Discover The Truth About Eating Too Much Protein
Lets face it protein is an essential nutrient, and is vital to
your health and is used to build muscles, skin, hair and nails.
However, many people put their health at risk by eating too much
of it.
The typical American diet already provides plenty of protein and
there is no point in adding any more, unlike fat cells, there is
no place in the body to store protein so the excess is
eliminated or is seen as fat rather than muscle.
So what you need to do is to consume just enough protein to
allow your muscles to be healthy, perform work and grow. But how
much is just enough?
You only use protein for about 15% of your energy use, the
majority of energy comes from fats and carbohydrates. Exercising
doesn't necessarily mean that you require more protein but more
carbohydrates to stop your body breaking down protein and using
that for energy.
Try to make sure that 70% of your protein comes from sources
such as meat, fish, eggs or poultry. The complete protein
provided by these foods combines with incomplete protein
consumed from other food sources. So your body makes the best of
all the protein that you consume.
If you are consuming too much protein, you are probably
consuming too many calories over your maintenance levels and
this will show as an increase in your body fat levels.
And with the advent of the latest fad high protein diets, not
enough carbohydrates are being consumed so the protein is
converted to glucose and not converted into muscle growth.
What is needed for muscle growth is not more protein but high
intensity strength training with the required amount of time for
rest and recovery between sessions.
Because that major bodybuilding star you saw in the latest
magazine requires 300 grams of protein a day doesn't mean that
you have to. What he won't tell you is that taking Steroids is
behind his muscle gains and not his diet.
High intensity strength training and not food stimulates muscle
growth
Consuming excessive amounts of protein is not only bad for your
liver and kidneys but also promotes vitamin and mineral
deficiencies. It is also linked to osteoporosis and some forms
of cancer.
One way to overcome the need to eat large quantities of protein
is to increase the consumption of protein in stages until a
maximum efficiency point is reached and then to drastically
reduce it again. This obliges the body to over-compensate by
increasing the efficiency for the absorption of protein into the
body. An example of a Protein Loading diet is found below.
Week One
Breakfast: Poached egg on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.
Snack: Fruit and protein shake.
Lunch: Chicken, potato, and vegetables. Fresh fruit salad.
Snack: Nuts, fruit, and biscuits with cheese.
Dinner: Fish any style, rice, vegetables, and whole meal bread
and fruit salad.
Week Two
Breakfast: Two poached eggs on toast, cereal with fruit salad
and milk.
Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
Lunch: Chicken with potatoes and vegetables (any style)
Snack: Nuts, fruit, biscuits with cheese.
Dinner: Roast Beef with vegetables, brown rice, whole meal
bread.
Week Three
Breakfast: Three eggs any style on toast, cereal with fruit
and milk.
Snack: Nuts, fruit, and protein shake.
Lunch: Turkey with potatoes and vegetables, brown rice, whole
meal bread.
Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
Dinner: