The Dx2 Podcast
Two sisters discuss what they are learning about having a balanced wheel of life that rolls along as smoothly as possible.
The Dx2 Podcast
Protein Made Simple
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Ever wonder why you feel full but still run on empty? We make the case for building every meal around protein and show how that one shift can improve energy, mood, muscle, skin, bones, and long-term health. From clear daily targets to simple recipes, we lay out a practical plan you can use today.
We start with a myth-busting tour of what protein actually does: supplying essential amino acids that rebuild tissue, support hormones and enzymes, and keep your metabolism humming. Then we rank the most effective protein sources—meat and fish for complete density, eggs for versatility, clean protein powders for convenience, and cultured dairy like Greek yogurt and cottage cheese for easy, high-protein meals. If you’re plant-forward, we talk about pairing strategies, why volume matters, and how to avoid turning “protein” meals into carb bombs.
Next, we tackle the numbers without the stress. Use a height-based range or the classic 0.8 to 1.0 grams per pound of ideal body weight to set your daily target, then pace it across the day so your body can actually use it. We share realistic meal patterns, the case against grazing, and our favorite tricks—egg white blends, protein hot chocolate, high-protein yogurt bowls—to make consistent protein effortless. For advanced listeners, we explain “pure protein days” (protein-sparing modified fasts): when to use them, how often, safe fat minimums, and why they help shed fat while protecting muscle.
You’ll leave with a short list of go-to proteins, budget ideas for stretching quality sources, and a plan to hit your number without living in the kitchen. If you’re ready to curb cravings, steady your energy, and get stronger with age, this is your blueprint for protein-first living.
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...Welcome to the D Times 2 podcast, hosted by Sisters Denise and Deborah. We are all about finding balance in the various parts of life. Using the Wheel of Life as our guide, we explore how to keep each spoke rolling smoothly. We discuss health and wellness, education and spirituality, as well as mental and emotional growth. Join us for real conversations, practical tips, and a few laughs as we share stories, insights, and strategies to help you create a life that feels balanced, purposeful, and designed by you. Hey Deborah. Hi Denise, how are you doing? I am doing well. How about yourself? I'm doing pretty darn good. What's been up lately? You know what's been up lately? I've been fighting with my bathtub. Oh no. Yes, I take a bath every single day. And my tub is porcelain. And my little lever to turn the water on and off and control the temperature. The screw is gone. Oh no. So the handle metal hard keeps falling off, hitting the delicate porcelain. It hasn't chipped it yet. And I asked Tom to fix it a couple of times, and he is convinced the screw is still there. So he puts it back on the little attachment on the wall and tightens it with nothing there. And then he walks out and I turn it on and it falls off onto the bathtub. So I'm just trying to remember, it's delicate. I can keep it on if I just remember every time. But I was looking for one where I could just replace it without having to replace all of the hardware, like the shower spigot and the or the water spigot and the shower spout. But most of them are sold in kits. So it took me a while to find where I could just order the one part. And I got it. And I was so excited this weekend because Tom said, I'll change it for you this weekend. It's still sitting on my kitchen table. No. And I think I'm gonna learn from the University of YouTube how to change it myself. Yeah, it's not that hard actually. I know it can't be that hard. And if I can keep that thing balanced on a fine wire and not falling and hitting my porcelain bathtub every time. Yeah. So I think I'm fixing to learn something new. Good. Yeah, I'm proud of you. Thank you. Good luck. It really isn't that hard to change that part of your faucet. So I have full faith in you. I will report back. Alrighty. I'll let you know how it goes. Good. It shouldn't be too bad though. So what are we talking about today? Today we're going to talk about a macro. We had an earlier episode about carbohydrates slash sugar. This one we're going to talk about protein. So macro, meaning one of the three macro nutrients. Yes. So count your macros. Protein is a macro. So that's what we're going to talk about. So let's talk about why it's important. Okay. Some good sources of protein, how to space it out through the day. How to get how to use