In western society the amount of protein you should consume is confusing, some say eat a lot and others say don't eat too much.
Protein works with fat to increase muscle mass, have a leaner body, burn fat and allow you to stop eating carbohydrates as it fills you up.
More importantly it keeps your blood sugar level even, as I have stated many times it's the blood sugar that causes you to put on weight Protein is a part of every cell in your body.
Without it cells start to shrink and new ones can't be produced.
Protein is made up of 21 amino acids that are linked in a strand.
The digestive system breaks it down and allows it to be absorbed into the blood stream where it can be transported to repair and construct your cells.
Amino acids in your blood contribute to a sense of fullness, sugar blood levels balanced and burning fat (calories).
When you eat protein it uses twice the amount of energy to metabolise than carbohydrates and fats.
Therefore eating protein actually causes you to use more energy thus burn more fat.
With a diet high in protein you lose more weight because your blood sugar is level and therefore you don't have hunger cravings you feel more satisfied.
Atkins states that studies show 'higher-protein diets have been linked to prevention of obesity and muscle loss, as well as a reduced risk of developing metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes and heart disease'.
If you just focus on how many calories you consume regardless of the amount of fat, protein or carbohydrates that is in that mix to make up the right amount of calorie intake, you can lose weight but that weight loss comes in the form of losing muscle mass instead of losing the fat.
You end up in a bad cycle because the more lean muscle mass you have the more fat you burn resulting in less and less muscle mass which then becomes unhealthy.
In your body you are constantly breaking down protein and building it back up.
Therefore the key is to keep your lean muscle mass up by way of protein synthesis.
The more protein in your diet the more protein synthesis; the less protein in your diet the more protein breakdown.
The idea is to consume enough protein that there is more protein synthesis than protein breakdown.
Atkins also states from recent studies that 'higher-protein diets are associated with greater retention of lean body mass during weight loss - independent of calorie intake - providing strong evidence that diets lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein have beneficial effects on body composition'.
Protein is more effectively used with exercise.
The best form of exercise for protein uptake is resistance type of exercise.
This builds up body muscle mass but also utilises fat metabolism, therefore decreasing your body fat.
The more muscle you have the more fat you burn and the more protein you can utilise.
Protein is better absorbed when you eat it with fat, good fats that is, so every time you eat protein it must have some form of fat with it, which is why I like eggs so much.
They are perfect - they supply you with the 21 essential amino acids (the white part) and the yolk has cholesterol and fat, enabling you to absorb the protein and the cholesterol which is necessary for your hormonal cycle.
It's hard to believe that years ago we were told to stop eating eggs! The amount of protein you should eat is dependent on your height and body mass.
The UK's RDA says it should be 55g for adults and in the US it should be 0.
36g per pound of body weight for an adult, therefore an adult that weights 75kg that would be 59.
52g.
The RDA is the minimum amount of protein intake per day, but other factors affect the amount of protein you need in your diet, such as exercise, stress, age, gender, if you are pregnant or still growing.
If you want to lose weight the protein intake should be above the RDA research shows.
Men need about 44 - 55g per day and women need about 36 - 45g per day.
However children form the age of 4-6 need approximately 15 - 20g per day and children form the age of 7 - 10 need about 23 - 28g of protein per day.
Most protein sources have a little bit of carbohydrate and some fat in them, the following is a list of how much protein is in each source:
Protein works with fat to increase muscle mass, have a leaner body, burn fat and allow you to stop eating carbohydrates as it fills you up.
More importantly it keeps your blood sugar level even, as I have stated many times it's the blood sugar that causes you to put on weight Protein is a part of every cell in your body.
Without it cells start to shrink and new ones can't be produced.
Protein is made up of 21 amino acids that are linked in a strand.
The digestive system breaks it down and allows it to be absorbed into the blood stream where it can be transported to repair and construct your cells.
Amino acids in your blood contribute to a sense of fullness, sugar blood levels balanced and burning fat (calories).
When you eat protein it uses twice the amount of energy to metabolise than carbohydrates and fats.
Therefore eating protein actually causes you to use more energy thus burn more fat.
With a diet high in protein you lose more weight because your blood sugar is level and therefore you don't have hunger cravings you feel more satisfied.
Atkins states that studies show 'higher-protein diets have been linked to prevention of obesity and muscle loss, as well as a reduced risk of developing metabolic syndrome, type-2 diabetes and heart disease'.
If you just focus on how many calories you consume regardless of the amount of fat, protein or carbohydrates that is in that mix to make up the right amount of calorie intake, you can lose weight but that weight loss comes in the form of losing muscle mass instead of losing the fat.
You end up in a bad cycle because the more lean muscle mass you have the more fat you burn resulting in less and less muscle mass which then becomes unhealthy.
In your body you are constantly breaking down protein and building it back up.
Therefore the key is to keep your lean muscle mass up by way of protein synthesis.
The more protein in your diet the more protein synthesis; the less protein in your diet the more protein breakdown.
The idea is to consume enough protein that there is more protein synthesis than protein breakdown.
Atkins also states from recent studies that 'higher-protein diets are associated with greater retention of lean body mass during weight loss - independent of calorie intake - providing strong evidence that diets lower in carbohydrates and higher in protein have beneficial effects on body composition'.
Protein is more effectively used with exercise.
The best form of exercise for protein uptake is resistance type of exercise.
This builds up body muscle mass but also utilises fat metabolism, therefore decreasing your body fat.
The more muscle you have the more fat you burn and the more protein you can utilise.
Protein is better absorbed when you eat it with fat, good fats that is, so every time you eat protein it must have some form of fat with it, which is why I like eggs so much.
They are perfect - they supply you with the 21 essential amino acids (the white part) and the yolk has cholesterol and fat, enabling you to absorb the protein and the cholesterol which is necessary for your hormonal cycle.
It's hard to believe that years ago we were told to stop eating eggs! The amount of protein you should eat is dependent on your height and body mass.
The UK's RDA says it should be 55g for adults and in the US it should be 0.
36g per pound of body weight for an adult, therefore an adult that weights 75kg that would be 59.
52g.
The RDA is the minimum amount of protein intake per day, but other factors affect the amount of protein you need in your diet, such as exercise, stress, age, gender, if you are pregnant or still growing.
If you want to lose weight the protein intake should be above the RDA research shows.
Men need about 44 - 55g per day and women need about 36 - 45g per day.
However children form the age of 4-6 need approximately 15 - 20g per day and children form the age of 7 - 10 need about 23 - 28g of protein per day.
Most protein sources have a little bit of carbohydrate and some fat in them, the following is a list of how much protein is in each source:
- Lean meat (Bolognese sauce contains 28g of protein)
- Poultry (a roast chicken breast contains 27g of protein)
- Fish (average portion of cod 24g of protein)
- Cheese (cheese sandwich 17g protein)
- Eggs (average boiled egg 6g protein)
- Pulses (3 table spoons boiled red lentils 9g protein)
- Tofu (100g contains 23g protein)
- Bread (1 slice wholemeal contains 3g protein)