The Nick Bare Podcast - 165: More Than Muscle: The Protein Conversation

Episode Date: March 16, 2026

Protein isn’t just about building muscle. In this episode, I break down why protein plays a critical role in performance, recovery, body composition, and long-term health. It helps repair tissue, support hormones and enzymes, strengthen your immune system, and even protect bone health.At the end of the day, if you want to perform better, recover stronger, and build a body that lasts, you have to start by getting the fundamentals right.CHAPTERS:00:00 Welcome02:40 Key Protein Takeaways06:16 Protein Beyond Muscle10:53 What Protein Is13:49 No Protein Storage16:01 Digestion and Excretion22:25 Thermic Effect25:54 Satiety and Body Composition31:03 Common Protein Myths36:46 Whey Protein Basics50:40 Daily Protein Targets57:40 Low Protein and Vegan Risks01:02:34 Final RecapORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210FOLLOW:Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutritionIG: ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠YT: ⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitnessThis podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN)

Well, guys, we've done it. You've been asking for years. And over these last couple months, we have been working on the product you've been asking for, which is a grass-fed whey protein isolate, offered in two delicious flavors, fudge chocolate and vanilla, which goes live today, March 16th, 2020, 2026, 10 a.m. Central Standard Time. at BPNSups.com. All right, ladies and gentlemen,

welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today we're talking protein. Everything about protein. And the working title of this episode is More Than Muscle, The Protein Conversation. Now, I'm a big fan, advocate, consumer, producer, all things of protein.

Protein has been foundational for much of my life. For at least the last 18, almost 20 years now. But I think a lot of people get protein wrong and they think that it is

just a muscle building supplement or macronutrient, but it is much greater. It is much more important. It is much more important. It is much, larger than that. And that is my hopes in this protein conversation today. Now, in preparation for the podcast that I record, I do a lot of prep work. I do a lot of research. I'll listen to

audiobooks. I'll read research papers. I'll listen to podcast. Read books, take notes, all of the things because I want to come into these episodes prepared to share accurate information, but also in a way that is easy to understand, consumable, and interesting. And I'll be honest, as I listen to a bunch of different podcast episodes and listen to some sections of audiobooks from very educated individuals, Very smart. They know their stuff. They've conducted research studies on their own.

I found that a lot of the information about protein out there was almost just too much. It was overcomplicated, too much in certain parts of the science. And it lost me. And I just became uninterested because it wasn't applicable to me. And hopefully, this podcast conversation discussion around protein is applicable to you. Now, there's some key takeaways. We'll just go really high level. One, protein is really important.

I hope if you don't know that right now, by the end of this episode and this conversation, you realize protein is really important. and we should try to get in a lot of protein, probably more protein than we are consuming on a regular basis right now on a daily basis. So number one, protein's important. Protein is, it's really, I don't know how to drive that home any more meaningfully. It's really important. Number two, protein functions very differently in the body compared to carbohydrates and fat.

Now, carbohydrates and dietary fat, these can and normally act as fuel sources. Carbohydrates, which break down into glucose, are readily available energy sources. But both carbohydrates and fats can act as energy sources. Short term, term, and long term. Protein can be an energy source, but it is very inefficient. energy source. It is mainly used to build structures, maintain the integrity of muscle, of enzymes, hormones, many different things. So protein is important, number one, number two, it functions very differently compared to the other primary macronutrients being

carbohydrates and fats. And number three, if you don't take anything else away from this episode, hit your protein goals on a daily basis, choose quality nutrient dense sources and lift weights. Incorporate resistance training into your regularly scheduled training program. You will build muscle, you will feel better, and you will set your life up for success, not just for performance and body composition goals, but for long You know, if you look at the people who are living long lives, and not just years on their life, but quality of years, the later they get into their lifetime, the more they age.

If you look at the people who are really still getting after it, they prioritize protein, they work out, they move their bodies, they train resistance training. they have muscle. That will add not just years on your life, but quality of years on your life.

Not just for you selfishly, but for the time and quality of time you can spend with other people, traveling with your family, playing with your grandkids, all the things. And you might not be thinking of that

right now if you are in your 20s or 30s or even 40s, but that time's coming. And it's coming faster than any of us want it to. The best way we can set ourselves up for success, hit our protein goals, choose quality nutrient-dense sources, and lift your weights.