it. And then what the heck is protein sparing? So that's what we're going to talk about today. Awesome. So why is it important? Are you ready for me to get back on my soap? It's getting worn out. I'm just kidding. It's coming. Be ready, people. Just kidding. Well, pro people think, well, I need protein for my muscles, but protein is literally in every single tissue. Every tissue in the body. Yeah. Yes. It's in your skin. It's in your muscles. I think of it this way: the protein that you eat in your body is broken down into essential amino acids. They are essential for life. They're essential because you have to consume them. You must consume them. That's the only way for your body to get them. And those are your building blocks. If you don't have building blocks, your body can't build itself. Whether it's building new cells that are blood cells or new skin cells or new muscle cells or new bone cells, there's continual turnover. So you have to continually have those building blocks that only come from protein. Deep breath. So protein is super important. Like if you want healthy skin, you need to have protein. If you want healthy bones, you need to have protein. If you want healthy ligaments, especially if you're an athlete, wow, you need protein. If you want to not fall and break your hip when you get old, you must have protein. If you want beautiful long nails or hair. Or hair, you must have protein. Yeah. It's like how many people come and I say, How much protein are you eating? And they say, I just eat carbs. You gotta have the protein. It does. Yeah. What else are we missing? It's built your building blocks. It's your building blocks. What else do we need? Protein. It fuels your metabolism. So it's catabolic when you eat it. It doesn't provide energy, it burns energy. Perfect. Yeah. Oh, well that's good. Like if you're on a low carb diet, that's fine. Increase your protein. So your body will burn your stored fat instead of your muscle. You don't want to catabolize your own body muscle. Yeah, cat catabolic means break down. Yeah. Yeah. So sometimes we want to break things down, but some things foods are considered catabolic when it takes more energy from your body to break it down than you get from the food. So it has a net zero impact on your intake. So what does protein do anything for hormones? Well, hormones are some of the things that are made in your body. So because the protein is the building blocks, yes, absolutely. Like it's just required. It's it's a requirement. That's all I can say. It's essential. Why are you laughing at me? You're hysterically laughing at me. I'm not laughing at you. I just I think it's funny that people think that they can live without pro without protein. And I think I think part of that is because for I guess when we were younger, red meat was taboo. Demonized. You shouldn't eat red meat and and you should only eat chicken and like okay, but either way, both are protein. Chicken is still protein. It still breaks down to essential amino acids in your body. Like you still need to eat the meat. Yeah. Just eat the meat. So actually, it's not eat the meat, it's eat the essential amino acids. Meat is the easiest for your body to break down into that. It's the most dense. So you get the most from the least amount. The most bang for your buck. Yep. You can get it if you eat a like vegetarian diet, but it takes a lot of effort and really hard. You have to be very strategic because, like animal protein, whether it comes from meat or from eggs, it's complete, it has all of the essential amino acids. But there is zero vegetarian sources of protein that are complete sources of the amino acids. You have to pair foods properly in order to get them. Yeah. And I have a lot, like people will tell me, oh, I eat beans as my source of protein. And my question is, do you eat seven cups of beans at a time? Because that's how much you need to get enough protein from beans. That's a lot of beans. That's a sad belly. Uh-huh. Yeah. But beans and rice are a complete protein, but you still have to eat a lot of it. Yeah. And it's very carb. Very like it's gonna put some meat on your bones because it's energy as well as the protein. Yeah. By meat on your bones, she didn't mean muscle. Oh, fatten, yep. Fluffy. Yeah. Make you fluffy. Yeah. Let's talk about the immune system. One of the best defenders we know comes from optimal health systems, and it's called Defense. So it supplies your body with researched back ingredients to shown to support your immune system and fight off illness. It also boosts the immune system, providing a potent dose of antibodies for a quick recovery and reduces the risk of viral infection. One of the things I love is that it increases the white blood cell count in your body almost immediately