Protein
High Protein diets are a great way to loose weight, especially if we cut down carbohydrates. They may not be the best diet for a person to eat long term, but they do result in much quicker weight loss than merely cutting back in calories. Now the content of most of these high protein diets should be at least 50% protein, while at the extreme ends and while starting the dieter eliminates carbohydrates completely from his diet for a short time.
Now if you need to lose weight fast and are not overly concerned with high blood pressure or cholesterol next question should be which high protein foods would be best to include in their diet. Many people are under the impression that a high protein diet means giving up on vegetables entirely, but that is not true. Many vegetable are high in protein and low in carbohydrates, the first thing we need to do is figure out which is which.
Of course, the highest foods with the highest protein will always be meat, but eating meat alone gets dull and bland. Recipes exists for no-carbohydrate bread, but such meals often give the consumer the problem of any diet meal, they do not taste like the real thing and in many cases weren't worth tasting to begin with.
Now, what are the high protein vegetables that I mentioned earlier? While nuts, strictly speaking are not a vegetable, they are as high in proteins as many meats, and probably even better for you. (This is depending on the nut of course, processed nuts with honey probably are not as healthy for you as the unsalted ones you would find in your grocery isle.
Beans are often next highest on the list of high protein vegetables, but these are brown beans and navy beens, not other types such as green which have a much lower protein content. Even broccoli, a vegetable despised by many gets 45% of its caloric value from its protein content.
But now that you know which foods have high protein content, it is time to explain why high protein content diets work. The body of a person on a high protein content diet enters a state called ketosis. (Readers of the late Dr. Atkins should be familiar with the word.) Instead of getting the carbohydrates from the food, the body takes the extra energy it needs from the fat cells, this is of course, provided you are not over eating, in which case it will not work regardless of how much protein you eat. Just remember that the human body is not designed to eat extremely high proteins for long periods of time. Gradually wean yourself back onto carbohydrates. (Not to mention that at the beginning of extremely high protein diets, the dieter often suffers from poor concentration and “brain fog” This will improve as you slowly add carbohydrates back.)
Now go find those high protein content foods either to make sure you are getting enough protein in your diet, or to lose weight on the Atkins diet or one of his many imitators.
