The protein diet is designed to help you lose weight and prevent muscle loss at the same time. In this article, you’ll find out what’s behind the diet and how you can implement it sustainably.
The protein diet is particularly popular with athletes. It is designed to help you lose weight and at the same time prevent your body from losing muscle mass as well as fat. The body needs protein to maintain and build muscle. Incidentally, protein and egg white are the same thing.
On a protein diet, you reduce the nutrients that are crucial for the production of body mass. These are mainly carbohydrates. They provide energy and prevent the body from breaking down fat. You can think of fat as your body’s emergency reserve. It only burns it when it can no longer provide sufficient energy from carbohydrates. So if you greatly reduce your intake of carbohydrates, your body will boost fat burning.
A low-carb diet is also known as a low-carb diet. The protein diet goes one step further: by consuming a lot of protein, you prevent your body from losing muscle mass.
Ask yourself beforehand: Why do I want to go on a diet?
Question the motives behind your diet. Do you really want to do something for your health or are you perhaps driven by beauty ideals that put you under pressure? Don’t let yourself get stressed. In the same way, you should implement your bets in Ghana. Your value as a person is measured by your character, not the size of your waistline.
Once you have become clear about your motives, you can approach the diet with a deeper awareness. In the following sections, you will find out what such a protein diet can look like in concrete terms and how it can be made as ecologically sustainable as possible.
The dangers
According to the consumer advice center, a protein diet in which you almost completely abstain from carbohydrates (ketogenic diet) can have health disadvantages:
- Dizziness, feeling weak and headaches can occur.
- The risk of gout attacks and urinary stones also increases.
- So make sure you stick to the maximum of two grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If in doubt, seek medical advice and clarify beforehand whether the protein diet is right for you from a health perspective!
It is best to try to eat high-quality, good carbohydrates instead of cutting them out completely. A daily carbohydrate intake of around 50 percent of your energy intake is recommended. The energy will help you both during sports and at school or work. A balanced diet is the key here. Moreover: No diet can have a lasting effect if you don’t change your diet permanently and exercise regularly or get enough exercise.
Please note: The protein diet, like all other diets, is not a miracle cure for permanent weight loss. A healthy and balanced diet is the be-all and end-all.
Advantages
However, a protein diet also has benefits for your health:
- Protein helps to decrease your liver.
- It is also said that a detoxification process generally takes place during a diet. Nowadays, many foods in the supermarket are packed with harmful preservatives. Your body may be able to recover a little from this during a diet.
- Protein diet: knowing how to go vegan
- You should include nuts in your diet as part of a protein diet.
Protein is found in high concentrations in animal products such as meat, milk, cheese, and eggs. However, you can still avoid animal-based foods on a protein diet. Not only can this be tasty and healthy, but it is also good for the environment. Factory farming is a major driver and cause of climate change, among other things, and is partly responsible for insect mortality, particularly due to its intensive form. The intensive consumption of animal products is part of the chain that threatens the future of us all.
For you as an individual, a diet that is less animal-heavy is also an investment in your health. In addition to protein, animal products also contain a lot of fat. In contrast to the “good”, i.e. unsaturated fatty acids found in walnuts, for example, meat has a high proportion of “bad”, i.e. saturated fatty acids.
You can therefore turn to nuts and pulses for a protein-rich diet.
Lentils, peas, and beans are also very good sources of protein.
Many supermarkets now also sell products that are high in protein and low in carbohydrates. Pasta, for example, normally contains a lot of carbohydrates. If you want to reduce this, opt for protein pasta. You can also buy protein bread.
By the way: Opinions differ when it comes to the right time of day to eat. A hearty breakfast in combination with a less sumptuous dinner is recommended. This is because the digestive system works harder in the morning than in the evening. There is also the option of intermittent fasting. Here, for example, one meal can be completely omitted and the interval between meals promotes weight loss through its length alone.
However, the calorie deficit itself is more important than the time. Your basal metabolic rate is the amount of calories your body would consume every day without exercise. You can control your calorie deficit through exercise and diet.
A Meal Plan
You can create a varied meal plan from the foods already mentioned and many others with a focus on protein, fiber, and good carbohydrates. A day on the protein diet could look like this, for example:
Breakfast: (protein) oatmeal, chopped nuts and seeds with oat milk and a slice of protein bread/wholemeal bread with peanut butter and tomatoes and possibly a homemade protein shake
Lunch: Protein pasta/wholemeal pasta with lentil bolognese and lots of vegetables
Dinner: Leaf salad with tomatoes, tofu, and walnuts or a bean salad.
