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2005. Awaiting revision 2007
Our National Obsession with Protein
As a society we are obsessed with protein in
the diet, and I believe we eat far too much of it. That's
a reason many kids are overweight. Kids under age three
only need about one gram of protein per pound body
weightper day, older children and teenagers need half
that. Given the content of protein in a Western diet,
these are extremely easy requirements to meet.
An important aspect of our eating plan is that protein is very
difficult to digest compared to carbohydrates and fats. When
present in significant quantities, protein not only slows down,
but also blocks the digestion of carbohydrates and fats,
leading to undigested food and obesity. Proper digestion is the
key to being slim.
Even The American Academy of Pediatrics Guide to Your Child's
Nutrition, a home nutrition reference, declares that "protein
is so abundant in the foods Americans eat, that most of us,
children and adults alike, consume more than we need. Protein
overload may be a more serious problem than protein
deficiency."
Despite this, we keep hearing that we need more protein. In
fact, the current "pop" trend in dieting is to push protein.
When asked what should make up a balanced diet, even my kids
say that protein is good and fat is bad. And they add that you
can't ever get too much protein. Tell that to the kidneys of
America, bombarded with all that urea nitrogen and creatinine
to metabolize.
Our bodies are exquisitely designed to burn nutrients for fuel
in a very specific way. Carbohydrates are the main fuel source.
When they are depleted, the body chooses fats next, the one
nutrient designed specifically for storage and reserve energy.
When fats are depleted, protein, the body's main structural
component, is used, but only when severe depletion of
carbohydrates and fats occur, a state commonly known as
starvation or ketosis. Because protein for energy is primarily
used to build cellular structures - not to create energy -
metabolizing protein for energy is an incredibly inefficient
way for the body to produce fuel.
People who go on high-protein diets are, in
fact, starving themselves, which is why they are so
successful in losing weight in the short term. But it's
downright dangerous for the long term.
When the body metabolizes fats and proteins in the absence of
essential carbohydrates, toxic byproducts are produced. These
by-products are known as ketones or ketone bodies. When these
build up to a high enough level in the body, an abnormal state
known as ketosis is created. Those on high-protein diets desire
ketosis, although it is abnormal and unsafe. They can tell by
the way they feel, in fact, that they are going into ketosis
because they feel a "high," and when they feel this "high,"
they know their high-protein diets are effective. In actual
fact, this feeling heralds the beginning of a state of
starvation.
Physiologically, ketones behave very much like psychotropic
drugs. At low levels, they create a sense of euphoria - the
ketotic "high" well known to high-protein dieters. At high
levels, they produce sleepiness and disorientation. At even
higher levels, coma can result.
Diabetics who receive insufficient insulin can get into this
state quite quickly. The coma seen in newly diagnosed diabetics
is due to extreme ketosis, combined with the acidosis produced
when the body goes too long without sufficient
carbohydrates.
The difference between diabetics and high-protein dieters is
that diabetics actually consume carbohydrates, but because they
lack the insulin to drive glucose into the cells, they
replicate starvation on a cellular level. The result is a
break-down in fats and proteins producing ketosis, which can
lead to the so-called diabetic coma.
Obviously, untreated diabetes represents the most severe
example of carbohydrate deficiency. Yet, it is important to
realize that high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets can also
produce ketosis harmful to the brain and central nervous
system. Many who have tried these fad diets have experienced
the light-headedness and occasional fainting associated with
this unhealthy approach to eating.
To recommend high-protein diets to children and adolescents is
unconscionable. Complex carbohydrates must be the key to every
child's eating plan, as they are with the Slim & Fit plan.
They are crucial for the rapid energy production required by
active lives and allow for the proper balance of structure and
function required by the developing nervous system.
Still the perpetuation of the protein myth continues. Even the
mainstream media seems to have fallen victim to the advertising
clout of the meat and dairy industries. I feel sorry for
parents who must rely on what they read in popular magazines
and see on television for their nutritional information. They
look upon these sources as authoritative and therefore believe
everything they read in them. Should they believe everything
they read?
Not long ago Good Housekeeping magazine published a very
misleading article by a reputable nutritionist stating that
there wasn't enough protein in The New Beverly Hills Diet. The
author said that by concentrating on fruit and carbohydrates,
people participating in the diet ran the risk of protein
deficiency, scaring readers into thinking that their muscles
and organs would begin to break down if they followed the diet.
All this hysteria because the diet did not include that
wonderful American dietary icon - meat - in every meal. It
pleases me that at long last even Uncle Sam has given those who
choose to be vegetarian "permission." The federal government
has recently updated its nutritional guidelines telling us that
even vegetarian diets, as long as they are well rounded,
provide Americans with more than enough protein to maintain
healthy bodies.
[Next: Protain Alternatives]
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