PUT PROTEIN TO WORK FOR YOU
By now you’ve probably noticed that protein is an important part
of The Healthy Diet. All of the meals and snacks in the STAT Plan, the RESTORE
Plan, and the MAINTAIN Plan contain protein. There’s a really good reason for
this: protein is an incredibly effective weight-loss tool—provided you know how
to use it.
When it comes to losing weight, protein has power, and The
Healthy Diet is designed to harness that power.
What do I mean when I talk about putting protein to work for
you? I’m referring to the fact that protein is most beneficial to your
weight-loss efforts if you include it in your diet in a balanced, strategic way.
You can’t just binge on meat, eggs, and other high-protein foods whenever you
feel like it—that won’t lead to better health.
It all comes down to balance. You can get the most
weight-control bang from your protein buck by making sure you’re eating balanced
amounts of protein and the right kinds of protein foods, and that you’re timing
them in the most effective way possible throughout your day.
Here’s an example of what I mean. I’ve already talked about the
importance of eating a good breakfast, but there’s even more to the story than
that. It’s not just whether you eat breakfast that
matters. The protein content of your first meal of the day also makes a big
difference.
In a 2013 study published in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers looked at the effect of a
high-protein breakfast on hunger and snacking. Some of the subjects ate a
protein-rich breakfast (35 grams of protein, 350 calories), some ate a moderate
amount of protein with their morning meal (13 grams, 350 calories), and some had
no protein (or any other nutrients, for that matter, because they skipped
breakfast completely). The high-protein and moderate-protein meals had the same
amount of fat, fiber, sugar, and calories.
Having a protein-rich breakfast really paid off. Researchers
found that compared with the others, the higher-protein breakfast group reported
feeling more satiated and less hungry throughout the day, and experienced fewer
food cravings. They also reduced their evening snacking on high-sugar, high-fat
foods—evidence that eating a high-protein breakfast pays off throughout the
day.
Other studies have found that people lose more weight and keep
it off more effectively when they include protein in each meal
and snack—which is exactly what The Healthy Diet does.
THE POWER BEHIND PROTEIN
Full disclosure: we don’t know exactly why protein helps with
weight loss. One reason is that it has an impact on the action of ghrelin, known
as the “hunger hormone,” and leptin, the “satiety hormone”—which is why people
who eat protein at each meal find they feel fuller and less hungry during the hours after they eat than do people who skimp
on protein. In fact, protein is more satiating than fat or carbohydrates.
Another explanation for protein’s contribution to weight loss is
its ability to help keep blood sugar levels stable. When you eat a low-protein,
high-carbohydrate meal, your blood sugar soars soon after you eat. What goes up
must come down, and it doesn’t take long for blood sugar that shoots up quickly
to come falling down fast, too. When blood sugar comes down fast, alarms go off
in your endocrine system. Hormones tell your brain that you need more food in
order to get blood sugar levels back up, and before you know it, you’re
wandering around the kitchen looking for a snack just a short time after you
finished your meal.
Something different happens when you eat a protein-rich meal.
Instead of skyrocketing, your blood sugar levels go up gradually, allowing your
endocrine system to proceed at a normal pace as it does its job of getting
energy to all of your body’s cells. Without a dramatic spike, there’s no
dramatic fall, meaning no sudden hormone alerts telling you to eat something
right away, meaning no sudden, intense desires to inhale jelly donuts or
chocolate cake.
Without those blood sugar spikes and constant cravings, you’re
much better able to make it to your next meal without wanting to fill your tank
with lots of extra food.
PROTEIN’S OTHER PROMISES
Eating a protein-rich diet has other benefits as well:
- Protein vs. paunch. Protein helps burn belly fat. In studies, people who eat higher-protein diets lose more belly fat than those who eat lower-protein diets with similar calorie counts.
- Muscle maker. Protein helps preserve muscle. When you’re losing weight, you take in fewer calories than you need, which forces your body to burn fat for fuel. When you eat a high-carbohydrate diet, your body is more likely to turn to muscles for stored fuel rather than fat. But eating a protein-rich diet protects your muscles and pushes your body to rely on fat rather than your hard-earned muscles.
- Speedier healing. Protein is a necessary nutrient that just about every part of your body needs. Protein contributes to the growth, development, and healthy function of each cell in your skin, muscles, organs, and glands. It also allows your immune system to work effectively.
- Tool for the ticker. Your heart benefits from protein as well. Eating a diet rich in lean protein—I’m not talking fatty steaks and processed lunch meats here, but lean, healthy protein sources—benefits your blood cholesterol levels.
