Thank you all for the comments and for being so engaged with the recipe.
One of the things that I think we do better with the new recipe is the energy balance that will both be effective in the short term and long term.
With regard to protein (and most of our considerations with regard to the science), we are most inclined to follow the EFSA guidelines. Note that these are for the 'average' person, but that is also the lens through which we develop our Standard recipe.
I'm a fan of Examine.com and the research there is truly done in a good way. But I also don't believe that we should 'pump' our recipe with protein to make it sufficient in every extreme case.
This is an excerpt from one of the summary articles by the EFSA:
According to a meta-analysis of available nitrogen balance data as a function of nitrogen intake in healthy adults, the best estimate of average requirement for healthy adults was 105 mg N/kg body weight per day (0.66 g high quality protein/kg per day). The 97.5th percentile was estimated as 133 mg N/kg body weight per day (0.83 g high quality protein/kg per day) from the distribution of the logarithm of the requirement, with a coefficient of variation (CV) of about 12%. The Panel considers that the value of 0.66 g/kg body weight per day can be accepted as the Average Requirement (AR) and the value of 0.83 g/kg body weight per day as the Population Reference Intake (PRI)
This would mean that the level at which 95% of people can be confident to have enough protein (according to EFSA) is:
- 60kg: 49.8g protein
- 80kg: 66.4g protein
- 100kg: 83g protein
In our Standard shakes (at 2100kcal, which may be too little for someone weighing 100kg, or too much for someone of 60kg, but should be about right for 80kg) have 105.6g protein.
To also reference the numbers from the examine.com article. They are:
- 60kg: 72-108g protein
- 80kg: 96-144g protein
- 100kg: 120-180g protein
This shows that for the 80kg reference person we are still within the range.
Again this is all assuming a person of 80kg with little to no activity. (a calculator for a 30y/o puts the caloric need at exactly 2136 calories).
If you're more active I would recommend Queal Athletic.
Or if you're losing weight (eating a caloric deficit) I would recommend that you supplement your protein need with either good sources of protein (e.g. protein shakes) or balance your other meal(s) to be even higher in protein.
In my daily life, I use Queal for about 70% of my calories and track my other meals to have similar proportions to my Queal meals. I'm more active than average, but also consume more calories (and thus have more protein in total than from just having 3 Queal meals).
I hope this clarifies it a bit further.