Okay. Now, protein, protein is more than muscle. And I think when most people think protein, if you close your eyes and you say the word protein to yourself, comes to mind. It might be one of those old school bodybuilding magazines.

It might be this jacked, pumped guy or girl in the gym. Maybe the classic Venice Golds gym, golden era of bodybuilding, nostalgia. But protein is so much more than just building muscle. Protein on itself isn't going to build muscle. You require weight training, strength training, resistance training. And then protein, consuming protein on a regular basis, is going to facilitate muscle protein synthesis, the repair and building of muscle.

That's only one of the functions of protein. Now, what are the other functions? Well, like we talked about, it builds and repairs tissue or structure. one of the quotes that I have here from Dr. Lane Norton, who I'm a huge fan of. We've had Dr. Lane Norton on the podcast before. I mean, he's been in this space ever since I can remember. When I first started getting into strength training and bodybuilding and when I was sitting in my college dorm room in Pennsylvania, filing for

bare performance nutrition to be an organization, I was watching Dr. Lane Norton YouTube videos. I was reading his articles on bodybuilding.com. And one of the things I heard him say recently is that lean tissue

is metabolically expensive. Another reason it's important to have, build, and maintain muscle. Because when you have muscle, You have lean tissue, more lean tissue as opposed to fat, it is metabolically expensive. Your body has to work harder to maintain that muscle. Build and maintain that muscle.

It's going to work harder. It's going to burn more calories. It's going to require more food, more calories. That's a good thing. Metabolically expensive means that your body is functioning, very efficient. and optimally, and it's consuming and burning, consuming and burning, maintaining and building. That's what you want. That's what lean tissue does.

Having more lean tissue has that pro, has that advantage. Protein, dietary protein, also helps form enzymes that are needed for many bodily processes and functions. It plays a significant role in hormone signaling. It supports healthy immune function and also supports bone health, stronger bones, and in many other things that dietary protein does. But let's go into this conversation of accepting the fact that protein is more, it's much more, than just building muscle and getting jacked. And protein alone is not going to get you jacked. It is the combination of a few things.

One, resistance training. Two, consuming dietary protein to facilitate and initiate muscle protein synthesis. It's sleep, it's low stress, it's quality, nutrition overall, carbohydrates, dietary fat. But protein is an ingredient in those outcomes and results that many of us desire. I want to build more lean tissue. I want to build more muscle. I want to get stronger. I love training, but I also love eating healthy,

and I love seeing the results from the training in the diet. Now, what is protein? Protein is one of the main macronutrients. So we can think of the three main macronutrients being protein, carbohydrates and fat. Protein and carbohydrates both yield four calories per gram. Dietary fat yields nine calories per gram. And if we want to include alcohol, alcohol yields seven calories per gram.

So dietary fat is the most chlorically dense by weight. and both protein and carbohydrates yield four calories per gram. There are complete and incomplete proteins. Now, this is important. Foods that contain all nine essential amino acids are known as complete proteins. And foods that don't contain all nine essential amino acids are considered incomplete proteins. Now, we want to opt for more complete proteins because our body can utilize those in a more effective and efficient way. And a lot of the complete proteins come from animal sources, which we'll get into here a little later, talking about one of the potential consequences or downfalls of a vegan-based diet.

because a lot of the protein sources that are popular on a vegan diet, if you're not intentional with all of the food choices that you're making, you can find yourself consuming a lot of incomplete proteins. Now, they're called essential amino acids because those nine essential amino acids you have to get from your diet from foods you're consuming or supplements. Your body can't make them on their own. So there's nine amino acids that are essential. Histidine, isolucine, lucine, lysine, methion, phenylalanine, threanine, threanine, trptophan, baline.

The branch chain amino acids, if you're familiar with BCAAs, so essential amino acids, you might see marketed as EAAs. and there's branch chain amino acids. There's three. It's lucine, isolucine, and baline. Branch chain amino acid supplements used to be really popular, and now essential amino acid supplements are more popular, which I'll talk about here in a little bit. What's really interesting,

and we need to know about proteins compared to carbohydrates and fats, our bodies can store excess carbohydrates and fats. We store fat, like excess dietary fat. When we consume dietary fat, our body will use some of it for necessary function and bodily processes. But the excess we can and will store as fat, body fat. body fat. When it comes to carbohydrates, we can store excess carbohydrates in the form of glycogen. So when we consume carbohydrates, our body will break that down into glucose. It'll use certain amounts of glucose, but the excess can be stored in the muscle and liver as glycogen.

