Why science says high protein diets are poor weight loss plans

April 9, 2017 Ashley 0 Comments

As a plant-eater, I get heaps of inquiries about protein.

And it always makes me think back to my mostly-meat eating days.

(Turkey burgers were an all day, every day type’ve thing halfway into college…)

See, back in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, high protein diets were the trend. If we’d had social media, the top hashtag would’ve been Atkins. Thus, my fridge was fully stocked by mom with fish and chicken and turkey tits. (But never for long; it was my main staple.) And, while the scale numbers dipped significantly for me, I didn’t feel so great. But you know what I did feel one day, a couple months into this diet? The pang of crystalized protein trying to squeeze its way, in vain, through my kidneys. Long story short, a morphine’d up me was getting told by the doctor that my tri-daily OD on lean meat cutlets were the likely culprit. And that I likely needed to nix my unnecessarily high intake of that macro. A few void ‘n captures later (followed by some lab work) confirmed what the doctor’d said (and what my energy levels already knew): my high protein weight loss method wasn’t the best for me.

Years later, and healthily on a regimen of plant-centric ingestion, I’m now seeing even more dangers associated with high protein diets. Can it help you lose weight? Yes. But so can taking up smoking or becoming a breatharian. Doesn’t mean any’ve those things are healthy. In fact, aside from the horrible kidney stones eating too much of one macro can cause, studies’ve shown other ways in which high protein diets aren’t the best way to lose weight. Example? Two groups of extra large ladies were placed on diets. One comprised traditional weight loss staples. One was fifty percent higher in protein than the other. The results? Both lost the same amount of weight, but the high protein group saw fewer benefits than the control – including zero increase in insulin sensitivity (which usually happens on a good weight loss diet).

Not only that, but another research effort showed how high protein consumption stages a double doozy of increasing not only your scale numbers, but the risk of early life expiration, compliments of cancer. After looking at the Mediterranean diet, it was noted that consumers of the most protein gained more weight, and were 48% more likely to check out prematurely from the “Big C”.

So does all this mean that protein’s bad?

Obviously not. In fact, if I’m being totally unbiased, some of the results of those studies probably come from the fact that most of the meat from our godawful agricultural industry is pumped full of carcinogens in the first place. They also come from the fact that those eating more protein are going to gain more weight – duh – because they’re A.) probably consuming too many calories overall, and B.) probably preparing their protein in a less than healthy way. (Doused in fatty glazes or fried on the outside.)

So, no, it’s not protein that’s to blame. Rather, this bit of info is simply meant to smite the “high” in “high protein diet”. What we’re meant to have, is a healthy mix of all our macros. We need carbohydrates. We need healthy fats. And, yes, we need protein, too. And, depending on whether we’re training for a triathlon or just sat at a desk all day, the percentages of each’ve those may vary faintly, for a slight while. However, one group should never exaggeratedly overshadow the other macros for an extended stretch of time. That is, unless you wanna find yourself writhing on a hospital bed, begging for death, while your urinary organs slowly and reluctantly choke out microscopic protein rocks that feel like boulders.

Ya know, like mine did, back in nineteen-ninety-Atkins.

“Mismatched macros are *so* passé”