how much protein is too much?

[ezandreth]

I've heard from several sources that a sedentary woman (present and correct!) should eat a minimum of 60g of protein a day. My average, per Fitday is as follows:

source grams cals %total
Total: 1724 kcals
Fat: 133 1198 70%
Carbs: 14 47 3%
Protein: 116 465 27%

So I'm often having double that minimum. Now, I've also heard that excess protein gets coverted to fat and stored. So, how much is too much? And if I need to cut down my protein, what the heck to I have instead?
Over 75% of my fat is poly-unsaturated. There was a link to good fats/bad fats and I can't find it any more, could someone post it again please? I can try increasing the fat and carb a bit but I'd rather not because I feel fine on the kind of levels shown above.
Zan

[razzle]

250 grams might be too much for a sedentary woman, 400 for an active one. I bet you couldn't eat that much tho--protein is filling!

You could up your carbs, tho, in the form of health, LC veggies. LC veggies, imo, will not slow weight loss or cause gain--again, you just can't eat that many.

A good explanation of dietary fat can be found here (http://www.stumptuous.com/fat.html)

[Natrushka]

Zan, here's a little reading for you:

Does Protein Get Converted Into Glucose? (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34510)
Too Much Protein? (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=6022&highlight=protein+absence+of)
Why so much protein? (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=35704)

While excess protein can be turned into glucose the procedure is done in the absence of insulin, therefore it cannot be stored as fat. No insulin = no fat storage. The above links will provide you with a lot more information on the topic.

60g of protein is the bare minimum you need to keep things working. This is a minimum requirement; in the case of protein, it is always better to err on the side of MORE rather than less. While you may not need 200g a day, 116g is not excessive.

Here is something else you might find of interest:

To fry or not to fry? - A discussion on cooking fats (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=32896)

All fats are good for you - with the exception of trans fats. How you use them will effect just how good they can be. Cooking with polyunsaturates isnt a good idea; cooking with tropical oils and butter however, is. A good read on this sujbect is "Fats that heal fats that kill" by Udo Erasmus. He has a website as well :) www.fatsthatheal.com

Btw, all these links I posted came from the thread in the Newbies' Questions forum called "Hot Links! (http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=28939)" stuck at the top. There are many more.

Nat :read2:

[plum]

Ezandreth , I wouldnt worry too much. When I read PP, I was so steeped in "old diet habits " that I instantly lowered my protein , hardly concious that I was doing it, and stuck forever, have only lately realised how much better I feel eating more protein.

[nsmith4366]

Nat - quick question.

If too much protein turns into glucose, wouldn't that glucose trigger the production of insulin?

If I ate glucose (a sugar) wouldn't that create an insulin reaction?

Huh - maybe I'm not sure what I'm talking about.
N

[Natrushka]

Originally posted by nsmith4366
Nat - quick question.
If too much protein turns into glucose, wouldn't that glucose trigger the production of insulin?

In a word? No.

Click on the links I posted above - one of them explains gluconeogenesis and how it could not result in fat storage. Glucagon and Insulin cannot both exert an influence in your blood stream, it's one or the other. If glucagon is present making glucose from protein, insulin cannot be.

Nat

[nsmith4366]

Thanks, I'm going to have some more tuna fish now. :)
N

[ezandreth]

-to Razzle and Nat for your quick and informative replies, and to everyone else who posted to this. I did try the search, I had found the stuff by Udo Erasmus, but never thought to try the newbies' section.
This is all very reassuring and I will continue pretty much as I have been, but I will up the carbs a bit. (Have been deliberately keeing them low to see just what it takes to get me to register even a trace on the ketostix - call it bloody-mindedness. The answer is, about ten days on less than 15g of carb a day.)
Might start relying less on frying, and then only doing it in butter. I was also curious as to whether there were any oils one should avoid altogether. I recall a quote from somewhere talking about all those "beautiful golden oils" available nowadays that are bad for you because they have been heat-treated and hydrogenated and wanted to be sure that did not include any of the ones I use.
Incidentally, the other day I found hazlenut oil and macadamia nut oil (in Tesco, for the Brits) and they're both delicious.
Thank you all again.
Zan