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Protein Power | ||||
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You pick up any health or diet
book, and what advice to you see? Eat less fat. That is the message we are
bombarded with day in, day out! But here is a book that says eat less carbs,
and don't worry about fat. Is this for real? Is this book just trying to
say something different to make more sales? To think you could lower your cholesterol, and enjoy eggs, mayonnaise, steak, and bacon at the same time seems absolutely ludicrous! It just makes sense to eat less fat if you want to lower your cholesterol and loose weight, but if you were to read this book, you would see the error in that reasoning. The easiest way to come to terms with the idea that a low fat diet fails, just look at the statistics for heart disease and obesity over the last decade or two. People are getting fatter, and more people suffer heart disease and diabetes. Are people just not listening to the low fat advice? Hardly, the low fat industry (low fat foods, books and programs) is in the billions of dollars of revenue (~40 billion), but still no improvements. It's time to wake up and see the light, admit we were wrong to follow low-fat diets, and try something new. That's what Protein Power does. And it works! I've tried it myself with success, I've seen the results on other people, even a local radio personality was on the news expounding the benefits of the Protein Power diet! This article is to serve as a review, covering briefly some of the concepts covered in the book, and as usual, my two cents. I think the book is a great buy at $6.50 US or $8.99 CDN, filled with many examples, studies, biochemical and metabolic details, food charts, recipes, and more. What is wrong with a low-fat diet?There are many flaws in the low-fat diet, so let's touch upon some obvious ones. Getting less % calories from fats means that your other calories have to go up. Since cutting fat often means cutting dairy and meats, protein isn't the first to go up, but carbs are. So yes, a low-fat diet is basically a high-carb diet as well.What are the arguments for low-fat diets, and what is the truth? Myth:Saturated fats contain cholesterol and their consumption increases blood cholesterol levels: Truth: The body makes cholesterol on it's own, and cholesterol production is stimulated by insulin. Dietary fats provide the building blocks for cholesterol, but cutting all fats is the only way to prevent cholesterol production, and this has many nasty consequences, some fatal. So by eating a high-carb, low-fat diet you release huge amounts of insulin, greatly stimulating cholesterol production, and worsening the problem you were trying to avoid. Myth:Eating fat makes you fat Truth: Sure, a gram of fat has twice as many calories as a gram of carbs, but it's more complicated than that. Carbs are easily converted to fat, and insulin is required for fat storage. Eat fat and no carbs, and your body can't store fat, eat just lots of carbs, and your body converts it into fat, and has insulin to store it. Not to mention eating 30 grams of fat and 30 grams of protein will fill you a lot longer than 60 grams of carbs with 30 grams of protein. Large amounts of carbs cause major hormonal fluctuations, and blood sugar level fluctuation, which results in greater hunger sooner. The end result is that by cutting out fat, and increasing carbs, you only worsen the problem: increased carbs means increased insulin levels, means more cholesterol production, means more fat storage. Chronically elevated insulin levels also lead to insulin resistance (your cells don't respond to insulin as well) so your body has to make more insulin, causing more cholesterol production and fat storage. It's a viscous circle that doesn't end, the tighter you control your diet by reducing fat, the worse the problem gets! This 'new' diet (that isn't really new at all) is radically different, and goes against everything dieticians, doctors, and the media will have you believe: that fat is the enemy. Try it for 2 weeks, and see if you don't feel better! What can't you eat?This will actually be a relatively short list, but actually encompasses a huge variety of foods. No potato's means no chips, fries, hashbrowns, mashed potato's, potato skins, etc. No corn means no cream corn, popcorn, corn meal, cornstarch (in sauces), corn chips, taco shells, tortilla chips, etc.no cereals, breads, corn, carrots, pastas, rice, potatoes, juice, pop, muffins, donuts, pastries, Foods to avoid:
If that seems like a lot, but read on, and see how huge the list is of foods you can eat! What can you eat?Basically, depending on the severity of your problems (high blood pressure, cholesterol, blood lipids, insulin resistance), or how fast you want to see results (weight loss), the more carbohydrates you should cut out of your diet.In the book, they break the diet down into 3 phases:
Protein requirements are anywhere from 0.6 grams per pound to 0.9 grams per pound, depending on activity level. Each meal (of 3) should be based on a protein source (meat, cheese, or tofu), and the 5-10 grams/meal (depending on phase) should be used up in a salad, garnishes, vegetables, etc. Snacks are also strongly encouraged, though any carbs should be counted towards daily total. Nuts, veggies and dip, eggs, and beef jerky are just some examples. Remember, you can eat any food you want, as long as it doesn't exceed daily carb limits, and carb limit should preferably be spaced out over the day (not all in one sitting). Staying on phase I will elicit such dramatic changes to your body, that you can (fairly) soon move to phase 2. Like I said before, it all depends on how badly and how quickly you want results! Using the vast variety of foods listed below, it's fairly easy to make a wide variety of tasty meals. Feel free to mix and match, but always remember to keep the carbs as low as possible, around 5-15 grams of carbs per meal!