and then when our body needs to tap into those stored carbohydrate or fat sources, it can break it down and utilize it. When it comes to protein, our body actually can't store protein or amino acids in excess. And we'll talk about that here a little bit. And that's what makes protein so different. And why we have to get in our protein. every single day. It's why it's important. When it comes to carbohydrates and fats, we can store, we can break it down and utilize if we're not consuming enough. But when it comes to protein,

because we don't store protein or amino acids, we have to make sure we're consuming our protein consistently every day. We're hitting our goals. That's something I really want to drive home. protein is the one macronutrient we can't break down and store. And that's why it's so essential that we consume it and prioritize it in our diet daily, consistently. So how does our body break down protein and use the amino acids? Proteins are made up of strands of amino acids. So we consume protein sources.

say you eat a steak or protein powder or chicken or fish or eggs or beans or any of these things. You will consume the protein and then the protein begins to break down, become denatured into individual amino acids in the stomach and the small intestine. So protein starts breaking down after consumption being denatured into amino acids. these amino acids individual amino acids you know each amino acid has a very specific function in the body like your body will use histidine in a certain way lysine in a certain way valine in a certain way isolucine

lusine for specific functions and purposes the amino acids are then absorbed through the intestinal wall they enter the bloodstream and travel to the liver where they are regulated and distributed to the rest of the body, where the body needs those specific amino acids. Amino acids that are not used initially for bodily processes can enter an amino acid pull. And this pool just has amino acids in circulation

that can use as needed. But it's not this massive storage space like glycogen. I mean, our bodies can store, depending on the size of the individual and the muscle mass, 400 to 800 grams of carbohydrates in the form of muscle, primarily muscle, and liver glycogen. Our bodies are not storing 400 to 800 grams of proteins broken down into amino acids in this free amino acid pool. So there's some amino acids that are stored in this pool. Not much. The amino acids that aren't used and are broken down. Now this is important to understand because we're going to talk about this when we start talking about some of the myths of protein. So the amino acids that aren't used, they are broken down and they have a nitrogen attached to them. So the nitrogen has to be removed first before the amino acids can be excreted. So you consume protein, your body will use it as needed.

The excess has to be excreted. The way that this excess protein and amino acids are excreted, one, the nitrogen molecule is removed from the amino acids. The liver converts the remaining into urea, and the urea is filtered by the kidneys and excreted in the urine. So both the liver and the kidneys play a significant role in being able to excrete additional unused unnecessary amino acids. Liver and kidneys.

Put a bookmark in that right there because we're going to come back to it. So as I've mentioned, there are the essential amino acids, the EAAs. We at BPN, we actually have an essential amino acid product. Our amino acids are sourced from one of our favorite suppliers, compound solutions. We utilize amino nine, which is the nine essential amino acids in this product. This product right now is called Recovery. by BPN. In June, we're actually going to be rebranding it to post.

So I've shared this briefly, but we're relaunching our strength collection through BPN in June. So right now we have a pre-workout called Flight. Flight was the first product we ever developed in 2012. We used to have a pump supplement

called Endo Pump, which we discontinued. And then we have an essential amino acid that has additional lucine and ingredients for recovery called recover right now. I sip on recover during every one of my strength training workouts. It is my intro workout slash post workout supplement. Well, we're relaunching our strength collection with BPN in June. So flight is being rebranded to pre. we're bringing back a pump supplement and we're rebranding

recover as post. So it's going to be pre, pump, and post. There will be three supplements within our strength collection that we're promoting to be used as a system. Use pre and pump

30 to 45 minutes before your workout starts and you either sip on post during or after your workout which is going to provide you the essential amino acids, the nine essential amino acids, with added leucine. We'll get into why we added more leucine, because leucine is known as the anabolic trigger that triggers muscle protein synthesis.

