Dangers of High Protein Diets

Atkins, South Beach, Type O blood type, there are many forms of high-protein low-carb diets out there and they’re all dangerous over time.

Proteins are building blocks and very necessary, but we don’t need as much as we think we need. Indeed, our daily needs are usually measured in grams, not ounces, and yet we eat ounces and get lots of protein from vegetables, legumes, dairy and grain on top of animal protein. These diets make you feel great for awhile, and you may in fact lose weight, but soon it comes back and you end up gaining even more, because that’s what excess proteins do – they get turned into fat for storage.

Protein digestion is very hard on the body’s pH balance. The by-products of protein digestion include uric acid and nitrogen, and their breakdown in the liver creates ammonia. Ammonia is toxic. It is a poison to every cell in your body, especially your brain cells. These by-products must be excreted by the kidneys and take water and many good minerals like calcium and potassium along with them so that the acids are properly neutralized and do no harm. Thus, constant overdosing on protein causes dehydration, osteoperosis, cavities, muscle cramps and spasms, irregular heartbeats, premature aging, and kidney stones.

The reason we feel so energized on high-protein diets is because of how proteins affect blood glucose levels (protein is part of the glucose process). Ask any diabetic who has to monitor their blood glucose levels and they’ll tell you that a bit of steak affects them worse than a Twinkie. Their blood glucose will shoot up for a good 4 to 8 hours after eating a steak, and only 2 or 3 after a dessert. So constant protein overdosing exhausts the pancreas and causes hypoglycemia after awhile - crash and burn. In contrast, small amounts of protein like a handful of nuts eaten with each vegetarian meal can help maintain healthy glucose levels and spare the pancreas.

These diets also overlook the fact that the body can create just about any protein chain that it wants as long as it’s getting a few essential amino acids (the technical term for a protein). This is why you can fast for long periods of time and still heal properly should you get injured. As long as you take in some form of carbohydrate for energy, muscle mass is not scavenged.

So, knowing that you can create what you need protein wise, why should you need to eat tons and tons to give the body what it can give itself? What you’re really doing with this diet is creating an imbalance in order to meet a health goal, which is never a good long-term practice.

In general, no one should have more than one serving of animal protein a day, and you should never mix your animal proteins, such as having both duck and steak in the same meal. These habits lead to gout, a very painful arthritic condition.

The safer forms of protein, which are more alkaline, are nuts, beans, rice and vegetables. While legumes tend to have certain kinds of amino acids but not others, you can balance this by eating legumes with a grain that has the amino acids the legume is lacking. For perfect protein that has all of the essential amino acids - the ones that your body cannot create by itself - eat a 3 to 1 ratio of grains to legumes (see Kichadi recipe).
After a long period of detoxing and cleansing, a period of increased protein may be necessary in order to rebuild, but this should be done safely with mainly grains, legumes and eggs with plenty of good oils. Protein plus oils equals energy (see protein shake recipe).

The other aspect of these diets, limiting carbs, is quite ridiculous and out of balance as they actually get into counting the carbs in vegetables and pronouncing certain vegetables as bad for our health! This kind of food extremism gets you nowhere. People, when you start worrying about the dangerous affects of eating carrots, you’ve gone into cloud cuckoo land. I agree that bread is a waste of calories, and people tend to overdo white potatoes, but please, leave the rest of the vegetable kingdom out of your diet craze. My local grocery store is now listing carbs next to the price of the vegetables; I find myself humming the “Twilight Zone” theme every time I see this.
Tweet