Is A High Protein Diet About To Destroy Your Health?
May 11, 2010 by Louis Locke
Filed under Weight Loss
Ketogenic or high protein diets cause a lot of weight loss very quickly. But this effect is somewhat deceiving since the majority of the weight loss is in the form of water.
Moreover, there are many other nasty side effects with high protein diets.
So, without further ado, here is how high protein diets can decrease your health:
1. Fast muscle catabolism: This process literally happens over night when you restrict carbohydrates. You see, without carbohydrates your body turns to its own tissues for energy. In other words, you put your muscle tissue on the dinner plate.
2. High levels of catabolic hormones: Primarily, cortisol levels sky rocket with high protein diets. So make sure you are well aware of this before jumping on the high protein band wagon. And remember that cortisol breaks down muscle in addition to depressing immunity.
3. Decreased mental speed: Your nervous system runs best on a steady supply of sugar. Without carbs, your body has to convert muscle protein into sugar-a slow process. So the best strategy here is to not take out carbs if you want best mental functioning.
4. Gloomy moods: Certain neurotransmitters in your brain need carbs to replenish themselves. So if you stop eating carbs, your mood deteriorates. This is one of the main reasons why fitness professionals suffer from extreme mood swings when restricting carbs.
5. Less intensity: For the absolute best workouts, your body needs full levels of muscle carbohydrates. Without them, you can’t reach your intensity potential. This in turn decreases the amount of calories your body burns outside of your workouts.
6. Decreased muscle tone: Without carbs, your muscles will not looked toned. There is no way around this effect. You see, your muscles look best when they are full of water and carbs. Both of these give them their tight and toned look.
High protein diets aren’t all their cracked up to be. You see, although they do cause very rapid short term water weight loss, they aren’t very good for your health. So take heed of the advice in this article!