But if you never use that product of ours, it's a great amino acid supplement. Like I said, I sip on it during every strength training workout and love it. It's great for initiating muscle protein synthesis, but also helping to facilitate just optimized recovery while you're breaking down the muscles as your training. Now, protein has a significant thermic effect of food compared to the other maconutrients. So the thermic effect of food refers to the energy or calories your body burns by digesting. in absorbing food. So when you consume nutrition, you put food into your mouth,

you break it down, you consume it, your body has to work to break it down further, right? So your body is going to have to do some sort of work to break down dietary fats,

your body's going to have to do some work to break down carbohydrates into glucose, and your body's going to have to do some work to break proteins down into amino acids. And this work that is required actually burns,

burns energy. It burns calories. It is not super significant, but it is significant. There is a reason that we talk about the thermic effect of food, the thermic effect of certain macronutrients, because there's a big difference. So protein has the highest thermic effect of all macronutrients, which means your body burns more calories, digesting, and processing protein, then it does carbohydrates and fat. Protein is actually an inefficient macronutrient for energy production, and the body prioritizes protein for structural repair. Like I said, it lacks dedicated storage, and it requires a high amount of energy to metabolize

protein. So in order to metabolize protein, to break protein down into amino acids that your body can then utilize, it requires significant energy. So check this out. The thermic effect of food for protein carbohydrates and fats. So your body uses about 20 to 30 percent of the energy of protein to digest. and processes it. 20 to 30% of the energy consumed

is utilized to digest and process protein. That's a third between a quarter and a third of the calories from protein are burned to digest and process it.

5 to 10% of the calories from carbohydrates are used to digest and process and only 0 to 3% of the calories from fats are used to digest and process it. So when we think of protein, 20 to 30% compared to the 5 to 10 from carbs and 0 to 3 from fats, it does significantly have a greater thermic effect of food. which means that if we consume more protein compared to carbohydrates and fats,

we are going to have a greater thermic effect from the calories we are consuming. We're going to burn more of the calories we are consuming. Now, protein is also a high satiety food group. I heard someone mention this, and I think it was Dr. Lane Norton as well. but it's harder to overfeed protein than any other macronutrients. So think of it this way. If you put a bowl of a sweet, salty, maybe savory, carbohydrate-based food item in front of you, for some people, chips, like Doritos.

you put Doritos in front of someone or checks mix or cookies it's really easy to overfeed on these things you know you grab a little bit here consume it it's dense in carbohydrates it's dense in calories

and you keep going back for more and more and more and more it's really over to it's really easy to overfeed on carbohydrates and fats. But it's hard to overfeed on protein. And if you have a plate in front of you that's loaded up with chicken and steak,

you're going to eat until you're full and then you're going to be, I'm done. I don't want to keep consuming chicken and steak. It is very satiating. It makes you feel full and content. that's why when you're building out your plate I always build out my plate protein first

then carbs and then fat sources sometimes the fat is built into the protein or I'll add avocado nut seeds olives oils and then veggies

and fruits on part of the plate I like to start by eating the protein first because that is the highest satiety, satiating food on the plate. And by the time you get to, you know, the other things, maybe you want to eat your veggies and fruits next and then save those dense carbs for last.

But did you ever go to a barbecue joint? I mean, down here in Central Texas, we have barbecue joints everywhere. And if you're going through the line, at least this happens to me. I'll be taking friends who aren't from Texas to Terry Black's, for example, downtown Austin.

We'll go through the line and we're starving. Our stomachs are growling. And we over-order every time. We'll take a pound of brisket. We'll take a pound of turkey. We'll take a pound of ribs. We'll take pulled pork, sausage. Just load our order up with all these meats.

and then we start eating and our eyes are always so much larger than our stomach. There are times we don't even put a dent in some of the meats. So when we go to barbecue, I'm not really getting the sides. I'm going for all the meats. And I'm always surprised and kind of disappointed, to be honest, how fast I fill up. And when I fill up on the meats, I'm done.

I'm tapped. I'm not like, I could keep going back for a few more. bites here and there. No, I'm done. The protein is a high satiety food, which for many reasons, a high protein diet, for so many reasons, can build great body composition, can maintain a level of leanness, not because it is very satiating when you consume it, but also when incorporated and paired with resistance training, you put yourself in a position to maximize muscle protein synthesis. And when you build more muscle and lean tissue, like Dr. Lane Norton said, it is metabolically expensive.

And because protein has a greater thermic effect of food, you're burning more of the calories you're consuming. I mean, all of these reasons, all of these things are pointing back to why protein is so important for longevity, for building lean tissue, for bodily processes, but also just for overall health, for staying lean, for staying healthy, for not overconsuming and overindulging. There's so many reasons that a high protein diet or protein first protein prioritized diet is so valuable and important. Now some common myths about protein.

