Protein in the diet

High protein, low-carbohydrate diets were popular in the US in the 1970's. As science began making associations between saturated fat, cholesterol and heart disease, physicains began recommending increasing complex carbohydrates as the basis of sensible eating. High protein diets, because of their association with meats (and fats) lost many advocates. Now, protein diets are once again popular.

Some of the high protein weight loss diet advocates continue to emphasis that the problem with the US diet is not related to anything but excess carbohydrates. The emphasis on a high protein diet is to replace the carbohydrate calories with more protein.

The difficulty of the high protein diets is to try and avoid the fat containing protein sources. The concern with some high protein diets is that they do not acknowledge the recent thirty plus years of research and still recommend too much of the wrong types of protein sources.

Recommended foods are on a high protein and low carbohydrate diet

Advocates of high protein, low carbohydrate weight loss diets recommend large quantities of protein in unrestricted amounts, including red meat, fish, shellfish, poultry, eggs, and cheese. They recommend eliminating or limiting pasta, bread, potatoes, fruit, many vegetables, plus any foods with large amounts of refined sugar.

High protein diets are effective at maintaining weight loss

There are studies that have demonstrated that overweight people who lost weight on low-calorie diets were able to maintain their weight loss more effectively by following a higher protein diet.

Some health concerns regarding high protein diets

Excess protein, is not stored as protein but rather is converted to fat. Additionally, the filtering of the blood that occurs in the kidneys is effected by excess protein. In other words, too much protein is hard on the kidneys and may lead to kidney damage by injuring the filtering networks of the kidneys. High protein diets should be avoided and are not recommended for anyone with a history of kidney disease. Care should be taken of follow the amount to protein a person is consuming while dieting and exercising.

Many advocates of high protein diets do not allow or suggest avoidance of foods that are now known to lower the risk of heart disease and many cancers. The high protein diet may also not be nutritionally balanced with not enough fiber, essential vitamins and minerals included in the diet plan. Some popular high protein diet foods may be high in cholesterol and saturated fat, which are now established as major contributors in heart disease and strokes.