Eating protein might be extremely important for your overall health. Since protein is usually very good for your, many popular diets require you to eat foods that are good sources of protein. If you engage in serious physical activity, then you might need to eat even more protein than most other people do in order to have sufficient energy for your workouts and sufficient recovery following a workout. However, new research has found that it is actually possible to eat too much protein.
You use protein and amino acids for hormones, enzymes, tissue repair, musculoskeletal health, skin health, and blood health. If you do not get enough of it, you will face negative impacts to your liver, muscles, skin, bones, immune system, metabolism, and more. Protein deficiency can also cause your appetite to increase, which can make it difficult for you to maintain a healthy weight. Because of the importance of protein when it comes to health and weight loss, many popular fad diets require to replace other food groups with protein. Many of these fad diets can actually be extremely effective. The Atkins diet, for example, says that you should ingest fewer carbohydrates because sugars can be extremely unhealthy for your weight, heart, pancreas, liver, and blood vessels. By eating protein instead of carbohydrates, you can reduce your appetite, speed up your metabolism, and live a much healthier life.
People trying to ingest high amounts of protein in order to lose weight should just be aware that it probably will not help with your weight unless you also decrease the quantity of your food. You need to replace other types of food with protein and you also need to try eating less food in general. You should also try working out. Otherwise, increased protein intake can actually cause you to gain weight. The truth is that adding more protein in your diet is not going to help you lose weight; you just need a higher concentration of protein.
Various types of protein and amino acids are beneficial to different aspects of your health. Arginine is present in a wide variety of food groups and it supposedly enhances your sex life and blood circulation. Casein, a protein that is present in many dairy products, can speed up your metabolism. Soy protein is good for your cholesterol. Therefore, it is no surprise that various fortified dietary supplements contain these proteins. Although protein supplements often contain misleading information and the dosages and storage are not necessarily consistent with what healthcare providers would recommend, protein supplements can sometimes be a good source of protein for people who do not get sufficient protein from their diet.
For most people, a well-balanced diet will be enough to get you the protein that you need. Beef, poultry, fish, dairy, spinach, kale, quinoa, broccoli, tofu, beans, seeds, and nuts are all good sources of protein. However, recent research shows that men who chose diets with a high protein content were at a higher risk of heart diseases. One study found that protein rich diets made men 33% more likely to experience heart failure. Those who got most of their protein from animal products were 43% more likely to get heart failure. This number jumped to 49% for people who got most of their protein from dairy products. Meanwhile, plant protein only seemed to increase your risk by about 17%.
More research is still necessary in order to understand the exact mechanisms involved. After all, the protein in animal products may not be causing heart problems. The association between heart failure and protein might be caused by something else in animal products that has a negative impact on your cardiovascular system. Indeed, research has demonstrated that meat and dairy can increase your risk of heart attack and stroke because they contain a lot of saturated fats. Therefore, the current research is rather inconclusive, but it is enough to make you reconsider your sources of protein.
Whether or not protein can actually cause heart problems, it is still possible that too much protein can cause other problems. Protein can make you dehydrated because it contains a lot of nitrogen. Your body filters nitrogen out of your blood through your urine, which means that more nitrogen in your body requires more water to get it out. If you are getting dehydrated often and more easily, you might want to consider reducing how much protein you are eating. Otherwise, chronic dehydration due to high protein intake can cause kidney problems, cholesterol problems, constipation, liver problems, and muscle damage.
Too much protein can also result in brain damage, especially if you are using protein to help you with eating fewer carbohydrates. Since your brain needs sugars for fuel, replacing sugars with protein can make you feel confused, dizzy, or disoriented. Your brain can still sometimes function sufficiently if you are eating enough fats, but proteins are not going to be enough to fuel your brain. If you have other health problems, reducing your sugar and fat intake can cause longer term brain damage. Therefore, while too many carbohydrates or lipids can undoubtedly be harmful to your health, you still do need sugars and fats. Without them, you will experience diminished brain function and you also might start to feel more tired and lazy. You also need fats or sugars to give you enough energy for when you engage in physical activity, which means you should be suspicious of anyone telling you that high protein diets or protein supplements alone can give your workout a boost.
The reality is that everybody needs a well-balanced diet in order to maintain a healthy and functioning body. Too much of any food group can cause problems, so you want to make sure that you do not eat too much proteins. Fats, sugars, and proteins are all necessary for your health and, unless your healthcare provider specifically tells you to eat proteins instead of fats and sugars, you probably do not want to completely cut fats and sugars out of your diet.