One, these have been debunked as well, but scientifically debunked. You often hear, you don't want to consume too much protein because too much protein is bad for your kidneys. False. Unless you have a pre-existing damaged kidney condition, this may be accurate. But if you have healthy kidney function, a moderate to high protein diet has no negative consequences for your kidneys. Where a lot of this misinformation and these myths have started is because if we go back to how your body processes protein amino acids, to get rid of the amino acids, the excess, like we've talked about, the nitrogen molecule has to be removed. The liver converts the remaining into urea, and urea is filtered by the kidneys and excreted in the urine.

So people use the thing back in the day, well, if you consume too much protein, your body has to excrete it. It has to remove the nitrogen, convert it into urea, and it has to be filtered by the kidneys. And if you're consuming too much protein, you're going to overtax the kidneys. False. this is just part of the kidney's function. The kidney is there. It lives for this. It is there and thriving and well to filter the urea and excrete it through urine.

Too much protein unless you have, like I said, a preexisting kidney issue is not bad for your teeth. kidneys. This has been debunked time and time and time again. There's a myth that your body can only consume X amount of protein per sitting. Now, there's a lot of different information that circulates the internet around this question. I personally don't want to consume all the protein that I need in a day in one meal. Technically, you could, if you wanted to, you could have one big meal a day, and there's certain people that do this, the one meal a day diet.

This became really popular a few years ago, and I haven't heard many people talk about it since, but it was known as the Omad diet. One meal a day. O-M-A-D. Omad. I mean, technically you could do that, get all of your calories, all your protein in one sitting. Does it sound comfortable to me? No.

Does it feel realistic and feasible? For me, no, but to each their own, I personally like to space my protein out throughout the day. So I'm getting at least 30 grams per meal. Because if I'm getting at least 30 grams, I'm getting the sufficient amount of leucine per meal, which is about 2.5 to 3 grams. that is going to trigger muscle protein synthesis by a pathway called mTOR, which we'll get into here a little bit later. Your body can consume a lot of protein at once, but in my personal preference,

I would rather space it out into multiple meals throughout the day. So can your body consume more than 30 grams of protein per sitting? Yes. Can it consume more than 40 grams, 50 grams of protein per sitting? Yes. But I think it is the most optimal, optimally, to consume your protein in large doses multiple times throughout the day. Spread those amino acids out. Another common myth. You only need protein if you lift weights and work out. False. For, for, many of the other functions that protein and amino acids are used within the body. But even if you don't work out, we still want to be in a positive muscle protein synthesis state as opposed to a negative protein balance. Another common myth is that all protein is created equal. As we talked about, there are complete proteins and there are increasingly.

complete proteins. Some proteins are of greater nutrient density. They come with the added vitamins and minerals and healthy dietary fats associated with them. Not all protein is created equal because of the additional nutrients that some proteins carry, the nutrient density of that protein source. So let's talk about way protein. Because when a lot of people think of protein, they think of bodybuilding, they think of meat, and they might think of protein powder. Now, are protein powders necessary? No.

But in my opinion, they help. I consume a protein powder every single day because it helps me hit my protein goals. I've been consuming protein powders well before we started producing protein powders here at BPN. One, I just, I love incorporating protein powders into my diet. And also, it's easier for me to hit my protein goals where I can do two scoops of protein, get an easy 50 grams of protein, as opposed to having to eat eight ounces of, of chicken or beef or fish. It's comedians.

It's not super filling, which for me is nice because I'm trying to get a lot of protein in on a daily basis. And for me, it helps. But is it necessary? No. You don't need to consume a protein supplement. But if you're not hitting your protein goals on a daily basis with just food, it can definitely be super helpful,

super helpful. Like I said, I consume a protein supplement every single day. I can't tell you the last time I've gone a few days without consuming weight protein powder. Now, when people think of weight protein, I think a lot of people think that weight protein powders are synthetically produced. It's a synthetic material made in a lab. But the truth is that way protein comes from real food. It comes from cow's milk. It is a byproduct of the cheese making process, which we're going to discuss here.

So how is way protein powder made? This might make you feel a little bit more comfortable about consuming way protein powder. Because I do believe some people still think that way protein is made in a lab with chemicals and this powder just like comes out of nowhere. So weight protein is a dairy product and it is produced from cow's milk. And the way the process works is after the milk is produced and collected from milking cows, the milk is then heated to kill any harmful bacteria and enzymes are added to separate the curds and the liquid way during the cheese making process. So during the cheese making process, the curds separate from liquid whey when enzymes are added. Again, byproduct of the cheese making process.