EATING FROM THE SEA
One of the absolute best sources of protein is
seafood—especially fish and shellfish that contain omega-3 fatty acids, a type
of polyunsaturated fat that has a wide range of health benefits. Omega-3s are
credited with reducing heart disease risk, boosting brain health, and supporting
eye health, and studies are under way to tease out other benefits as well.
Nearly all fish contain omega-3s, but some have especially high
levels, such as herring, salmon (farmed and wild), mackerel, tuna (bluefin has
the most, followed by canned white and light), sardines, swordfish, and trout
(and oysters and mussels in the mollusk department). In order to get the omega-3
fatty acids you need, I recommend including at least eight ounces of
omega-3-rich fish in your diet each week.
The only downside of eating seafood is that nearly all fish and
shellfish contain some amount of mercury, a toxic metal. For nonpregnant adults,
eating moderate amounts of most kinds of seafood usually poses little health
risk. However, too much mercury can more easily harm the nervous system of an
unborn baby or a young child.
To limit the risk from mercury, the US Food and Drug
Administration advises women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing
mothers, and young children to:
- Avoid types of fish that are typically high in mercury—including shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel.
- Limit intake of lower-mercury fish to 12 ounces per week. Some of the most commonly eaten lower-mercury seafood includes shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish.
- Limit intake of canned albacore (white tuna), which has more mercury than light tuna, to 6 ounces per week.
- Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. (Yes, even freshwater fish can contain traces of mercury.) If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces per week of fish caught in local waters, but don’t consume any other fish during that week.
HOW MUCH PROTEIN SHOULD YOU EAT?
In The Healthy Diet, about a third of your daily calories come
from the protein in meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, dairy, nuts,
and seeds. That balanced amount gives you all of protein’s benefits while
leaving room in your diet for all the other nutrient-rich foods you need,
including healthy fats and complex carbohydrates.
Some diets call for even more protein than that, but as far as
I’m concerned, they’re on the wrong track. The weight-loss benefits of protein
level off at 30 to 35 percent. There’s simply no benefit to super-high-protein
diets, especially because they tend to be very low in fruits, vegetables, whole
grains, and all the other life-supporting foods that can help us stay
healthy.
Excess protein can also put a strain on your kidneys, although
that’s usually only a problem for people who have kidney disease or other health
problems related to protein metabolism.
WHAT ABOUT RED MEAT?
Although it’s fine to include some lean beef, pork, and lamb in
your diet, you’re better off relying mostly on poultry, fish, dairy, nuts, and
legumes to meet the lion’s share of your protein needs.
Various studies have found that people who eat a lot of meat
tend to be less healthy than those who eat less meat. For example, in a Harvard
study published in 2012 in the Archives of Internal
Medicine, researchers found that red meat consumption was associated with
an increased risk of death from heart disease, cancer, and other causes. The
study also showed that substituting other healthy protein sources, such as fish,
poultry, nuts, and legumes, was associated with lower risk of potentially fatal
diseases.
The study, which followed 120,000 men and women for 28 years,
found that one daily serving of unprocessed red meat (about the size of a deck
of cards) was associated with a 13 percent increased risk of mortality during
the study period, and one daily serving of processed red meat (one hot dog or
two slices of bacon) was associated with a 20 percent increased risk.
Other studies have found connections between red meat
consumption and type 2 diabetes.
What’s behind all this? According to the researchers, red meat,
especially processed meat, contains ingredients that have been
linked to increased risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and
cancer. These include iron (specifically, a type called “heme” iron), saturated
fat, sodium, nitrites, and certain carcinogens that are formed during
cooking.
But hold on—there may be much more to it than that.
The question of whether red meat is “good” for us has become
more complex lately. Yes, studies of past meat intake, like the Harvard study I
just mentioned, suggest a strong connection between red meat and disease. But
when you think about how the red meat in those studies was raised, you have to
wonder. The biggest problem with red meat may not turn out to be how much of it
we eat, but what’s in the feeding troughs of the animals we consume.
Traditionally, cows, pigs, sheep, and other farm animals ate
grass. During the past few decades, however, livestock feed has been made up
primarily of corn. In fact, many cattle are also fed waste products left over
from the manufacturing of human food. These can include bakery waste,
potato-processing remnant, untreated starch, pasta, and even candy. This type of
feed fattens animals up fast because some of this processed feed is high in
sugar and low in overall nutrients. I believe animals raised on highly processed
feed produce meat that may contribute to some of the food-related chronic
diseases plaguing Americans today.
