For quite some time now there has been this belief in the fitness industry that the body can only absorb a certain amount of protein per meal and the rest will be excreted or stored as fat. Now that I have previously debunked that meal frequency does not have an effect on body composition, you wont need to dose our protein 6x/day.
Take for example one individual who eats 30g of protein 6x/day= 180 g of protein.
Now another individual eats 4 burgers, a cup of milk with 3 scoops of protein.
If the body could only absorb 30g of protein/meal the second individual would experience signs of protein deficiency: Loss of lean body mass, fatigue, weakness. That doesn’t seem right does it?
Nowadays we have the convenience of eating 6 meals/day, and going to the grocery store whenever we run out of food. However, for the majority of human existence, food would be generally eaten towards the end of the day, (if at all) following a hunt.
If our body had this magic limit to protein absorption humans would not have survived as a species when food was not easily available.
Its not particularly easy to down a 16oz steak and chase it down with protein so for this sake it is fair to split up protein throughout the day but don’t become obsessed with the nutritional dogma that you have a magic number to hit every meal.
Galen is a trainer at Phenomenal Fitness. You can contact him at Galen@phenomenalfitness.com or visit his website at www.galenfit.com
