Quote:
Originally Posted by Darryl Shaw
I'm amazed that you're all so rich you can afford to eat twice the amount of protein you need when all I can afford is the 1.4 - 1.8g per kilogram per day that experts say is required.
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It's not terribly hard.
Okay, maybe it's hard if you only lean, grass-fed beef and omega-3 eggs and so on. But none of that stuff is available to me, so I get my food at the supermarket and I can reach 1.5g per pound a day.
I'm about 188 right now, so I need roughly 280g of protein to get the 1.5g I aim for each day. Mostly I get it with:
- chicken breasts. Not much. Costs about $0.60 per 100g here.
- raw salmon, probably farm-raised, label doesn't say. Costs about $1 to $3 per 100g, averages around $1.50 and I buy lots and freeze it.
- canned tuna. $1 per 185g can.
- canned sardines. $1.5 per 100g can.
- steak. At the cheapest it's $2.50 per 100g (so I don't eat this often)
- assorted raw fish and cooked squid. Costs about $1 per 100g on sale, $2 per 100g normally.
- eggs. 10 medium eggs, locally raised brown, are $2.
...and whey and whey/casein protein mixes. $100 per 3kg for whey, $60 per 2kg for whey/casein for a protein-only no-flavoring/sugar powder.
I save money on fish oil (which is expensive here) by eating lots and lots of fish (which isn't).
It's not hard to eat all of that, especially when I also get some proteins from my veggies - spinach, romaine lettuce, etc. Sometimes I have trouble getting to the minimum, but not often. Getting to 2.0g a pound is more expensive, because the markets here are smaller, so I often can only get a limited amount of what I want, so it's not so simple as just getting more. But the day after my heavy days I push my protein up, and I'll go with multiple sources - a spinach salad with grilled chicken on, plus some broccoli and salmon sashimi - and try to space it out.
So that's how I do it. It helps that I like to eat, I like to eat a lot, and while I'm a penny-pincher I try not to cheap out on what goes into my body. Not saying you are, just that I make getting good protein in good quantities a priority, and since that matches my food tastes anyway...it's just not that hard for me.
And I know that I spend under $15/day for the food I eat. That's less than my per-day rent before utilities.
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But, for what it's worth, I've got pro fighter buddies who eat much less protein than 1g per pound a day. They eat high-carb meals and do just fine in terms of muscle and fitness. I don't think you need it. It does seem like high protein diets help, but where the point of dimishing returns is I don't know. I personally eat low carb most days, I'm very active, and the calories I need have to come from somewhere...and I'd rather have them come from eating some more sashimi or chicken or a steak than from drinking olive oil, thanks anyway.
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