while filling your gut with healthy bacteria. This is one of those things I recommend to my clients to always have on hand. You can take it continuously through, quote, cold and flu season or when you're under a lot of stress, or just pop it in here and there if you feel like you're starting to come down with something. Take it for a day or two, maybe three, and then put it on pause. But it ultimately restores health to areas of your body that are affected by potentially unhealthy eating habits, like during the holidays, and also from overstressing. And it does it by using whole real food ingredients. You can go to optimalhealthsystems.com and use the code D times2, that's DX2, to get a great discount off your order. What are good? Well, before we go to the good sources, I just want to talk about how like some of the like I talk to people all the time about you need like center each meal around protein. You need more protein in your diet because the standard sad American diet, which most of our audience is based in the US, is very carbohydrate dominant. And carbs are very cheap and affordable. And so people will tell me, I can't afford protein, it's too expensive. So they just get mac and cheese and cold cereal and rice and beans and like just the cheaper sources of carb, but they're starving to death and breaking down because they are not in any way prioritizing the protein. In America, it's become pretty common practice to do that. Less so now because protein has been having a moment on social media. And so there's protein brownies and protein. Well, like me, my protein ice cream. There's like protein and everything. Just cram it in. And sure, great, please do. But be smart about it. So good sources of protein. What what are some of your favorite sources? I'll go down my list of my top five. Five. How's that? Okay. And I will give you in order of protein density. So the most bang for the buck or the effort. Okay. Okay. The most nutrient dense is meat. And when I say meat, I mean animal flesh. I don't care if it's fish, turkey, chicken, pork, beef, bison, I don't care. Sheep, lamb, whatever. Any animal flesh. Okay. Will always be the most dense protein. Has complete, has everything your body needs. Yes, it does. And yes, sometimes do red. Sometimes do the beef, bison, elk, venison, lamb to get the red, which is the iron from the meat. Variety is good. Don't just eat one type. Yeah. So sometimes do the fatty cut, sometimes do the leaner cut, but that's fat, that's not protein. Yeah. Okay. So the meat itself, the muscle meat is the protein. Number two is eggs. Eggs are one of nature's most perfect foods, but it's important to note that the protein portion is the white. The yolk is fat. It's good fat, but the white is pure protein. Number three is protein powders. I'm gonna rephrase that. Quality protein powders. There are a lot of crap and beef protein jumps out there. Yes. A lot of them are available at all of your big box stores. But good quality sources of protein. So you can get like I use a lot of the equip prime protein. Equip is fantastic. It's a beef protein. So instead of it's snout to tail, it's like from protein from the entire animal. There aren't very many proteins out there that are like that. No, yeah, it's it's very complete. So it has the collagen in it, has like all the good stuff, and it tastes delicious. And sometimes I just would rather have a protein shake instead of eating a four-ounce steak. Yeah. Oh, just ingredients is really good too. Just ingredients brand is great. Those are probably the two I recommend the most. There are a couple, like there's one that I've seen on Amazon that I have ordered from Amazon and I use. It's called the Whole Feast. It's nose-to-tail protein. It's not quite as clean as the equip. And it's only in two flavors. There's only chocolate and vanilla. It's pretty good. There's also some other ones that are straight whey protein. So whey is really good for your muscle mass specifically for building and maintaining muscle. Clean simple eats has good whey. Like we just want a good clean whey, ideally, whey isolate. So protein powders. There are some vegetarian options that are available. Just ingredients has some of that. Yeah. Where they're going to be a complete protein. But a lot of the vegetarian are not complete. So be careful. The way to see if it's complete is to look at the nutrition facts of the bag on the bag or the box or the container or whatever. And see what it has in it. So there are nine essential amino acids, and you need to make sure that it has all of them in it. And if it does, they will usually brag about it on the label and say complete source of protein, nine essential amino acids. Yeah. So just make sure you check that. That was meat, eggs, really