A Quick Word on Working OutI'll keep this section brief, as the rest of my site is devoted to it! Basically, this book encourages working out in a manner to release as much growth hormone as possible, and it claims the best way to do so, is working out on an empty stomach, and not eating for one hour after working out.It says that insulin interferes with Growth Hormone production, which is another reason this diet may be so good at reconditioning your body. My advice, for optimum results, are heavy workouts first thing in the morning, this way you burn lots of fat, and release lots of growth hormone. Perhaps a short, intense workout late in the evening could give a beneficial spurt of growth hormone before sleep, which by the way is the best way to increase growth hormone (sleep that is). Whether this works or not for massive muscle growth I don't know. Kinda goes against the theory of eating simple carbs after a workout. Best way to find out is experiment, and determine what works for you! My 2 cents!I was already on a (typical) diet for about 9 days, and then for 5 days I switched to the diet outlined above. I felt great, and lost even more fat, reaching body fat levels I haven't experienced since I was 16! Of course, the 9 days of regular diet also help, though even then I cut back carbs considerable.When you first start this program, you'll lose about 5-10 pounds in the first few days, because your body flushes out excess water. In the 2 weeks I was on a diet, I dropped over 10 pounds, which was great for my mid section, but overall I felt rather small. My plan is to combine this diet plan with that presented in BodyOpus, which basically requires caloric, and carb intake, cycling. I'll go 3-4 days on regular diet, combining it with carefully timed workouts for maximum energy. Then ~5 days of the above outline diet, non restricting calories at all, but rather trying to take in excess calories, in hopes of not losing any muscle. One more variation I'm going to try in the future is basically what you hear in most bodybuilding circles anyway: cut back on carbs in the evenings. My thoughts are as follows: after consuming a fatty meal, blood lipid (fat) levels peak after about 5 hours. It takes this long because fats are absorbed a completely different way from carbs and proteins. So you definitely don't want to eat carbs any time after a fatty meal, so save those for the afternoon/evening. Since when you wake up, fat lipids should be relatively low, you can enjoy a relatively high carb meal, especially if you work out first. Basically I'll start with a hardy breakfast, make my meals/snacks during the day nice and balance, relatively low-fat, and in the evenings I'll keep carb intake to vegetables only. Perhaps in the future I'll write a report on how this goes, but if you want to try it and let me know how it works, please do! 'Is this a fad diet?' you might ask? Well, the low-fat, high-carb diet that has been generally accepted for the past decade or more isn't working! This new diet seems like a radical departure from the norm, but I've seen the results first hand, and it just makes logical sense. After thousands and thousands of years of living off anything we could kill in the bush, we settled to living grain and all it's product. All these problems of adult onset diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease have only become predominant over the last century with wide spread availability of 'modern' foods. It's gotten even worse with the low-fat diets doctors have been prescribing, since they naturally translate into a high carb diet, which only worsens insulin resistance, causing higher insulin levels, causing all those modern ailments! |
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Exercise is not without its risks and this or any other exercise program may result in injury. To reduce the risk of injury in your case, consult your doctor before beginning this exercise program. The advice presented is in no way intended as a substitute for medical counsulation. The developer of Muscle101.com disclaims any liability from and in connection with any information conveyed on this web page. As with any exercise program, if at any point during your workout you begin to feel faint, dizzy, or have physical discomfort, you should stop immediately and consult a physician. | ||||||||
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