What High Protein Meals and Snacks Can Do For Your Health

Learn How to Optimize Protein Intake and Benefit Health, Weight, and Well-Being

• The 30 g Rule|
• 3 Protein Benefits|
• Personalized Protein|
• Protein Quality|
• Protein Safety|
• High Protein for Health|

Protein is a crucial macronutrient that often doesn’t get the attention it deserves. While low carb and low fat dominate diet discussions, protein plays a vital role in many bodily functions beyond just muscle building. 

Diets high in protein may promote healthy aging, help us lose weight, and improve metabolic health. 

In this practical guide to benefiting from protein, I’ll share high-protein meal ideas and ways to determine optimal protein intake. We’ll also look at health benefits from upping protein intake and compare animal-based versus plant-based protein sources.

Protein: The 30 g Rule of Thumb

Let’s start simple—eating three meals a day with 30 grams of protein in each meal is a great goal. Though everyone’s needs will vary depending on age, weight, and lifestyle, following this simple rule during meal prep is a useful step toward getting enough protein.

Here’s a week’s worth of easy recipe suggestions (breakfasts, lunches, and dinners) with at least 30 grams of protein per meal.

And for those who like to create their own high-protein recipes and snacks, the next table shows how much protein is in typical portions of common healthy foods. We’ve also included carbohydrates, calories, and fat content to assist with nutritionally informed choices [1].

All figures are rounded to the nearest whole number.

3 Evidence-Based Protein Benefits

Protein offers a range of health advantages. Let’s explore the top three benefits of increasing protein intake.

1. Healthier Aging

Over time, our bodies become less efficient at digesting and using protein [2]. Adding extra protein into the diet can have these anti–aging benefits: 

• Better strength and performance: Eating more protein than the Recommended Dietary Allowance—0.8 grams per kilogram (which is 2.2 lbs) of body weight per day—has been linked to better physical performance and greater muscle strength in older adults [3]. 
• Better bone health: Higher daily protein intake (from both plants and animals) has been associated with an 11% reduction in the risk of hip fractures compared to lower protein intake [4].
• Better joint function and recovery: Taking a collagen protein supplement may improve joint function, reduce joint pain, and enhance body composition, strength, and muscle recovery. When taken about an hour before exercise, this may be particularly effective in elderly men with sarcopenia [5].

To learn more about the crucial role protein plays in maintaining muscle mass and good health as we age, I strongly (no pun intended) recommend listening to my podcast interview with muscle-centric medicine expert Dr. Gabrielle Lyon.

2. Better Metabolic Health and Weight Management

High-protein diets can help reduce risk factors for metabolic diseases, such as Type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease. They also boost healthy weight loss and fat loss. 

For example, check out the results of the following meta-analyses. Compared with a low-protein diet (when protein is 10–20% of daily calories), these studies saw many benefits of higher protein diets (when protein makes up 20–45% of calories):

• High-protein diets led to small improvements in weight loss, fat loss, blood pressure, total cholesterol, triglycerides, and insulin levels [6].
• Eating a high-protein diet for a long time led to small improvements in weight and fat loss, triglycerides, and insulin levels. People lost more fat when they increased their protein intake by at least 5% [7].
• People who were overweight lost an average of 3.5 more pounds on a higher protein diet. Those who were pre-diabetic or not genetically prone to obesity saw the biggest benefits [8]. 
• High-protein diets significantly improved insulin sensitivity and cholesterol levels. They didn’t change blood sugar or blood pressure [9].
• High-protein meal replacements led to significantly more weight loss, fat loss, and reductions in body mass index (BMI) [10].

In addition, a randomized controlled trial compared a high-protein diet (30% protein) to a Mediterranean diet (20% protein) in 16 women with obesity and insulin resistance. The high-protein diet was more effective than the Mediterranean diet at improving their insulin levels, insulin resistance, and blood sugar levels [11]

3. Better Muscle Mass

Protein is the main component of muscles, so this nutrient is vital for maintaining a lean body composition and strong muscles, especially in athletes.

For example, one meta-analysis examined how various doses of protein relate to changes in muscle mass. Participants increased their muscle mass when they gradually increased their daily protein intake from 0.5 to 3.5 grams per kilogram (which is 2.2 lbs) of body weight per day over several months. This effect tapered off when they ate more than 1.3 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, but strength training helped protect their muscle gains [12].

