Is a total protein diet good for permanent weight loss?

There has been a lot of news of diets with increased protein intake to promote weight loss. Protein and its role in a healthy diet is worth reviewing.

Why is protein so important and also, what is it? Protein contains amino acids, the building blocks used to build muscles, maintain and repair tissues and body organs.

These building blocks of amino acids cannot be manufactured by the body, they need to be taken in as food. Nine of them are called essential as they are essential to the body’s protein building process. They are: histidine (essential for children), isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.

Proteins can be found in plant and animal foods. The protein obtained from animal sources has a very similar composition to the protein in our own body’s. People who do not eat any animal products, can still get their protein from plants, but they need to ensure they eat a larger amount to complete the body’s requirements.

The body needs a certain amount of protein per day to meet it’s needs. The recommended amount is 8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. This is adequate for about 90% of the adult population. For men, this means about 63 grams of protein each day and for women, it’s about 50 grams of protein each day.

When children are growing, their need for protein increases. Nursing mothers, severely injured or seriously ill people and athletes also need more. Athletes especially, need to pay attention to their protein needs and some often add protein to their diet with protein powders. For the majority of the population, the typical diet we eat already had enough protein to cover our needs. If we take in more protein than what our body can use for energy, it gets converted to body fat. A typical diet should have between 10-20% of calories as protein. Those using greater amounts of energy, such as athletes need more calories (in the proper balance of protein, fat, and carbohydrate, not just protein).

So, if we already get enough protein, why are high protein diets so popular right now?

There has been a swing away from carbohydrates in the past few years as they are being blamed for the obesity problem. Protein and/or fats are increased in these diets when carbohydrates intake is lowered. The problem with this diet is that a high protein and high fat diet limits your intake of essential vitamins and minerals due to the low carbohydrate intake. This also reduces the intake of carbohydrates other beneficial protective factors against diseases such as cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure.

When a person on a high protein diet reaches very low levels of carbohydrate intake, the body reacts by producing ketones. This condition could be very dangerous. As well as the diet being low on carbohydrates, higher protein levels produce waste products when metabolized by the body. These waste products contain nitrogen that the body tries to flush out with water. Therefore having too much protein in the diet puts more pressure on the liver when it is breaking down the amino acids. The kidneys are worked harder due to the extra water needed to remove the nitrogen. Muscle mass is not increased as the extra protein is not used to build muscle but instead is converted to fat.

The body needs all of the nutrients that supply energy: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates.

Every individual nutrient has a specific purpose and are required by the body in specific amounts. If there is an excess in one nutrient it causes the body to go out of balance and the body tries to process what it’s given. An increase in any one of these nutrients, such as protein will cause the body to store fat.

With a Healthy Eating Program, to successfully lose extra fat, a person should at least consume about 75 grams a day of protein. This a higher level of protein than is typical in a standard diet because of the energy balance requirements. When the body has a negative energy balance (this means taking in less calories than are needed therefore weight loss occurs), the body then needs more nitrogen to balance out when there are not enough sources of other forms of energy (eg carbohydrates and fats). You can easily get enough protein in a Healthy Eating Plan when it’s made up of 15-20% of calories as protein. This ultimately means that eating more than 20% of protein is not necessary for a proper diet and has no additional benefits to health.

Should you reduce your carbohydrates to achieve permanent weight loss?

Carbohydrates include sugars, starches and fibre. Lowering carbohydrates in our diet has been given a lot of attention recently. Although limiting one type of food is not the easy solution to weight loss.

What is a low carbohydrate diet?

There are basically four nutrients that provide calories, proteins, fats, alcohols and carbohydrates. To maintain a healthy nervous system, you need carbohydrates. Carbohydrates also prevent ketosis. This is when the body breaks down fat for fuel due to there not being enough carbohydrates. This is a dangerous condition as ketosis can start to breakdown bone, as well as other tissue.

The cells preferred source of fuel that can easily be converted into glucose, is carbohydrates. They’re the first source of energy and are used quickly and easily. Except in severe cases of starvation, the brain won’t use any other form of energy. Carbohydrates must be supplied on a regular basis as the body does not store large amounts. The liver and muscles store only a small amount in the form of glycogen, which can only be used for a short amount of time.

Where do the carbohydrates we need to prevent ketosis come from?

Grains, fruits, cereals, beans, legumes and vegetable contain mostly carbohydrates. Any food made with sugar or flour such as soft drinks, breads, pasta and biscuits are also forms of carbohydrates.

Why limit the amount of carbohydrates to lose weight when they are so necessary?

There is a relationship between the ingested carbohydrate and the response of insulin. The hormone insulin controls how the cells take in glucose, how the body stores fat and when it reaches a higher level it is involved in arterial wall damage. The complications stack up, due to the fact that when we eat more carbohydrates, this causes more insulin to be released, this reduces the amount of glucose that enters the cells and therefore the glucose levels in the blood and the insulin level in the blood continue to stay high and causing more and more damage.

The solution isn’t simply eliminating carbohydrates from our diet. There is a hereditary factor when it comes to insulin resistance. It is also greatly influenced by how physically active we are and our body fat percentage. The greater the body fat percentage, the greater the insulin resistance. Conversely, the lesser the body fat percentage the less resistance to insulin the body is. Therefore, the solution to our body’s resistance to insulin (and a number of other health problems) is the maintenance of a healthy weight for your body type.

If we restrict our intake of carbohydrates this means that we have to obtain our calories from what’s left: protein, alcohol and fat. One of the problems with this scenario is if our diet is high in fat, this can lead to artery damage and ultimately heart disease. Coupled with this, a diet high in animal protein is taxing to the kidneys as they are worked harder to flush out the waste products from the digestive breakdown of the proteins.

There is one more very important downfall to restricting your carbohydrate in take. So many plant foods are being discovered to have preventative and protective constituents against, cancer, heart disease and many other diseases that chronically affect us in today’s world.

The rule to all this is balance.

You can very easily eat more than enough carbohydrates on the typical diet. It’s a major ingredient in a lot of foods. But remember, that having too much calories from any of the food sources: fat, protein, alcohol and carbohydrates will ultimately lead to weight gain, especially if you don’t increase your exercise level to match. This is especially important for those that have high triglycerides or diabetes.

To keep the carbohydrate intake in the right context, carbohydrates should be chosen that are full of vitamins and minerals, as in the case of whole grains, fruits and vegetables.