What Is Protein, and What’s in It for Me?
This issue we are taking Agenda readers on a revealing tour of protein as we delve into what protein is, why you need it, the buzz behind protein diets, and how they really work.
So What Is Protein?
There are three major (macro) nutrients our bodies require to keep us in royal health and balance: fats (lipids), carbohydrates, and protein. All forms of meat are dominantly protein, but you can find variant amounts of protein in just about anything that grows, as protein is the base for the growth of life. Protein’s primary function in our bodies is to serve as a building tool. Protein itself is created of subunits called amino acids, the true building blocks. Think of amino acids as puzzle pieces. There are 20 different puzzle pieces in total, and a different combination of puzzle pieces creates a different picture with its own unique purpose. There are 9 essential amino acids our body cannot create and must obtain from our diet and 11 that it can acquire all on its own. All 20 puzzle pieces are vital for normal growth and daily function, as well as critical for peak health and fitness.
So Why Do I Need Protein?
1) Structure
Each variant combination of amino acids serves a different purpose in your body, ranging from building your muscles, growing your hair, and repairing you to helping to create hormones and keeping skin youthful. Protein gives your body structure. It literally keeps your teeth in your gums, keeps your organs together, and shapes-come-hither curves that beg for summer sun. Collagen (the secret to young beautiful skin) actually makes up for 25% of the protein in your body, making protein very significant.
2) Regulation
It also serves to regulate your body’s hormones, enzymes, immune system and fluid balance. Inadequate protein in your diet can cause frequent illness, low energy, poor digestion, dehydration, slow recovery times, reduced sex drive, mental fog, and a host of other problems. These problems are a result of your body simply needing to do a job and not having the building blocks it needs to complete its task. When your body needs any of the 9 essential amino acids due to insufficient diet, it will break down healthy, active muscle or organ tissue to retrieve what it needs. Your body will trade some of your nice arm muscle in order to keep you breathing. Tissue breakdown (catabolism) results from imbalanced nutrition, compared to physical demands, significant calorie reduction, or starvation. Your body will begin to recycle itself to survive. Worst yet is the fact that muscle deterioration dramatically slows down metabolism because muscle tissue is a powerful calorie-burning engine. The less muscle you have the slower your metabolism, meaning you can eat less and gain weight easier. This is very typical in most dieting American women who cut calories too low, sacrificing muscle. Low muscle women who are on a dieting cycle merely look at food and gain weight because their bodies are less equipped to process the food, leading to greater storage. Yes, these women are losing weight, but muscle weight. In exchange for losing 5 pounds of muscle she will now need to eat 250 calories a day fewer to stay the same weight. One pound of muscle burns 50 calories a day extra, so a lean toned protein-filled body is allowed to eat a lot more to stay a lot more beautiful. Remember that although muscle weighs three times more than fat, it is also three times smaller, creating a fine tight appearance. Go protein!
3) Energy
Protein finally serves as a potential source of energy. Your body loves to use carbohydrates and fat as a primary source of energy, while protein is left for last. Your body stores about 500-1500 calories of carbohydrates throughout your body in the form of glycogen for immediate fuel access, and it stores fat in all the places you love to hate; but your body does not store protein. Your body prefers to use carbohydrates as a primary source of energy for intensive physical demands and higher functions (brain and nerves), as it is a fast and efficient source of fuel. Fat (lipids) is also an excellent source of energy, but it is primarily used for less intensive physical demands and non-glucose dependent cells (like muscle cells). You use fat for energy as you sit at your desk doing your work. Fat burns longer but much slower, obviously, or we would all look like Greek statues. Last on the chain of command is protein which is not a great source of energy as it takes the longest to convert into a usable form of fuel for our bodies, and still it is inferior as fuel compared to carbs and fat. Your body works three times harder to convert protein into usable fuel in comparison to carbohydrates, one of the reasons for high protein diets becoming so infamous for fat loss.
Protein for Weight Loss?
So how do low carbohydrate / high protein diets work? Well, they basically convert your carb-burning body into a fat-burning body through manipulation. The science lies in your liver, which converts carbs you ingest into glucose for immediate energy or stores them in your liver as glycogen. The liver will release glucose (immediate fuel) into your blood system for cellular energy and stored lipids (fat) into your system for simpler non glucose dependent cells (like muscle cells), conserving glucose for needier cells. Your liver can store an estimated 12-hour supply of fuel; but once it runs out, it begins to convert amino acids (protein) into glucose (immediate fuel). The more complex cells (brain & nerve) need more than this protein fuel so your body begins to convert the released fat energy in your blood into what is known as ketone bodies (upgraded fat energy). Your brain and nerve cells are now forced to partially accept this less effective fat energy (ketones), and the body is now forced to use only fat and protein for energy (ketosis), resulting in dramatic body fat depletion.
So What’s the Catch?
The catch is that this inferior process forces your liver to do an incredible amount of stressful work, leading to possible permanent liver damage in extended trials. This inferior energy source also causes mental fog, significantly slower reaction times, dramatic fatigue, and a host of other problems as your body is basically being stressed out. Worst of all is once you return to normal eating from a prolonged period of this dieting method, your body will hyper load and retain fat in self-preservation, just in case you attempt this again. You rarely permanently win by manipulating or tricking the human body for extended periods of time. It’s a bit smarter than you might think. Remember that these are all merely tricks, gimmicks, and techniques to manipulate your body. No extended trick will ever give you the life and body you dream of. Always ask yourself if you can make whatever you are doing a permanent healthy way of life.
Fight your body and it will fight back and win. The human body has evolved over thousands of years as a sophisticated survival tool, so your best bet is to work with its original settings and instructions. Higher protein methods are O. K. for small durations as a technique to give fat loss a quick kick, but by no means is it a way of life. Protein is a powerful necessary building and structural tool in your journey towards reaching your health and fitness goals, but for best results I suggest it be used in balance as evolution intended.
So How Much Protein Do I Need?
A good nutrient balance for the average body by today’s standards is 20-30% protein, 15-25% fat (the good kind) and 55-65% carbohydrates. Individual needs of each category will always vary according to your current health, fitness regimen/goals, and daily activity; so consult your local health/nutrition professional for some precision, or grab a good nutrition book to take control yourself.
Written by Anthony Heredia
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