I’ve found that keeping the protein levels as high as possible while significantly cutting both carbs and fat, using lean protein sources such as chicken, is the way for me to succeed at burning fat. But there are all sorts of beliefs out there in the nutrition circuit about protein, especially about the risks of having your protein intake too high. I decided that, given my current fat burning cycle, it was time to visit this tricky topic and look at a few articles addressing the protein issues.
Is plenty of protein-rich roast chicken good or bad?
- I’ll start with an interesting article from IronMan Magazine about Protein Power. It’s a good starting place since it touches on some of the research about how much protein we need, the benefits of taking protein (yes, there are benefits other than building muscle) and the best timing for protein intake. One point in this article did make me laugh. The authors suggest at one point that you want to take in a minimum of 1g protein per 1.5g of carbs but I take in under 50g of carbs so my minimum requirement would be 33g of protein, yet I aim to take in 1g protein per pound of bodyweight, which is over 110g of protein a day. You couldn’t get much different with those two figures, so I assume the article is written with people on a higher-carb diet in mind.
- Once you’ve got some basic technical knowledge from the IronMan article it’s time to move on to some myth-busting with 3 protein controversies you shouldn’t buy into. One myth I’m particularly pleased to see being trampled underfoot is the myth that too much protein is bad for your bone health. The article concludes that there is no evidence that a high protein diet weakens bones unless you are maintaining insufficient Vitamin D and Calcium levels. Personally I suspect there is an element of acid-base balance at play here when you consider that some of the foodstuffs providing the highest levels of protein also contain some of the highest acid scores.
- For an interesting technical point, Kurt Harris commented on an email he had from a reader who suffers from Type I diabetes. She had found that higher protein meals increase the need for insulin. It’s an interesting point and, if you want to know the science behind it a bit I recommend reading Kurt Harris’s post which goes into a bit of detail about why this happens.
- So I’m trying to get as much of my calories from protein but I was intrigued when I saw someone asking the question of what happens to excess protein – does it convert to fat like excess carbohydrates? At first I was disappointed by the response by the Body Recomposition blog which started out by declaiming that it couldn’t possibly happen in a real-world situation. I’m aware that it would be difficult to reach this situation but it doesn’t mean that I don’t want to know about it. However, the response does eventually get into a bit more detail and concludes that excess protein would turn to fat, but it is probably impossible to consume sufficient protein to end up in an excess situation.
- I really liked the pithy summary from Dr Briffa about protein as an aid to weight loss. He, like me, goes with a low carb, high protein diet for weight loss and believes that this works because protein is the most sating macronutrient and doesn’t cause the extreme mood swings that come from carbs. It’s a short post but worth a read if you are considering using a high protein diet for weight loss.
- Finally, for a bit of comedy, somebody sent Richard Nikoley a photo of the Starbucks “Power Protein Plate” containing a small piece of cheddar cheese, a slice of apple, a hard-boiled egg, some grapes, a whole-wheat bagel and some peanut butter. Yes, there’s some protein in that box, but if you look at the balance you’d probably find it was mostly carbs with an even balance of protein and fat. Hardly a “protein power” meal.
On that note I’m off for a nutritious and filling plateful of protein-rich roast chicken.
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