Can you see that these three pictures are the same but different? What’s the same? What’s different? To state the obvious, this chap gets more complete as we go from the skeleton, to the skeleton with muscle, and finally to the skeleton with muscle, skin and clothing. Well, let’s say he’s dressed for the pool rather than the upcoming WLS Symposium if you catch my drift. My point today is about the difference in quality or completeness of proteins in your eating pattern – in other words the density of your proteins.

Density of a protein considers the extent of amino acids in that protein. The amino acids are the individual building blocks of that protein. Dense proteins contain all of the key amino acids known as essential, while lower level or less dense proteins are missing some. That’s like thinking that dense proteins have all the letters of the alphabet while some letters are missing among the lower grade proteins. That’s a concern for a few reasons around your muscle integrity, appetite management, as well as overall energy levels, immune function and wound healing.

Can you remember the early days after surgery? Maybe you’re at that stage right now – progressing from puree to soft foods like scrambled eggs, chicken thighs, minced meats or seafood such as shrimps or prawns. Did you find you could eat less mince or chicken thigh compared to foods you were eating on puree including yoghurt? What about compared to green vegetables, if you were having vegetable soup without much else apart from a bacon hock added for self-assurance that there was some protein in the mix? If so, were you wondering why the dense proteins were so unpleasant? Were you developing a dislike for those heavy-sitting foods compared to the easier to get down options like that protein-poor vegie soup?

At the end of the day (or each meal in this case), soft dense proteins like chicken thigh or mince will lead to a feeling of fullness faster than foods lacking quality protein as they take the body longer to digest –supporting appetite management as well as giving your body all of what it needs for maintaining healthy hair, skin, nails, muscle and your overall energy levels.

Protein is to a human what a mechanic is to that person’s car. If someone’s falling short on their daily protein needs (or choosing a dodgy friend of a friend ‘mechanic’ to maintain their car), their body will break down their own muscle for finding the amino acids it needs to perform daily maintenance tasks overnight (i.e. blood cell regeneration, hair growth, bone strengthening and so forth). When this happens on a regular or daily basis, that person can feel quite sapped of energy and an old habit of seeking a sugar-fix for a burst of energy returns...

I see this happen often among patients between the 12- and 24-month review points. Before long, their minds start craving more sugar/sweet foods at the expense of good quality protein meals and the unhealthy habit of carbohydrate/sugar displacing the protein goes on. That means their muscles get smaller while the extra sugar being eaten gets turned into fat and that can trick the mind when looking at the scales and seeing the same weight. Basically, the weight lost from muscle breakdown is replaced by the weight of fat stores being gained…and so the road to regain begins. That’s why I’m so picky about being the broken-record for ensuring a good quality protein is included at main meals on the weight loss surgery journey.

Many of you might see me as the protein policeman. I’m like that because I care so much about helping you along your journey. I know dense protein can be tough to eat, but I can’t rabbit on enough about the importance of using your mindful eating technique to ensure you give yourself every opportunity to tolerate the good stuff which you’ll hear me calling gold-level (dense) protein. Rather than trying to eat the notoriously tricky meat like steak or chicken breast, remember to use moist cooking methods like the slow cooker or pressure cooker and use softer, more tender cuts like chicken thighs/drums, or use minced meat to make your own meatloaf with gravy, bolognaise, or meat patties with an accompanying sauce/gravy. The WLS Shepherd’s Pie is a real winner for taste too.

Plant proteins are a trendy topic right now. At best they are silver-grade proteins only though - and many are only bronze that lack all of what you need in terms of amino acids. I think it’s okay to have plant-based proteins for some meals each week, but try to have gold proteins more often in that same week. For example, you might have seen the new Wattie’s range of PLANT PROTEINZ now on the market. A whole 330g packet will only give you about 15g of plant protein which is less than your bare need of at least 20g total protein, so try tossing in a can of chicken/tuna or have some shredded chicken to use and you’ve got yourself a denser meal as well as a load of leftovers for freezing or taking to work the next day. Quick adaptations like that can make the world of difference and I’ll build on that thought in the next article.

All the best until then.