By Anthony Kelley
" Protein Good, Carbohydrates Bad!"
Let me preface this first by saying that protein is the primary structural material found in every cell and tissue of the body. It is a vital nutrient, crucial for maintaining lean muscle mass, muscle tone, healthy hair and nails. Protein also aids in building anti-bodies important for staving off disease and infection; it assists in the assimilation of the mineral iron, especially essential for women to maintain good health.
For those of you that are looking to modify your eating habits and to manage your weight, protein helps in stabilizing blood sugar, cutting your constant cravings for munchies, and it is also known to release a fat burning hormone called glucagon. So there is very good reason to make sure that you are getting sufficient amounts of protein in your diet. But because of conventional wisdom we tend to think that if a sufficient amount is good, more must mean better, right? Wrong!
People are usually roped into high protein diets because those promoting them tout the positive effects of protein; unfortunately they fail to mention the negative and sometimes serious consequences of consuming too much protein. With most high protein diets carbohydrate intake is low; the first problem with this is that carbohydrates are the main fuel source for the body, and an inadequate amount can send your body into ketosis, meaning that it switches to burning fat for energy. In theory burning fat exclusively for energy sounds great until hard facts reveal that when the waste products from fat called ketones build up in the system they tend to be very toxic
Secondly since there is a true physiological need for carbohydrates such as brain function that requires as much as 25 percent of calories from carbs, it is also needed for the manufacturing of glucose (blood sugar) and glycogen (muscle sugar). What the body does not get from consuming carbohydrates, it gets it from breaking down the protein and turning it into carbohydrates.
The irony is that on a diet such as the Aktins or any low carb diet. Carbs are what you are looking to avoid.
The process of breaking protein down into carbohydrates involves detaching the element nitrogen that forms into the highly toxic ammonia; the body then protects itself by turning the ammonia into a less toxic substance called urea which is then excreted by the kidneys. If you take in amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein, beyond the body’s ability to remove the toxic waste, you then overload the kidneys and poison the blood. The results are dehydration, mineral depletion, lethargy, and inflamed kidneys.
The Atkins diet, still one of the most popular high protein diets being touted nowadays, compounds these side effects by combining large amounts of fat to their regime to replace the carbohydrates for energy. His theory is that this will switch the body into burning fat exclusively for fuel.
The problem with this is that high fat and high protein is a potentially lethal combination, creating higher levels of a protein called homocysteine, causing a much greater risk of heart disease and heart attack than even high levels of LDL (bad cholesterol). Other results of a high fat diet should go without being mentioned but just in case you’ve been living in a cave for the past 20 years I’ll clue you in. Hypertension, type II diabetes, cancer such as breast, prostate and colon, arthritis, stroke, high cholesterol, impaired gall bladder, kidney and liver function.
The end result is that the majority of the rapid weight loss from high protein diets is not from fat, but excessive fluid and muscle loss.
Then how do you determine how much protein you should have? Well, according to the R. D. A., the recommended amount is about 50 grams for the average sedentary female and 63 grams for the average male, but there is actually a fairly more accurate way of determining.
How much protein you should be consuming based on your individual need according to your size and physical activity? In calculating what seems to be a good rule of thumb is to multiply 0.5 grams per pound of body weight for the average sedentary person. For example 150 pounds times 0.3 - 0.5 = 45 - 75 grams. If you exercise at a low intensity multiply 0.6; grams, at a moderately high intensity 0.7; grams high intensity 0.8 grams. Why? Because higher amounts of protein are excreted in the urine, sweat and waste as the intensity of the exercise becomes greater and the need for more protein to maintain positive nitrogen balance in the muscles is increased to prevent muscle loss.
Incidentally a long distance runner who incorporates resistance training into his routine probably can stand to consume more protein in his diet than the average body builder who does cardiovascular exercise on an occasional basis.
So what is the best diet to be on? Well if you are talking about diet in the popular sense of the word, such as the quick fix schemes, fad diets, pills and potions then I would have to say there are none because diets in the traditional sense don’t work in the long haul. They only provide a temporary solution to what should be a life long way of living. Exercise done properly and good sound eating habits are the only proven methods that ensure permanent weight reduction, optimum health and total overall fitness.
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