They then take the liquid whey, which is separated from the curds. It's pasteurized to, again, kill any harmful bacteria. And whey protein is isolated at different concentrations using microfiltrase, filtration and ultra filtration. And then the liquid way is then dried into a powder. So it's thrown into this dryer that makes this liquid into a powder, which then can be used to consume to get protein into your diet. Cow's milk, byproduct of cheese making process,

curds, liquid weigh are separated. liquid whey is turned into a powder. Boom. There you have way protein. It's real food. It's not this synthetic material. It is real food. It comes from cal's milk.

Now, you may have seen weight protein concentrate and weight protein isolate in the market. So let's talk about what separates a concentrate from an isolate. Way protein isolate. will go under additional processing and filtration to minimize lactose.

So after the liquid way is turning into a powder, you have either concentrate or isolate. Isolate will go through additional filtration and processing before turned into a powder with the intent of minimizing lactose. making it for a better option for people who are sensitive to lactose. It doesn't remove all the lactose. So way protein isolate is not lactose-free, but it minimizes the lactose. So for consumers who have tried weight protein concentrate.

And you'll typically know it's a way protein concentrate because it doesn't say it's an isolate. If it's an isolate, it's going to be called way protein isolate or WPI. weight protein isolate, like I said, reduces lactose. So for those of you who have tried a weight protein concentrate and have experienced stomach issues, gas, bloating, GI distress, stomach discomfort, you may have a lactose intolerance. I would highly encourage you to try experimenting with a WPI,

a weight protein isolate. because of the reduced lactose. A lot of people can consume a way protein isolate that can't consume a traditional way protein concentrate. It digest much easier. It's actually leaner. It typically has less carbohydrates, less fat because of the additional purification,

processing, and filtration. But a lot of people who can't consume traditional weight protein can actually manage and handle. handle a weight protein isolate very well. So this process, which produces a weight protein isolate, produces a more highly purified protein with, like I said, lower levels of carbohydrates and fats. Now, with all of that being said, we are really proud to announce that we are launching a weight protein isolate.

And by the time this podcast episode is out, the day that we launched this episode is the day we're launching our weight protein isolate on our site. We have sold a wave protein concentrate for the last eight years, and it's one of our best sellers. We source all of our weight protein from a very reputable, one of the biggest and best suppliers, in the world who we have great relationships with. We're really proud of our flavor systems of our weight protein powder and the flavors that we have been offering for the last eight years. In these last couple years, we have seen an uptake in the amount of requests and comments about BPN offering and producing a weight protein isolate.

And to be honest, we just weren't interested in the longest time, primarily because, well, a few reasons. Way protein, it's of the largest bottle container of a product that we offer. It takes up a lot of space. So if we have thousands of bottles of weight protein powder in our warehouse, at our HQ takes up a lot of warehouse space which we have to be mindful of well now we're operating out of our new HQ

which has more space more opportunity more room to store additional inventory that's one of the reasons one of the unlocks that has allowed us to add a new protein skew

an offering to our portfolio a weight protein isolate And another reason that we just haven't produced a weight protein isolate for a long time, to be honest, it's much more expensive than a weight protein concentrate because of the additional filtration and processing and just everything that goes into producing a WPI, a weight protein isolate. So it is much more expensive.

But we have seen a greater demand over the last couple years. I think there's more people who have issues digesting and consuming traditional way because of lactose. And people who have had an intolerance to traditional weight protein have tried isolates and have seen a lot of success. And because we've seen greater demand and as BPN has grown over the years and we've opened up more space in our new HQ, it was the product that we wanted to launch and put up. a lot of time and work into. So we're launching, or we have launched, uh, BPN's Way Protein Islet and Two Flavors, Fudge Chocolate and Vanilla.

And it's truly grass fed certified. So we've sourced this way protein isolate from a farm in Ireland that is certified under the truly grass fed certification program. You'll see on the label in the upper right, it has the truly grass-fed certification, which has verified and certified that the cows that were used, the milk that was produced from these cows from this farm, were fed a diet that was made up of 95% grass. Now, it's not 100%, and there's a lot to discuss and break down there.

One of the things that we identified during our due diligence of bringing this product to market and going through research and development and working with suppliers and manufacturers, that we see all these products in the market that are 100% crass-fed weight protein isolates. And we went to all of our suppliers, the biggest protein suppliers in the world, and they said it doesn't exist. And we said, well, that makes no sense because company X, Y, and Z has a 100% grass-fed weight protein isolate. And our supplier said, yeah, doesn't exist. So I don't know what they're talking about.

