Week 12: Protein

Another milestone. This week I broke through the psychologically important 100 Kg barrier, and am now into double figures, at 99.7Kg!

Another good food week (defined as a week in which I didn't have to throw up any food). The only new foods I tried this week were popcorn, which went down very easily, and chicken cordon bleu, which (for the first time eating chicken) resulted only in indigestion, rather than getting stuck. I am hopeful that by Christmas I can manage to eat a small amount of chicken without any repercussions at all.

Protein
This week I want to talk about protein.

RNY surgery has a traumatic effect on the body. After surgery, sufficient daily protein intake is essential  in wound healing, preserving lean body mass, increasing the efficiency of your metabolism (to burn fat) and minimising hair loss.

Bariatric surgeons and nutritionists emphasise that foods rich in protein should be eaten first, with the recommended daily intake varying from 55 to over 100 grams per day, depending the individual.

It's very difficult to consume enough protein from regular foods alone during the first several months after RNY surgery. Indeed, many of the regular protein sources, such as meat, is often very difficult, if not impossible, for the patient to digest, and protein supplementation is necessary. This usually takes the form of high-protein shakes.

The key benefits of protein to RNY surgery patients are:

• Aiding wound healing after surgery.
• Helping in the formation of hormones, enzymes and immune system antibodies
• Helping keep hair, skin, bones and nails healthy.
• Curbing hunger between meals
• Helping the body to burn fat (instead of muscle) for more effective weight loss.
• Supporting the body's natural metabolism to lose weight quicker.

What is Protein?
The human body contains thousands of different proteins, each made by the building blocks of protein, amino acids. Amino acids are not stored in the body, so it is essential that the required amount of protein and amino acids is taken in daily to fuel the body in its constant creation of new proteins. The body can make 11 of the 20 needed amino acids, but the remaining 9 (termed 'essential', or EAA) cannot be made and must come from the protein we eat (or drink).

Foods can be characterised as either complete or incomplete protein sources. Complete protein sources contain all the essential amino acids needed for the body to make new protein. Incomplete protein sources are lacking one or more essential amino acids. Meat, fish, eggs and dairy products are good sources of complete protein. Vegetarian protein sources are generally incomplete protein.

However, not all protein is created equal, and a quality rating has been established, called the PDACAAS.

Protein Digestibility Corrected Amino Acid Score (PDCAAS) is a method of evaluating the protein quality based on both the amino acid requirements of humans and their ability to digest it. The PDCAAS rating is a fairly recent evaluation method; it was adopted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations/World Health Organization (FAO/WHO) in 1993 as "the preferred 'best'" method to determine protein quality. These organizations have suggested that other methods for evaluating the quality of protein are inferior.

A PDCAAS value of 1 is the highest, and 0 the lowest. This table shows the ratings of selected foods:

1.00	casein (milk protein)
1.00	egg white
1.00	soy protein
1.00	whey (milk protein)
0.92	beef
0.91	soybeans
0.78	chickpeas
0.76	fruits
0.73	vegetables
0.70	Other legumes
0.59	cereals and derivatives
0.42	whole wheat

(Courtesy of Wikipedia, see this page for further info)

So which Protein Shake should I purchase?

Protein supplements in liquid form are generally made from collagen or hydrolized collagen, which scores zero in the PDACAAS system. Far better for RNY patients are the powder products made from whey protein isolate (not concentrate) and soy protein isolate. Products and brands vary from country to country, so the weight-loss forums are the best places to go to get advice on which products to go for that are locally available.


So, back to the weight. Today I weighed 99.7Kg (15st 9.8lb, or 219.8lb, that's a net loss of 25.8Kg (just over 4 stone, or 56.9lbs), and 0.8Kg loss over last week

Here are the progress photos:

99.7Kg BMI 32.96

Rock