Protein is necessary in our diets to provide essential amino acids (those you can't make, but have to obtain through food). Leucine is one of the essential amino acids that we require to make muscle tissue. If we have less leucine in our diet, we make less muscle. Leucine is also essential for proper insulin signaling, which is an essen­tial part of blood glucose maintenance. We need some­where between seven to 12 grams of leucine per day, with more being better. However, there's a threshold of 200 grams per day of leucine, so if you take more than this, you'll get no further benefits. In weight loss, you should design your meals so that each contains the mini­mum amount of leucine needed to make muscle tissue. This amount is two to four grams per meal.

The highest concentration of leucine in foods is whey protein with 14 percent leucine, while animal proteins provide eight percent.To get two to four grams of leucine from either meat or whey, you need to eat at least 30 grams of protein per meal (i.e., one scoop of protein [four grams] or three ounces of meat [two grams]). If we were limited to only 56 grams of protein per day, we would not meet our recommendations for leucine. Hence, Dr. Layman proposed that when carbohydrate intake is less than 150 grams per day, we need at least 120 grams of protein to meet our needs for leucine. At his level of leucine we can easily make muscle protein and keep our blood glucose levels stable.The majority of Dr. Layman's research has utilized a 40-30-30 dietary approach and it has yielded impressive results time and time again.

*1. Nutritional & Metabolic Aspects of Carbohydrate Restriction. 2006 Nutriton & Metabolism Society (NMS)
2. Scientific Sessions. Jan. 20-22, 2006, Brooklyn, New York.
www.nmsociety.org