the egg whites, protein powder. And then number four and number five, in my opinion, are tied. One of them is Greek yogurt and one of them is cottage cheese. Oh, those are both good options. Yeah, they're great options. They're not a heavy meat that's hard on, you know, some people just don't like a lot in their belly, so they're feel lighter in your belly. You can flavor them sweet or you can flavor them savory. You can do whatever you want with them. They're very versatile. You can add them to other things and make treats instead of having a sweet treat. It's a protein-based treat. Yeah. Like a pumpkin cheesecake that's made with cottage cheese. That's a great treat. Sorry, going off on that. But yeah, they're great. They're very versatile. Here's another one for you. Here's this for a cottage, not a cottage cheese, a cheesecake-like dessert that's protein-based. A cup of cottage cheese blended with a cup of frozen berries. It's amazing. And it's like a berry cheesecake. Yeah. Yeah. Super easy. Yeah. Anyways, back we back to the main topic. You can get very creative or not. Some people just eat steak and eggs and steak and eggs and steak and eggs. That gets boring for me. Yeah, and you need different sources. So Greek yogurt. Greek yogurt is higher in protein than regular yogurt because it's been strained. It's basically condensed. Yeah. Yeah. So they strain the liquid out so it's nice and thick, almost sour cream-like. I love Greek yogurt. Yep. It's delicious. It's delicious. Add some protein powder and some berries and a few nuts. That's delicious. Yeah. That's off topic. So those are my five favorite, like the five main categories of protein that I look for. Any other foods that have protein in them, I look at as extra credit protein. Let's talk about colostrum. It is a hot topic in the world these days. We're going to talk about Equip Foods Core Colostrum. Each scoop contains three grams of grass-fed, pasture-raised, antibiotic-free colostrum, where most on the market only contain one gram. Colostrum is a nutritional powerhouse that has been shown and proven to enhance immune function, gut health, and recovery with vital nutrients. So what exactly is it? Colostrum, also known as first milk, is produced immediately following a newborn birth. It is vital nutrition, providing all the nutrients and fluid a newborn needs in their early days. It also applies to all people. We all need that nutrition. Equip foods core colostrum is a type A1 and A2 milk, which is the highest tier milk you can get. Also, while chloricolostrum is a dairy product, it does not contain milk or lactose. So most people with lactose intolerance usually find colostrum very digestible and beneficial to gut health. Now I know you're wondering how you use it. It's so easy. You just need one scoop per day and you can add it into tea or coffee, you can add it to a protein shake or to yogurt, or you can even add it into your favorite baked goods. It's also cost effective. So it's core colostrum is about 51 cents per serving compared to 91 cents per serving or more on for competitors. So if you go to equipfoods.com and use the promo code D times2 or DX2, you'll get a great discount. So extra credit protein. Yeah, extra credit protein. I've had people tell me, oh, I eat lots of cheese and peanut butter. No, that's not protein. That's fat and carb with a little tiny bit of extra credit protein. Yes. The the peanut butter, especially. It does have more protein in it than peanut butter. But it's not a protein source. If you were using cheese as your protein source at your meal, that's not enough. It's gonna be a sad tummy again. Like it's too much cheese. Yeah. Or if it's lentils or beans, like there's protein in there, but it's extra credit protein. Usually unless you're a vegetarian, usually that's not gonna be your sole source. It's just in addition to your main protein source. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. I like chia seeds for some extra protein. And I also like hemp parts. Hemp parts have a little bit extra protein. And I stir that into my yogurt. Sometimes I put them in a smoothie. Yep. It just adds a little bit, adds a little bit of diet. Fiber and some protein. Also a little bit of good healthy fat. Yeah. So those ones are a combination of fat, carb, protein. That's why they're not the most dense protein sources, like I talked about before. Because they're spread out. Yeah. Yeah. So meat is like it really is just 90% protein with some minerals, some vitamins and minerals in there too. Depending on how fatty the cut. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm going to agree with you on your sources of protein. She listed them out nicely, but I agree. Meat is number one. It's because I list them out every day all the time for all my people. Eat your protein. I beg people to eat protein because it's one of the things that people are literally the most like if they just made that, like drink water, get sleep, eat protein, you'll do better. That's it's interesting to me because most of my meals are built around protein. But we're we grew up different. We we did. I just can't imagine how not having some kind of protein at my meal, like the eggs, or protein shake in the morning, or leftover steak from the night before. That's just how you are and what you do and what you've done. But I have people literally like I'm gonna say retirees. They've lived a whole life, they've raised families, they have cold cereal for breakfast, they have peanut butter and jam with chips for lunch, and they have diabetes. Yeah, they're eating themselves into diabetes. And I'm like, just please, yeah, please have some protein. Like, let's do it. It's easy. You don't even have to change everything, just like let's put it in there and have you prioritize the protein. Yeah. And then have the other stuff next to it or in addition to instead of the only thing. Because you're not getting any of the building blocks and you're breaking down and dying. Literally. Like we're all gonna die, but let's be as healthy as we can when we get there. For sure. I'm all for that. Yeah. Okay, so we've talked about why we need it. Good sources. Good sources. Now let's talk about how to eat it. Oh, not how to eat it. Deliciously. Deliciously is the way we want to eat it. The amount of protein we need. Right? Is that what we're talking about next? Let's talk about that. A good rule of thumb. General rule of thumb. You should see her face at me right now. I'm waiting to see what you say. The general rule of thumb that I've heard from lots of health people is one gram of protein per ideal body weight. Per pound of ideal body weight. So if you're a woman and you want to weigh 150 pounds, you eat 150 grams of protein. If you're a man and you're 300 pounds and you want to weigh 250 pounds, eat 250 grams of protein. So that is part of the long-established rule of thumb for protein. It's generally 0.8 to 1. 0.8 to 1, 0. Yeah. Okay. 0.8 grams per pound of lean, of ideal lean body weight, up to one gram. So usually one gram if you are more active and more muscular. If you're sedentary and not doing anything, you don't need as much to maintain what you don't have. Because you're not using it. Yes. Yeah. Okay. So if you aim for that one gram, it could be too much for you if you're not active and also trying to maintain your musculature. Okay. Another weight that's more like kind of more the more up-to-date method is she just told me I was out of date. Well, I told you it's a long-established pattern that that's been the guiding factor. So if you'll take your height in inches, if you're a woman, we start at five feet tall. If you're five feet tall, you want between 80 and 90 grams per day. Okay. So for every inch above five feet, you add an extra 10 to 20 grams. And that range has to do with that activity level and your build level. Okay. So if you're a frail little bird that doesn't do anything other than watch TV and I don't know what those people do. Hang around your house. Yeah. Then stick to the lower. So start at 80 grams and only add 10 grams of protein for every inch over five feet you are. So for example, I am five feet to four inches tall. So I need to add above that 80 to 90 grams. I usually aim for 105 to 130 grams per day. Okay. Okay. So if you're a woman, you want to go base 80 to 90 grams at five feet, add an extra 10 to 20 grams for every inch above that. Okay. You have to do your own math. Okay. If you're a man, the only difference is you start at five feet tall, but you're at 90 to 100 grams. And then you add 10 to 20 grams for every inch above five feet tall. Okay. You're trying in your head to do math for your husband. I can see the wheels turning. It comes out about the same. But the bottom line is you have a minimum and then kind of a maximum. So a range to aim for instead of I'm failing every day because I'm never hitting this number. And a lot of people never hit that number. But most people can get, like for me, I need at least 105. So if I'm eating three meals a day and I get 35 grams of protein at each meal, you got it. I'm good. Yeah. Yeah. That doesn't include a snack. Okay. Or anything else. Or her famous nighttime protein ice cream. Or that. Or right now it's winter time. So I'm not doing ice cream as much, but I'll have my protein hot chocolate. Excuse me, my protein hot chocolate in the evening. Mm-hmm. As a little nighttime snack. And it's straight protein. And it helps you get your protein out.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. Yep.
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:Does that math math for you? It mathed for me. Okay. And if you need help with that math, you can just ask ChatGPT. I'm this tall. Yep. Add this many things. But it shouldn't be too hard to figure out. So good. I like that. I like that it's a range instead of a hard number. Yeah. Yeah. That's because for like me, rapidity is hard. Yeah. The guidelines work well for most people. But do you want that whole, let's say for me, at least 105 grams. 105 grams all in one sitting? No. Too much for the body to handle at one time. Yeah. And if you get too much protein at once, your body will use what it can and it will convert the other to storage in your fat. More fluff. We don't want that. No. So, and then protein is one of the more expensive macronutrients to buy. So don't waste it.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So you want to think of protein pacing. Pacing it throughout the day. Figure out what you need. And then am I going to eat two meals, or am I going to eat three meals, or am I going to eat four meals, or am I going to have three meals and a snack? How are you going to do it? So I personally like to divide it up to basically four equal-sized meals. So none of them are really big, but it's enough to carry me through three or four hours. That's a great idea. I like that.
SPEAKER_01:Did we need to pause? Are we gonna get close enough?
unknown:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:So eating habits, space, like are you uh like at least do two meals. Please, at least do two meals because even that, that's a lot to try to get enough protein in in two meals. Three is gonna be better. Like I said, I like four. Some people like six. I'm never in my life gonna eat six meals a day ever. Dude, do you remember when bro? Like I remember something, like eat six small meals a day. Nobody has who has time for that, unless you're like a bodybuilder pre preparing for a show or something like that, and you need to book and get all of this in, like, but that's your life, right? But that's literally your life, yeah. Because you're lifting, you're eating, you're resting, you're lifting, you're eating, you're resting. That's their life. But like normal, every average, everyday people. I don't, I'm not gonna stop my days six times during the day to eat. But also, that essentially your body sees it as grazing, and it's continually in digest mode, and it can never shift gears, and it wants to digest and rest and digest and rest. Yeah, and eating that many times, your insulin levels never come down. So it's going to it's gonna make you more insulin resistant and pre-diabetic and all of those bad things. So just don't eat six meals a day unless, like, you're training for a bodybuilder, that tiny percentage of people. Yeah, and you know that's a pretty small percentage. So eat just spread it out throughout the day and let your body do its thing. Yeah, you're not eating just to have something good to eat. Food is to fuel your body. You are literally made up of what you eat. Everything that you put in your mouth affects every cell in your body. Yeah. So feed it something good and feed it appropriately throughout the day. There's a couple sayings, as you said, that that are just coming to mind. Food is fuel, food is medicine, and food can either be your best friend or your biggest enemy. I have one more. Nothing tastes as good as thin and healthy fuel. I'd like to say lean and healthy, because that's a little healthier than because like thin doesn't equal healthy, but yeah, I get lean and healthy. Yeah, we'll say lean and healthy. Lean and healthy. Strong and healthy. Yeah. So space it out throughout the day. Good idea. Yeah. And protein is the like the ingredient for healthy longevity. If you want to live stronger and longer and healthier and have good quality of life as you age, you must have the protein and you must have the muscle. And carbohydrates, no matter how good they taste, do not build muscle. Uh-uh. So