What is a protein diet and is it worth it?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Why is it good, how to choose the right option and not harm your health.

What is a protein diet?

A protein or high-protein diet (WB-diet) is a diet in which the daily protein intake exceeds the Protein and amino acid requirements in human nutrition Report of a joint FAO / WHO / UNU expert consultation (WHO Technical Report Series 935) at 0, 8 g per 1 kg of body weight, or more than 15-16% of the total calorie intake.

In fact, any diet with this amount of protein can be considered high protein, regardless of other conditions. There are many types of WB diets. You can conditionally divide them into three groups according to severity.

• Virtually no limits. You don't need to keep track of your fat and carbohydrate intake, as long as you eat enough protein. You can reduce the calorie content of the diet by 300-500 kcal, choose healthy foods, give up sweets and alcohol, but this is optional.
• Soft diets. Here you will have to count the exact amount of nutrients and give up some foods. However, the level of fats and carbohydrates will remain acceptable, and the list of allowed foods will be wide. The mild ones include the Zone diet and unnamed dietary regimes with a clearly prescribed calorie content and percentage of BJU.
• Severe diets. There are serious restrictions on the amount of fats and carbohydrates, or a strictly regulated list of foods. These include the Atkins diet, Ducan diet, keto diet, paleo diet.

In January 2019, U. S. News & World Report has published a rating of the U. S. News' 41 Best Diets Overall of the best diets. Health and nutrition experts tested 41 diets and ranked them according to safety and efficacy.

The soft WB diet The zone was in the middle - in 23rd place, and all the hard ones - in the tail of the list. The main reason for the low rating of such diets is that it is difficult to sit on them.

Why is it difficult to sit on it?

There are several reasons why a hard diet can test your willpower.

• Feeling unwell in the early days. Keto, Atkins and Ducan diets limit the amount of carbohydrates to 20 g per day. Because of this, most people suffer from the so-called keto flu: dizziness, weakness, headaches, nausea, vomiting, insomnia. These symptoms go away over time, but it can be difficult to get through the first week.
• Lack of familiar food. Avoiding carbohydrates means you won't be able to eat bread, cereals, and even fruits, let alone sweets. Ducan's diet, in addition to carbohydrates, also limits fats. So it is forbidden to eat not only all of the above, but also fatty meat, oils and cheese. On the paleo diet, you can eat fruits and vegetables, but you cannot eat any types of cereals, bread and dairy products.
• More money for food. Since all high-protein high-protein diets include a lot of lean meats and prohibit grains, pasta and potatoes, the cost of your menu can go up. Especially when you are sick of chicken and want to diversify the menu with beef, turkey and red fish.
• Difficulty cooking. If you live with a family, you will have to cook for yourself separately. It is unlikely that you will be able to dine in a cafe or canteen or buy ready-made food that suits your limitations.

With soft diets, such difficulties will not affect you. Unlike tough ones, they can become part of your lifestyle for a long time. However, both of them, under certain circumstances, can harm health.

How exactly can a protein diet harm your health?

An increased amount of protein has some health risks.

Kidney load

When you eat a lot of protein, the oxidation of its constituent amino acids increases the burden on the kidneys. Even a short intake of large doses of protein speeds up glomerular filtration, the first stage in urine formation, and changes the pH of the fluid. In the long term, it can damage the kidneys.

A high intake of animal protein has also been linked to the risk of kidney stones.

Risk of metabolic disorders

Dietary protein contains BCAAs or BCAAs. As BCAAs are processed, the body builds up A high ‑ protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats byproducts that interfere with fatty acid oxidation.

If the diet contains a lot of fat, as in the keto or Atkins diet, the body accumulates under-oxidized substrates, disrupts the action of insulin and increases the risk of metabolic disorders.

Deficiency of vitamins and minerals

This danger only exists for strict high-protein diets. Many carbohydrate-rich foods (fruits, vegetables, cereals) contain vitamins and minerals necessary for health.

Refusal of such food can cause a deficiency of nutrients. To prevent this, during the most severe phases of the diet, it is advised to take vitamin complexes.

So, not everyone can sit on a protein diet?

