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
Make no mistake about it this protein loading diet provides a balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates and combined with high intensity strength training will be very effective in increasing muscular bodyweight without the need to ingest large quantities of protein.
Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss or muscle building e-courses.