When animals eat food like this, it sure makes sense to me that
the people eating meat from these animals have higher rates of disease. I’m
telling you not to load up on processed foods, baked goods, white pasta, and
candy—so doesn’t it make sense that the animals we eat shouldn’t be consuming
these foods either?
Wild meat—meat from game animals that eat natural food rather
than processed grains—also seems to be much better for us than conventionally
raised meat. Like grass-fed animals, wild animals such as deer, wild boar, and
elk eat a huge range of whole, unprocessed foods.
I agree with scientists and food experts who say wild meat and
the meat from grass-fed farm animals is much healthier for us than meat from
animals raised on processed feed. It makes so much sense to me: unlike an animal
that is force-fed unhealthy food, an animal that eats grass in a pasture
consumes a huge range of nutrients from an array of greens.
WHAT THE SCIENTISTS SAY
A growing number of studies support grass feeding. For example,
a 2011 study published in the British Journal of
Nutrition found that subjects who ate grass-fed meat for just four weeks
increased their blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids and decreased their levels
of pro-inflammatory fatty acids. We don’t usually think of meat as a source of
omega-3 fatty acids, but when animals eat grass, they get more omega-3s in their
diet.
And in 2009, researchers from Clemson University and the US
Department of Agriculture looked closely at the effect of grass-fed beef on
human health. Their study, published in the Journal of
Animal Science, found that grass-fed beef is far healthier than
conventionally raised beef. I don’t ordinarily read studies in animal science
journals, but believe me, that one caught my interest. The study found that
compared with conventional beef, grass-fed beef is:
- Lower in total fat
- Higher in beta-carotene (an antioxidant found in vegetables)
- Higher in vitamin E
- Higher in the B vitamins thiamin and riboflavin
- Higher in the minerals calcium, magnesium, and potassium
- Higher in total omega-3s
- Higher in conjugated linoleic acid, a fatty acid that may fight disease
- Lower in the saturated fats linked with heart disease
But wait—before you run off and start eating red meat three
times a day, I still feel that we have a lot to learn about red meat before we
fully understand its impact on human health. We have studies suggesting that
grass-fed meat is healthier—but we still don’t know if those health benefits
will result in lower disease rates.
Until we have a fuller picture of this
evolving story, here’s what I suggest: Limit your red meat intake to a few
servings a week. When you do choose red meat, go for grass-fed or wild when
possible. And limit your intake of processed meats.
Just so we’re clear, processed meats are meats preserved by
smoking, curing, salting, or with the addition of preservatives. I like the
taste of bacon as much as anyone else, but I seldom eat it. I enjoy sausages,
but you rarely find them on my plate as well. Same goes for ham, pastrami,
salami, pepperoni, and hot dogs. They’re tasty, but in my opinion, not worth the
risk as a daily go-to option.
Why? The connection between colorectal cancer and eating
processed meats is “startlingly strong,” according to the American Institute of
Cancer Research. When meat is processed, cured, smoked, or preserved,
cancer-causing compounds can be formed.
Meat lovers smile at the thought of a perfectly grilled steak, a
tasty piece of broiled chicken, or a yummy kabob of barbecued shrimp. I like
those foods as much as the next guy or gal, but unfortunately, those cooking
methods aren’t the safest way to go.
When meat, poultry, and seafood are cooked and charred at high
temperatures, as they are during grilling and broiling, the heat reacts with
compounds in the meat to produce carcinogenic compounds known as heterocyclic
amines (HCAs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). When consumed, HCAs
and PAHs can damage DNA and contribute to the development of cancer of the colon
and stomach.
This makes me uneasy about grilling and broiling meat. I think
it’s fine to grill occasionally, but I wouldn’t recommend making grilling or
broiling your everyday cooking method. Baking, poaching, stir-frying, and
braising seem to be healthier choices.
Go ahead and grill fruits and vegetables, though—the compounds
in meats that lead to carcinogen formation are not found in plant foods. You’d
be amazed at how delicious grilled fruits and vegetables taste!
PROTEIN: A GREAT STRATEGY
There’s no doubt about it: protein has the power to help you
lose weight. And The Healthy Diet is carefully designed to help you harness
protein’s power. No, you can’t go crazy with protein, loading your plate with
high-protein foods whenever you feel like it. But by using protein
strategically—eating balanced amounts of it throughout your day in the most
effective way possible—you can take full advantage of its ability to burn fat,
fight hunger pangs, and rev up weight loss.
The story doesn’t end with protein, though. The carbohydrates
you eat (and don’t eat) play a huge part in weight loss as well. That’s why
making smart choices about carbohydrates is my next Food Prescription.
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