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The Downside of High Protein Diets
As seen on BCTV November 23/99
The premise with these diets is that a high carbohydrate diet raises blood insulin levels therefore increasing risk for numerous health problems including obesity, diabetes, fatigue and cancer and that a high protein does not.
There are many problems with this approach. A few are touched on here:
1) Diets with more than 20-25% of calories as protein can be ketogenic. In the early stages of the diet, because there is not enough carbohydrate, the body breaks down protein for energy and you lose lean muscle mass. But because this is dangerous, the body switches over to burning fat. Although burning fat is the goal, if fat is burned too rapidly, substances known as ketones build up in the blood. This causes the kidneys to work harder and you urinate more. This loss of water is often incorrectly believed to be fat loss. Some symptoms of ketosis are nausea, fatigue, reduced appetite, weakness and dehydration.
2) High protein diets are generally simply low calorie diets in disguise. They often supply a mere 800-1200 calories which makes for a nutritionally inadequate food intake regardless of the mixture of protein, carbohydrate and fat taken in.
3) Carbohydrates aren’t the only culprit for weight problems. Sure, most of us can benefit form eating smaller portions of carbohydrates, but too many calories and fat period can also cause weight gain.
4) High levels of insulin result not only from excess carbohydrate but genetic factors, obesity and not exercising.
5) A super high protein diet can be too high in artery-clogging, cancer causing fat.
6) Many of these “fad” diets are developed by people lacking credentials and they use technical jargon and scare tactics to sell their books or products.
To truly lose weight, you must move your body more through exercise, eat a varied diet and aim for about 50-55% of your calories as carbohydrate, 15-20% as protein and 25-30% from quality fat sources.
Watch for the Eating for Energy segment every Tuesday on BCTV’s Noon News Hour!
Article written by Patricia Chuey and reprinted with permission