If you have IBS, SIBO, or acid reflux, or any other digestive condition, you might be feeling confused about how much protein you should be eating…and which kinds of protein are best.

Good news: the nutrition cavalry has arrived, and we are here to help you figure out what to eat and when so that you can finally start feeling good. If you’re new around here, welcome! I’m Sara Kahn, a New York-based clinical Nutritionist who specializes in gut health. While my team and I don’t have a magic wand, our track record of empowering our past clients to kick their digestive symptoms to the curb makes us quite proud. 

How do we help? While every single one of our clients receives a personalized dietary protocol to address gut health issues like IBS, SIBO, or acid reflux, there are some common threads, starting with major confusion about how much protein is enough (and how much is too dang much).

In this blog post, you’ll learn how protein impacts your digestion in a big way, how much protein you should be eating to feel your best, and which sources of protein might be the best match for your digestion. 

Let’s dive in with a peek at what many of our clients are struggling with.

Meet our typical clients.

Our clients come to us for help with digestive issues. If you’re new to these conditions, I’d recommend you bookmark our guides – there is a LOT of helpful info for you to start using today.

Before they started nutrition counseling, most of our clients were not eating balanced meals…especially in the morning.

Most were eating carbohydrate-loaded breakfasts like a bagel (or skipping breakfast), then having a moderate serving of protein for lunch, and having the biggest serving of protein for dinner.

What is wrong with this scenario? 

Meals Without Protein Can Lead to Digestive & Other Symptoms (ack!)

What happens when you don’t have balanced meals? Meals that do not include enough protein and fat will set you up for hunger and fatigue within a couple of hours. And meals that are mostly carbohydrates will spike your blood sugar (also known as glucose) and then cause it to plummet shortly thereafter.  This drop in blood glucose sends a signal to the brain that you are hungry and need more food.  Not only will you be more likely to snack, but it can also increase your cravings for more carbohydrates…and the cycle repeats!

Does this sound like you?

When this cycle happens too often, excess blood glucose can lead to inflammation across the body. This is NOT good news. Inflammation can show up in many (unwelcome) ways, including weight gain, gut inflammation, acne, joint pain, and increased cholesterol levels, to name a few.

Not meeting your protein needs with EVERY meal can lead to (1, 2, 3):

• Anxiety and depression
• Being hungry and hangry
• Increased brain fog
• Worsening of GI issues due to an increase in gut inflammation
• Headaches and migraines
• Poor sleep
• And more!

Most clients believe these symptoms are related to their gut health condition, and they can be, but we find that they often improve tremendously when we start with the basics, and they have balanced meals. That’s why this is usually the first thing we recommend.

Going overboard at dinner with the protein isn’t better. When you have an extra-large serving of protein for dinner, this can be hard to digest, especially if you already have a gut issue like IBS. This is another reason why we often recommend spreading the protein intake out evenly throughout the day.

Is protein good for IBS?

Yes! 

Protein is especially important if you have a digestive problem such as IBS, GERD, or SIBO.

Protein does oh-so-many things. As we just discussed, meals with protein can help keep blood glucose levels steady, so with the right amount of protein at each meal, your energy and mood are steadier and more calm. 

But that’s not all that protein does! It isn’t just your muscles that are made of protein. We use proteins and their building blocks – aka amino acids – to make a lot of important machinery and moving parts in our body, including enzymes, neurotransmitters, and hormones (4). These are all really important biological compounds and are all essential to bodily functions. 

Can you have too much protein?

Yes.

It is possible to have too much protein. Despite its media attention, we are not about to recommend the Carnivore Diet or having way too much protein at once. Protein slows down digestion and requires a lot of stomach acid to digest. If you have far too much protein, your acid reflux (GERD) may be far worse. 

Too much protein can also cause constipation – ack!

So, let’s bring on the protein – enough, but not too much. How much do we recommend? Let’s grab our calculators and do some quick math.

How Much Protein Do You Need With IBS, SIBO, or Acid Reflux?

Of course, how much protein you need depends on numerous factors such as your age, your gender, your activity level, your health conditions, and so on.

Protein needs range from the bare minimum of 0.8 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for healthy but sedentary people to a maximum of 2.2 grams per kilogram of bodyweight for elite athletes (1). To convert your weight in pounds to kilograms, use this formula: Weight in pounds/2.2 = kilograms. So 150 lbs = 68 kg.

• If you weigh 150 lbs, we’d recommend a minimum of 54 g of protein per day.
• If you weigh 200 lbs, we’d recommend a minimum of 73 g of protein per day.

If you’d rather skip the math, use this online protein calculator to see your recommended protein intake.

To be clear, we NEVER recommend having just the bare minimum of protein. Depending on the client, we typically recommend at least 1.2 – 1.5 grams/kg in protein. In our practice, we have found that most of our clients feel and function best with this amount of protein in their diet.  

Who May Have Higher Protein Requirements?  

Most everyone (5, 6, 7)! Those who may need more than the minimum 0.8 grams per kilogram of body weight include:

• Everyone who doesn’t want to lose muscle mass 
• Older populations require more protein to help retain muscle mass.
• Chronically ill or injured populations require more protein to repair muscle and tissue (depending on the condition).
• Athletes and those wanting to build muscle require more protein to build and repair muscle.
• Pregnant & lactating women need more protein to meet the demands of the growing baby.
• Those wanting to lose weight (to avoid losing muscle mass in the weight loss process).
• Vegans and vegetarians have higher protein needs because plant sources of protein are not as digestible as animal-based proteins.