So we dove in. We did all of our due diligence. And we found that the most credible farm and certification program was truly grass fed that can ensure that these cows were. fed 95% diet made up of grass foliage. And one of the reasons that it's really challenging, if even possible, to have a 100% grass-fed way protein isolate or cow is because you have to get a cow that's producing milk to a certain health level, weight, They have to hold a certain amount of fat, and that has to be facilitated through some grain

feeding. So we are really proud of this weight protein isolate that we're launching that we've launched because of the quality, the integrity, it's truly grass-fed, way-protein isolate launched in two flavors. We're really proud of this product. So if you want to get more protein in your diet, not necessary through a powder, but like I said,

it's something that I use every day. It's very convenient to hit your protein goals. We have a traditional weight protein concentrate and we have a grass-fed weight protein isolate. The isolate is more expensive than the weight protein concentrate. But it's up to you what you want to try. and if you have a tolerance or intolerance to lactose. If you have an intolerance to lactose,

I would highly suggest trying our isolate. But if you don't have a tolerance or an intolerance to lactose, I'd recommend trying our concentrate. Our concentrate comes in a lot of different varieties of flavors. We'll be adding more flavors onto the weight protein isolate line. But as of right now, we're launching with two variants of flavors. So how much protein do you need on a daily basis? Well, let's first discuss one of the intents of consuming protein,

and that is to initiate, maximize muscle protein synthesis. What is muscle protein synthesis? It's a natural metabolic process where the body repairs and builds new muscle tissue by incorporating amino acids into skeletal muscle proteins. muscle protein synthesis, you might also see it described as MPS online. It is driven by resistance exercise, lifting weights, and protein intake, especially leucine, which is one of the essential amino acids and branch chain amino acids.

And it must exceed muscle protein breakdown for muscle, growth to occur. So you have to be in a positive balance of muscle protein synthesis as opposed to muscle protein breakdown to actually build lean tissue to build muscle. If you have to be synthesizing more muscle at a greater rate than you are breaking it down. You're breaking down your muscles through training, through exercise by just not moving at all. atrophy. So with resistance training and protein intake, you can facilitate muscle protein synthesis,

lean tissue building. Now, the recommendations for protein consumed on a daily basis is grams per kilogram of total body weight. So the recommendations are 1.6 to 2.4 grams per kilogram of total body weight. So for example, I'm 200 pounds, which is about 90 kilograms, 90 kilos. So for me, the lower end of the range, 1.6 would be 144 grams of protein daily. The upper range, being 2.4 would be 216 grams daily. So anywhere from 144 to 216 grams daily of protein.

Now, I definitely like to lean towards the upper range. I'm consuming at least 200 to 225 grams of protein daily. And if you don't want to break it down through grams per kilogram of body weight and have this range, I think a really simple way. to look at daily protein intake recommended is one gram per pound of body weight. So if I'm 200 pounds, I'm going to try to consume 200 grams of protein per day. And I'm doing this over the course of four to five meals. Technically, you could do it all in one meal if you really wanted to.

I wouldn't recommend that. I think at least three meals is good. three, four, maybe five meals, but if you can break down your daily protein intake between three and four meals, I think it's solid. Now, it's not just about having enough protein throughout the day, but also lucine per meal. So lucine, very important. I love lucine. Again, going back to Dr. Lane Norton, a lot of his research earlier on in his career was all about lucine. Just having lucine present in a meal is not enough. In order to turn on muscle protein synthesis, you require a minimum dose of lucine per meal, which is about 2.5 to 3 grams. I was just

talking to stuff about this this morning. This is one of the reasons that, that I don't recommend people to get like five grams of protein here, 10 grams here, 15 grams here, 5 grams here, 10 grams here. But if you're eating trace amounts of protein throughout the day, yeah, you're hitting your protein goals. But in order to really turn on muscle protein synthesis, you need a bigger bolus of leucine within these meals. It's like 2.5 to 3 grams of leucine per meal. That's not protein. That's leucine, an individual amino acid.