you need protein. Yep. Awesome. I like it. So we talked about sources, why we eat it, how to eat it. There's something called protein sparing. This term, when I first heard it, didn't make any sense to me at all. Like I'm sparing my protein. Like I want to eat protein. So you explain it because you explain it way better than I do. Okay, I'll explain it because I've been familiar with this, we'll say philosophy for many, many years. And I have used it in my life for multiple years. The term is a protein-sparing modified fast. Okay, so you're doing a modified fast where you are essentially sparing, breaking down your own body's protein. That's where the protein's sparing. Because if you are not eating it, your body will break down your stored protein, which is your lean muscle mass, to get the protein it requires for normal daily function. Your heart is lean protein or lean muscle. You never want to get to a state where you're breaking down actively your own muscle. Especially your heart. Yeah. You need it. Yeah. You've got to like literally need it to live. Yes. Okay. So if you do a modified fast where you consume only protein, that will spare your body's protein breakdown. But like I said earlier, protein is catabolic. So it take it doesn't like the when you eat the protein in a fasting state and it's only pure protein, your body doesn't receive any of the calories. It has the building blocks it needs, but it can pull from your stored reserves to get the fuel it needs to fuel your day. Okay, so if I'm eating only protein and not consuming any carbohydrates or fats. Then my body will use the protein that I'm eating to build itself, repair itself, build good things. Yes. And it will use my stored fat for the energy. Yes. So I'll become leaner and stronger or more resilient. Yes. I like that. It's awesome. It's a great tool. I was just gonna ask you how often, because you can't do that every day. Absolutely not. Even like carnivore diet, people need to take a break. Well, because there's there's essential fats too. There's essential amino acids, but there's also essentially essential fatty acids. So you can do protein-sparing modified fast. Technically, your body sees it as a fast. Okay, so you can do you can do that. Another way to say it is a pure protein day. Okay. Okay. So for a lot of people, that makes more sense. The protein-sparing modified fast is a more clinically accurate scientific way to phrase it. Okay, let's go with layman's. But it's just a pure protein day. Okay. Okay. So if you eat the leanest kinds of protein you can get, say the egg whites, it's straight protein. Okay. It's gonna be a lower calorie day because there's just like you're gonna be too full, you'll you're gonna hit your protein needs limit before you get to even a thousand calories. Okay. So if you habitually eat that low in calories, you're going to wreck your metabolism. Your body's gonna catch on to what you're doing, it's gonna put the brakes on hard and stop pulling from your reserves and stop burning anything. Okay. Okay. So don't do it all the time. Yeah. So what's a safe way to do it? The safest way to do it is up to a total of three days in a week, the bigger, heavier, more fat that you have on the body, the more you can do three days in a week.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:You don't want to ever do three consecutive days. It's too long. You could do two consecutive days and then do another day where you're more eating at maintenance levels. Okay. So your calories coming up come up, your carbs and your fat comes up, your protein stays the same because the protein's the same all the time. Okay. But your body sees it's not going into a famine. There is still food available. I can keep burning off what's coming in. So do a maintenance day or two, and then maybe do another protein sparing day or pure protein day. So up to three in a week. Most people, like you, where you are at your weight, I wouldn't say do more than one or two in a week.
SPEAKER_02:Okay.
SPEAKER_00:But you can manipulate it however you want. Just make sure you're always hitting that base protein threshold. And you also need to include at least 30 grams of fat in a day to have your essential fatty acids for daily brain and hormone function. Okay. Normally you'll have that in any meat that you eat. But if you're only doing egg whites and like protein powder that's zero fat, you need a little bit of fat added. MCT oil or some avocado oil or something like that. Or for me, like I'll take linoleic acid, fatty acids, and I'll take evening primrose oil. Like I, or I'll eat a Brazil nut or two. Yeah. Yeah. So you can do that. You can cook your meat in butter or olive oil. Just a little bit on those days. No trench it. No, because you just a little bit, because you need like those 30 grams at the base, but you don't need more than that. If you get more than that, then you don't pull from your own stores. So if you're using this as a tool to shed some weight, and we want to have it be fat weight, not muscle weight, that's the way to do it. Cool. Does protein sparing make sense now? It's easier to just say a pure protein day. It sure is. Yeah. Yeah. That when the first time I heard that, I was like, but why want to eat protein? You're sparing your own body's lean muscle protein and not breaking it down. I like the term protein days a little bit better. Yeah. Very nice. We covered protein? We did. I think we covered it pretty well. I think we did too. Good job. Hey, well, I have a question for you. Okay. So what if you don't like egg whites? But you want to get you want to eat the egg whites because they are good protein. How can you eat them and like them? Okay, so that's actually a good question. Well, because well, I think what if you had like three egg whites and one whole egg? Because then you still have that little bit of fat. I was gonna say, when I do the pure protein, I often will do that as one of my meals. Okay. Well, there you go. That's my answer. So you buy just plain egg whites. I buy just plain egg whites all the time. And I'll pour the liquid egg whites in with one whole egg. But there are also these magical recipes on the internet that are like egg white bread. Oh yes, I see. Or egg white angel food cake. And you can the sweeteners that are used in them is like allulose or stevia. They're zero calories, zero impact impact on blood sugar, but it changes it from tasting like egg white to tasting like cake. And you can eat the whole cake to get the protein you need, but it doesn't taste like egg white. There's also recipes I've seen where they'll do like scrambled eggs and do seasoning with it and chop it up so. So it's almost is like rice. Oh, interesting. For me, that doesn't work. But I'll do I'll do the protein bread and I'll do a slice of protein bread with a slice of turkey and a slice of protein bread and some mustard. And that's pure protein. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. Salt and pepper, obviously. So you can season it a little bit, but not overly season and not with something that's fake. Fake, yeah. Yeah. We don't want to season with chemicals, but you can season with real with onion powder, gar garlic powder, or that kind of thing. Good. Well, that sounds good. I think I'm gonna try that this week. One thing I would recommend if you are gonna do the pure protein days, is to shy away from the dairy proteins. Milk and yogurt and cheese. And the whey protein powder. Because for a lot of people, they may not realize it, but dairy can be inflammatory. And if it's inflaming you at all, you won't see any shift in your weight or your definition. Okay. So there are a couple of non-way proteins, like equip foods is nose to tail. Yeah. That one is like the entire animal, not just when I do a pure protein day, I use equip protein every time. Every time. As one of my at least one of my meals. I think that's that off the top of my head, that's the only one I know of. Like just ingredients is another is another protein powder I use, but it is not just, it's not nose-to-tail. I think it is and there's all more carbohydrate in that. And there's pea protein and other kinds of protein. So not that one. So equip foods. Equip is the only one I would use in that situation.
SPEAKER_02:All right.
SPEAKER_00:And then any kind of meat and egg whites. Maybe one whole egg. Alright. Yeah. Sweet. That means I can have steak for breakfast. I love steak for breakfast. Yeah. You can have scrambled eggs for dinner if you want. Like breakfast for dinner. Yeah. Good. Well, that was good information. If you guys found anything helpful in this episode, please give us a thumbs up, like the episode. Yeah, let us know. We're pretty active on social media. So if you find us there, let us know what you liked and what you'd like more of. Yeah, that really helps us. We're on Facebook and TikTok and Instagram. Everywhere. Come find us and message us. We'd love to hear from you. And if it if you think someone you know might find useful might find the useful, if someone you know might find some of the information useful, share it with them. Yeah, that would help a lot of people. And we are trying to reach as many people as we can, and we need your help. So please help share. Help us get the message out. Remember, too, that we always have resources linked for you in our show notes. So whether it's products that we love or if it's some of our downloads that we have available for you, check out the show notes and you use those resources. And then until next time, keep your wheel rolling smoothly. Bye. Thanks for listening to the D-Times 2 podcast with Denise and Deborah. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Be sure to subscribe and share it with someone who's ready to roll toward a more balanced life. Your support means the world to us. And just a quick note we're sharing our own experiences and ideas, not professional advice. Always do your own research and talk to a qualified expert before making big decisions. Until next time, keep your wheel rolling strong.