Yes, there are several conditions in which WB diets are contraindicated:

• Abnormalities in kidney function or a tendency to develop stones, as well as risk factors for renal diseases: hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease. To see if you are doing well, take a creatinine test, a HbA1C hemoglobin test for diabetes, and a urinalysis for proteinuria (the appearance of protein in the urine).
• Pregnancy. High protein intake during gestation can lead to High ‑ protein diets during pregnancy: healthful or harmful for offspring? to decreased fetal growth, increased blood pressure and increased cortisol secretion in response to stress.

Does it have any advantages? Why is she so popular then?

Probably the main plus of protein diets is the absence of a constant feeling of hunger.

Protein increases the A high ‑ protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats the production of satiety hormones and decreases the concentration of ghrelin, a hormone that increases appetite. Therefore, you consume fewer calories even without restrictions.

Moreover, protein of animal origin - from meat, milk, eggs - is absorbed better and provides a feeling of satiety faster than protein from plant sources - legumes, tofu.

So you just eat less?

Not only. In addition to suppressing hunger, WB diets help you burn more calories without exercise.

The fact is that protein is the most energy-consuming nutrient. It takes 3 times more energy to digest it than to process carbohydrates, and 10 times more than to burn fat.

The body can spend up to 70-213 kcal per day just to digest and assimilate protein.

Moreover, this substance helps to change body composition, which also affects the expenditure of calories. About 50-80% of all energy is spent by Body weight control and energy expenditure to maintain muscle mass, while adipose tissue consumes practically nothing. Thus, the more muscles, the more energy the body expends.

Dietary protein increases Effects of Protein Supplementation on Performance and Recovery in Resistance and Endurance Training muscle protein synthesis and prevents muscle loss even in a calorie deficit. However, if you want to build muscle, protein alone is not enough: you also need carbohydrates and strength training.

Are these all virtues?

High Protein Diet Controversies Surrounding High-Protein Diet Intake: Satiating Effect and Kidney and Bone Health for bones. Protein stimulates the production of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), a hormone that increases bone growth.

In addition, the protein reduces the concentration of parathyroid hormone, which promotes the release of calcium from the bones into the blood and activates osteoclasts - cells that destroy bone tissue.

Research confirms that a high-protein diet has a positive effect on bone health, especially the lumbar spine, and reduces the risk of fractures in the elderly.

Does it make a difference which protein diet to go on?

Of course. The better you choose your diet, the less you will suffer. First of all, pay attention to the following points.

Your food preferences

If certain foods are of particular importance to you, it is best to choose a diet where you can eat at least a small amount of them. This will make it easier for you to stick to a breakdown-free and stress-free diet.

So, if you cannot live without bread and cereals, choose a protein diet without a ban on carbohydrates or an option with a slight restriction, such as the Zone.

For fanatical meat eaters, the Ducan diet is suitable, and for those who also like fatty foods, the keto or Atkins diet is suitable. For those who are indifferent to dairy products, starchy foods and sweets, but love meat, fruits and vegetables, paleo is ideal.

Desired rate of weight loss

It is impossible to predict exactly how many kilograms you will lose on a particular diet - it depends on the characteristics of your body. Research provides only rough figures for the most popular options:

• Ducan's diet - up to 15 kg in 8-10 weeks;
• paleo diet - up to 7 kg for six months and up to 9 - for a year;
• Zone - from 2 to 7 kg for six months;
• a diet with a deficiency of 500 kcal per day and 1.34 g of protein per 1 kg of weight - up to 7 kg in six months;
• Atkins diet Effects of Popular Diets without Specific Calorie Targets on Weight Loss Outcomes: Systematic Review of Findings from Clinical Trials - from 2 to 7 kg in six months;
• ketogenic diet Effects of Low ‑ Carbohydrate vs Low ‑ Fat Diets on Weight Loss and Cardiovascular Risk Factors - about 6 kg in six months.

Sport or physical activity

If you prefer running, cycling, triathlon and other sports where you need to work for a long time at a heart rate of 150-160 beats per minute, low-carb diets are suitable: keto, Atkins. It has been proven that they can increase Keto-adaptation enhances exercise performance and body composition responses to training in endurance athletes performance in cyclic endurance sports.

If you are involved in team sports, mid-distance running, CrossFit and other activities in which you need to work at a heart rate of 160-170 beats per minute, carbohydrate deficiency will hit Low ‑ carbohydrate, ketogenic diet impairs anaerobic exercise performance in exercise ‑ trained women and men: a randomized ‑ sequence crossover trial according to your metrics. For such sports, paleo and other high-protein diets that are not limited in carbohydrates are suitable.