If you can get around 30 grams of protein per meal, you're hitting your leucine goals pretty ideally. So leucine is known as the anabolic trigger. So if you're thinking muscle building, you're thinking protein, you're thinking amino acids, think of leucine. Lucine is known as the anabolic trigger. Lusine is unique compared to other amino acids.

acids because it activates a key cellular pathway that tells the body to begin building new muscle protein, new muscle protein. Lusine activates what's called mTOR, little M, capital T-O-R, m-tore. And m-tore is responsible for initiating muscle protein synthesis. And without Lucine, this pathway, M-Tor, is not fully activated regardless of how much total protein you consume. So it's not just how much protein do you consume on a daily basis, but are we getting enough leucine per meal to fully activate the mTOR pathway, which initiates muscle protein synthesis? boom. How much protein do we need? But, you know, the thing to keep in mind, how much lucine are we getting per meal? This is not one of these things where you have to track

lucine separately. The key takeaway here is if you're going to eat protein, you're going to hit your protein goals from the day. Try to at least within a meal get 30 grams of protein per meal. Like larger amounts of protein. This is when we say, prioritize protein, protein first, protein forward diets. It's building your plate around the protein, so you get enough, and you can activate muscle protein synthesis through the pathway of mTOR. Now, what happens if you don't consume enough protein? I mentioned this briefly earlier, but there are potential problems with the V-Tor,

diet. And a lot of times the vegan diet, because it doesn't have animal sources, is going to lack complete protein sources. And it's harder to consume all nine essential amino acids on the vegan diet if you aren't super intentional and dialed in. So many vegan diets are deficient in essential amino acids. They're also deficient in key vitamin. and minerals that are typically carried densely in animal sources like vitamin B12, vitamin D, iodine, calcium, iron, and zinc. And many vegan diets are commonly deficient in omega-3 fatty acids. Now, I'm not sharing this to say, if you're on a vegan diet, you're going to be deficient no matter what. I'm saying if you're going to follow a vegan diet, you got to be a vegan diet.

you got to be more intentional to ensure that you're getting complete protein sources, enough protein, and you're not deficient in key vitamins and minerals for performance, but also just health. I think a diet

that is omnivore in nature, it's vegetables, produce, fruits, healthy carbohydrate sources, proteins, animal sources. Just eating like an omnivore is the most balanced, realistic, sustainable dieting approach.

But animal sources are dense in proteins, but also vitamins and minerals. Extremely healthy sources. What happens when you don't consume enough protein? So this is one of the reasons we talk about building your plate around protein. Because if you're not building your plate and your diet around protein, you're probably consuming too many carbohydrates, potentially too many fats. And from all the benefits we've talked about with protein,

if you're not getting enough protein, you're probably not eating foods that are very satiating, very filling. The thermic effect of food from protein is greater than carbs and fats. So you're burning more of the calories from the proteins you're consuming compared to the other macronutrients. If you're not consuming enough protein, you're not stimulating muscle protein synthesis, promoting the building repair of lean tissue.

I mean, the list goes on and on and on, but what typically happens if you don't consume enough protein, you're going to have to get those calories in. You're going to overconsume fats and carbs, which could lead to unhealthy health outcomes. It's just the reality of it. The major reason, one of the main concerns with the popular American diet and the reason the majority of our population is overweight and obese isn't because they consume too much protein.

It's because they consume too many refined carbs in unhealthy fats. I mean, I've never really come across someone who's overweight and obese. and be like, dude, that guy just eats too much chicken and protein shakes. That's why they're overweight and obese. That's why they're unhealthy. It's too much protein. No, it's refined carbs and fats and convenience that is leading our population to disease, to obesity, to death. Now, if we think long term, what happens to,

people as they age. You may have heard of sarcopenia. Sarcopenia is a progressive, generalized skeletal muscle disorder characterized by the loss of muscle mass, strength, and function commonly associated with aging. So as you get older, if you don't prioritize protein, you don't resistance train, you're going to lose muscle mass, and what happens, it increases the risk of physical disability, falls, fractures, and death mortality. And it's prevented and solved by increased protein intake and resistance training. So I share that to wrap this conversation to say, protein is not about building vanity muscles,

having a six pack of abs and looking good in the mirror or at the beach for summer vacation. It sets your life up for success, health, longevity, quality of life forever. Protein paired with resistance training, that is like the formula that it's going to make you healthier today, tomorrow, and 50 years from now, for many reasons. So, that's a podcast. That's the protein conversation.

It's more than muscle. At the end of the day, consume your protein, one gram per pound of body weight, lift weights, get jacked, feel strong, feel better, go one more.