Okay, you may be wondering what that strange word is: protein-haolic. In fact, it’s a word that recalls the title of a recently released book. Proteinhaolic, written by Dr. Garth Davis, surgeon expert in bariatric surgery, now I believe vegan, or vegetarian, is a book that explains why we are becoming obsessed with proteins and how this obsession of ours can seriously undermine our health. I don’t really want to give you a review of the book, because Davis’s conclusions are the same as those of The Starch Solution: increase carbohydrates up to 80 percent of our diet, restrict protein to just 10 percent in a macronutrient breakdown. typical of some vegan diets may be good advice for some, but restricting our diet is never the solution to the problem, at least in my experience.

Going from saying that too many proteins are bad to establishing that only ten percent protein allows us to live in health risks being a logically fallacious leap. But for those interested, the book, for now in English, is here. 

But the question of how much protein to eat remains. According to Davis, we are sailing on sight in a sea of ​​hummus, Greek yogurt has gotten frighteningly popular and is no longer the pale memory of our sleeping bag holidays in Korfu, for one thing; Protein supplements have also become of interest to non-sports people, and high-protein diets complete with meal replacements have condemned many people to eternal weight fluctuation, also known as the yo-yo effect. You lose three pounds, then go back to eating carbohydrates and strangely get them back. And instead of thinking that the diet was wrong, you think that carbohydrates are bad for you.

So how much protein to take? Let’s try to understand it starting from the official data. According to the FAO and the WHO, the minimum daily requirement is 0.75 / 0.83 grams of protein per kilo of body weight. The problem is that not all proteins are born equal, and not all are absorbed by the body in the same way. So, if we limited ourselves to eating according to the FAO limit, there would be the risk of having a low-protein and deficient diet. For this reason, it is generalized that it is necessary to eat at least one gram of protein per pound of body fat. 
So, I who weigh about fifty kilos will have to take at least 50 grams of protein. Remembering that I not only take them from meat, fish, eggs or legumes, but that even the sources of complex carbohydrates contain proteins, even if in minimal part, as well as nuts and seeds, while in vegetables the protein intake is minimal and negligible . However, it is important to know that proteins have a biological value:the higher this value, the more my body will take them correctly and they will be available. To make this happen, it is important to make sure that you have a high biological value protein quota every day, either in one important meal plus a few snacks (for example lunch or dinner plus a yogurt in the middle of the day) or to a lesser extent but at every meal. The second solution is best for anyone who wants to lose weight. We get 15 percent protein in our diet.

The point is: can you get one gram of protein per pound of body weight? The answer in my opinion is no. The reason so many people worry about the protein they eat is that we generally eat too many carbohydrates and too little protein. If you want to understand if this is indeed the case, make a diagram of your daily diet, and calculate the macronutrients. It is very likely that you will not even get to the recommendation set by the FAO. It is very likely that, if you have my weight, you will not get more than 35 grams of protein per day. And if we look at the quality of these proteins, they may not all be of high biological value.
So, are we really protein obsessed? Probably not.

What if we play sports? In that case, it is unlikely that your requirement should exceed one and a half grams of protein per body weight, but the  International Society of Sport Nutrition goes so far as to recommend 1.4 grams per pound of body weight to 2 grams, but you also have to look at the type. of activity. Athletes involved in strength / endurance training can get up to 2 grams of protein per pound, those who do aerobic and cardio (endurance training) work can stick to one and a half grams per pound.