courses along with a few years of medical biochemistry, so I’ve studied this stuff for long time. I just really hate to see people following the high protein models, since it’s obvious (to me at least) that it doesn’t really help at all. The key, as you said, is to follow a balanced diet and get some exercises!! This is simply the bottom line.

I set up the link above to take you to a page that I wrote all about the macronutrients - on the right side of the table you’ll see some links to different protein topics…check them out if you want some more info!

Great post!!

Thanks for the comment. I agree, health is important, but it needs to be balanced with some enjoyment.