Tip: Taking protein supplements (like whey or pea protein powder) with meals rather than between meals may make your muscle gains last, help you control your weight, and reduce fat [13].

Protein May Also Help Gut Health 

A higher protein intake might be linked with better gut health. A 2013 clinical trial followed the progress of 49 men and women who were overweight and eating a low-calorie, high-protein weight-loss diet for six weeks [14]. The men ate 1,500 calories per day while the women ate 1,200 per day. Protein made up 35% of those calories, 44% came from low-glycemic carbs and soluble fibers, and 25% came from healthy fats. 

Those who began the diet with less healthy gut bacteria had their gut microbiota become more diverse and healthier. This was good news for them because people with a more varied gut microbiome also responded better to the diet, with more fat loss and lower inflammation. 

We can’t pinpoint exactly which part of the diet was responsible for the improvements in gut microbes. Still, this research suggests that diets that are generally higher in protein, contain healthy fats, and are lower in refined carbs and sugars have a beneficial effect on the microbiome.

Personalizing Protein Needs

Given all the benefits that protein brings, the standard protein recommendation of 0.8 grams per kilogram (which is 2.2 lbs) of body weight per day is now considered insufficient for overall good health [15].

In fact, the International Protein Board (IPB) and other researchers now recommend that we all eat more than 1 gram of protein per kg of body weight per day for strong bones and muscle mass [15, 16]. For those who engage in intense exercise or who are older, the recommendations are even higher.

Below are the IPB’s guidelines from current, science-based information. The chart gives recommendations for various health and bodyweight goals to help you figure out your personal protein needs [15]:

Protein Quality: Is Plant or Animal Protein Better?

There is no “good or bad” when we talk about protein, but we must address the fact that not all protein sources are equal in amino acid content, the biggest determinant of protein quality.

In the body, all dietary proteins (whether from an animal or plant) are digested and broken down into their specific amino acids. The body then uses these protein building blocks to create new proteins that help keep it healthy [17]. 

Although there are hundreds of amino acids in nature, the human body uses only 20 of them. Nine of these are essential, which means we must get them from food. The others are either non-essential (the body can make them) or conditionally essential (we need them from food under certain conditions) [17]. 

The following table breaks down the three types of amino acids the body uses.

Animal proteins, like beef or eggs or dairy, contain all the essential amino acids in good quantities, so they’re typically a great option for meeting our protein needs efficiently. Whey protein powder is a popular choice for supplemental protein because it has the highest essential amino acid content of all plant and animal proteins [18]. 

On the other hand, most plant-based proteins are low in at least one essential amino acid, so we need to consume more of them to get all the protein building blocks the body needs. For example, it takes 38 grams of pea protein to get the same amount of leucine as in just 25 grams of whey protein [18]. 

However, that doesn’t mean a plant-based diet is inferior—it just means we have to eat several different plant protein sources over the day so that amino acid weaknesses in one are ironed out by higher levels in another.

I had a great podcast discussion about optimizing protein intake with Dr. Stephan van Vliet. You may want to listen to it to learn more about the differences between plant and animal proteins.

Suffice it to say, when mixing plant proteins, the 30-grams-per-meal rule is still valid. 

While animal-based foods are an easier and more effective way to get high-quality protein, a varied plant-based meal plan can still hit all the recommended protein intake figures in this article.

Protein Safety

In your quest to eat more protein, make sure you don’t go overboard. One review that looked at protein safety found that a long-term protein intake of 2 grams per kilogram (which is 2.2 lbs) of bodyweight per day is safe for healthy adults. The tolerable upper limit of protein intake is around 3.5 g per kg per day for people who are well-adapted to eating that much protein [16]. However, it’s probably best to avoid long-term protein intakes of greater than 2.2 g per kg per day to bypass potential complications. 

While high-protein diets haven’t been found to negatively impact kidney function in healthy people [19, 20], they can worsen kidney function for people with chronic kidney disease [21]. It’s best to talk with your doctor before increasing your protein intake if you have kidney disease.

High-Protein Meals Can Improve Your Health

Increasing protein intake by eating high-protein meals that contain at least 30 grams of protein may help us age better, promote healthy weight and fat loss, increase muscle mass, and improve metabolic health.

If you’re interested in more personalized dietary help, contact us at the Ruscio Institute for Functional Medicine.

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