You may have higher than average protein needs, but be mindful not to exceed your protein requirements.  Just like excess carbohydrates and fat, excess protein can also be converted to fat. 

Who May Have Lower Protein Requirements?

Those who may need to stick with the lower end of the protein requirements include:

• Potentially those with chronic kidney disease (8)

When to Eat Protein?

When you have IBS, SIBO, and acid reflux, it’s important to spread protein in our meals throughout the day for balanced blood sugar, but also because digesting large amounts for dinner is hard on the GI tract.

We also want to retain the muscle we have or build muscle, right?  In order to stimulate “muscle protein synthesis”, which is a fancy term for building muscle, we need to ingest between 20 – 40 grams per meal (9).   So it’s best to spread out your daily need for protein throughout the day.

IBS Protein Sources

What does 20-40 grams of protein look like?  

Mix and match these protein sources to create meals with 20 – 40 grams of protein, depending on your needs:

• Organic chicken or turkey breast – 25 grams per 3-ounce serving
• Fish like wild salmon, sardines, tuna, halibut, cod, etc., – range from 21 – 24 grams per 3-ounce serving
• Grass-fed beef steak – 26 grams per 3-ounce serving
• Greek yogurt (unsweetened) – 23 grams per cup
• Cooked lentils – 18 grams per cup
• Beans (navy, black, chickpeas) – about 15 grams per cup
• Hard cheese like cheddar & Swiss – 8 grams per ounce
• Nuts and seeds – range from 6 – 9 grams per ounce
• Nut and seed butters – range from 6 – 8 grams per 2-tablespoon serving
• Eggs – 6 grams each
• Protein powders – varies by brand – keep reading for specific guidance about protein powders

Don’t forget there are smaller amounts of protein in grains and vegetables, so those foods can help you meet your protein needs as well as help you reach your fiber goals. How Much Fiber Do You Need With IBS?

Which proteins are easiest to digest?

Not all proteins feel the same to your digestive tract.

As you’re working to build your protein routine, you might want to start with proteins that are a bit more gentle to your belly. Easier to digest proteins include ground poultry, fish, eggs and tofu. 

Once your symptoms are lessening, you can test your tolerance for proteins that are a bit harder to digest. Harder to digest proteins include muscle meats (think steak, chicken breast, or a pork chop).

And as much as we love helping people to reach their fiber goals, we have to proceed a bit more gently with plant-based proteins. With IBS and other digestive conditions, legumes and nuts can be harder to digest. Part of the challenge is FODMAPS – let’s explore those next.

Protein on a Low-FODMAP Diet for IBS & SIBO

If you are on a low-FODMAP diet for IBS or SIBO, keep in mind that most animal-based proteins, such as poultry, fish, meat, and eggs, are low in FODMAPS with the exception of high-lactose dairy products like milk and yogurt. Low-lactose dairy products such as lactose-free milk, lactose-free yogurt, as well as hard cheeses such as cheddar, Gouda, feta, and goat cheese, are low in FODMAPS (10).

Plant-based proteins such as tofu and tempeh are low-FODMAP. But some plant-based proteins, such as lentils and beans, as well as some nuts, are high in FODMAPs. In large amounts, these types of proteins may be hard to digest and may cause symptoms such as gas, bloating, and diarrhea.

What about protein shakes?

Protein powders can be a really helpful tool to have in your toolbox – we recommend protein powders for our clients all the time. However, we are pretty selective about which products we give a thumbs up to.

Our most important criterion is that the protein powder be a single ingredient. For example, the powder should be just whey protein or just pea protein. We NEVER recommend a protein product with multiple ingredients. Why? The additional ingredients could make your digestion far worse. 

Hot tip: skip the other protein-packed products. We can’t ignore that protein is having it’s moment in the social media spotlight. On the one hand, this is helpful for folks to learn how to better nourish their digestion and bodies as a whole. The risk is that protein is being added to lots of processed foods such as bars, shakes, and even cereal.  And while we do recommend easy-to-digest sources of protein powder to make your own smoothies, we caution against other highly processed foods because they often include other ingredients known to cause symptoms, such as artificial sweeteners, preservatives, emulsifiers, etc.

Spot Check Protein in Your Diet

Tracking your food intake via My Fitness Pal or Cronometer can be a good way to see just how much protein you are eating.  And for making sure your breakfast has enough protein. Yes, it’s a pain, but it is a worthwhile exercise when starting a new food plan. 

Take the Next Step Toward Digestive Relief

Getting your protein intake right is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to managing IBS, SIBO, and acid reflux. While protein is crucial for stabilizing blood sugar, reducing inflammation, and supporting overall gut health, many of our clients find that following a structured low-FODMAP approach makes the biggest difference in their symptoms.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by conflicting information about what to eat or have tried a low-FODMAP diet before without success, you’re not alone. That’s exactly why I created the Low-FODMAP Diet Simplified Program—a comprehensive toolkit that takes the guesswork out of healing your gut.

This step-by-step program includes customizable food lists, delicious and simple recipes, structured reintroduction guides, and personalization recommendations for your specific symptoms. Whether you’re dealing with constipation, diarrhea, or acid reflux, you’ll have everything you need to create a gut-healing diet that actually works for your body.

Ready to stop feeling confused and start feeling better? Get instant access to the Low-FODMAP Diet Simplified Program and take the first step toward lasting digestive relief.

Note: This blog was originally published in August 2023. It was updated and republished in August 2025.