You can’t talk about nutrition or weight loss these days without talking about protein. It’s a hot topic and an essential element for creating balance and serving as the building block for muscle tissue. Protein is vital for immunity, proper hormone balance, and enzyme synthesis. What does it have to do with weight loss?
Like good carbs and fiber, protein also helps to balance blood sugar levels, but it does so in a different way. Protein is an activator for the release of glucagon.What is glucagon? It’s another hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps regulate blood sugar and promotes the mobilization of previously stored fat. Glucagon plays an opposite role to that of insulin, and it helps the body mobilize fat for burning, to be used as a fuel source. Optimal protein equals more glucagon, which means increased fat burning. That’s why many recent diets have encouraged high protein consumption in an effort to mobilize the fat-burning process even more. But many high-protein diets have gone too far. These diets are hard to stick with due to many factors, including cravings and a low hormonal balance, which can contribute to mood and emotional swings that can undermine the positive effects of a balanced weight-loss plan. The safety of these diets is also questionable. Long-term studies on the dangers of high-protein diets have not yet been done, although we do know that excessive protein in the diet has already been linked to many health challenges including osteoporosis and kidney problems.
On the other end of the spectrum, low-protein diets challenge your ability to lose weight fast, too, due to excessive insulin levels and blood sugar imbalances. Both of these extremes can foster weight gain and cravings.
To encourage a healthy lifestyle and support fat burning - and your ability to keep the weight off in the long run - you need a moderate amount of protein, which is exactly what you get with the nutrisystem diet. It’s based on what I recommend to my patients: a protein-adequate eating plan for health. I see great results in clients who consume roughly 25 percent of their daily calories from protein. All proteins are not created equal in terms of weight loss and health. High-quality proteins can be found in many foods from both animal and vegetable sources. Leaner proteins such as fish, skinless poultry, and lean game meats, as well as soy foods like tofu and tempeh, are less dramatic on the body than heavy steaks and fatty pork, plus they have fewer fat calories.
So far, we’ve talked about carbohydrates, fiber, and protein and how each of them helps to balance your blood sugar levels and improve your body’s ability to lose weight. You’ve also learned about insulin, the glycemic index, and glucagons.What’s left is fat.
In the past few decades, fat has pretty much become its own four-letter word. The tide is changing, though, when it comes to whether it’s okay to consume it. It seems that the so-called experts were actually mistaken when they encouraged us to avoid fats. Evidence now shows that we in fact need certain fats to maintain optimal health - and like everything else, when it comes to fats, balance is key.
Fats are required for nearly every process in your body. They operate as an energy source for the body and perform many crucial tasks. They serve as overall insulation and aid in cell membrane integrity, cardiovascular functions, and hormone production. As with carbohydrates, it’s the quality of fat that you eat that’s important and has everything to do with whether it’s good or bad for your body. Four of the most prevalent types of fat are omega-6, omega-3, saturated fats, and trans fats.
The good fats are the omega-3 and some omega-6 fatty acids, and they’re important to consume, as they’re essential for cellular structure and hormone production. But they have to be consumed in moderate amounts to produce their beneficial effects. Researchers at Baker Medical Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, studied the ability of omega-3 oils from fish to aid in the prevention of hardening of the arteries, a condition that can lead to hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. In the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the group of patients taking a fish oil supplement showed a significant increase in artery softness - a desired effect. The group not receiving the fish oils showed no change. The information concerning the protective effects of fish oils is so powerful that the American Heart Association recommends that you eat at least 6 ounces of fish per week. It appears that these omega-3 fatty acids may offer as much protection against heart disease as the cholesterol-lowering drugs on the market today. We have several menus that include fish and several recipes for fish dishes. If you don’t like fish, you can get omega-3 fats in other seafood or in fish oil capsules. Research is also discovering that a lack of consumption of omega-3 and other key fats can affect us in a variety of ways. Fat deficiencies can cause a decrease in energy and metabolism, emotional and mental challenges like depression and memory loss, brittle nails and hair, and premature aging of the skin.
Two not-so-great fats are saturated fats and trans fatty acids. Saturated fats are found in many meat and dairy products and should be limited in the diet because they have been linked to diseases such as obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Additionally, extensive research has shown that trans fatty acids, which are found in meat and dairy and in processed food in the form of partially hydrogenated oils, are twice as likely to cause heart disease and stroke than are saturated fats. Trans fats have been shown to raise low-density lipoproteins (which causes the clogging of blood vessels), and to reduce high-density lipoproteins (which clear blood vessels) - of course, neither effect is good for cardiovascular health. The United States government is so concerned about the consumption of these trans fats that legislation will soon require all nutritional labels to include the quantity per serving of these types of fats contained in the food. Trans fats are especially problematic when consumed in excess, which can happen when you overindulge in highly processed carbohydrate snacks and baked goods.When it comes to fats, think in with the good, out with the bad, and rest assured, the fats included in the nutrisystem diet have been formulated to help you maintain normal body functioning and to help you find the best way to lose weight.
Sometimes our cravings get the best of us, but there are still good choices to be made. Try these snack-saving suggestions when the munchies attack. Their glycemic values are lower and they’ll do a little less damage to your blood sugar level:
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