Do I need to take protein powder to lose weight? Nutritionist: If you want to be thin and full, you should adopt this diet

When it comes to losing weight, a hundred people will have a hundred different experiences and insights. Although reducing calorie intake and increasing exercise are always the best way, how to arrange diet more happily and effectively has always been the pursuit of countless beauty-loving ladies and scientific researchers. Taking various factors into consideration, a high-protein diet seems to be a more ideal option.

Protein is an important material basis of life. As early as the beginning of the 19th century, Dutch scientists discovered that there is a substance essential to life in animals and plants. This explains why humans cannot survive for a long time on eating only sugar and still have to eat bread. Now, people know that bread actually contains 10% protein, which is the source of its chewy texture and fluffy structure. But at that time people could only use the word "Proteios" to describe this substance, which means Primary, indicating the most important.

An appropriate amount of protein can meet the human body's various physiological functions. Muscle strength, immunity, and the health of hair, nails, and skin are all closely related to protein. How much protein does the human body need every day? A simple calculation is to subtract 105 from your height (cm) to get your ideal weight (kg). Multiply your ideal weight by 0.8 to 1.2 to get the appropriate daily protein intake. This is equivalent to eating one egg, 150g of fish, shrimp, livestock and poultry meat, and 50g of soy products every day. Intake of protein content equal to or greater than 1.5 times the ideal body weight can be considered a high-protein diet. The appropriate recommended amount is recommended for long-term consumption by the general public, while high protein is for meeting special needs, such as weight loss.

The biggest benefit of a high-protein diet is that it helps with weight loss. After eating, our body's digestion, absorption and metabolic activities will be enhanced, and this process will produce more calorie consumption. Data shows that the increased heat dissipation through protein intake is enough to reach 30% to 40% of the basal metabolic calories, which is not a small amount. In addition, increasing the proportion of energy provided by protein in the diet structure can help prevent muscle loss during weight loss, providing a material basis for "reducing fat without losing meat." High-protein foods are much more filling than pure carbohydrate foods, so blood sugar levels are less likely to rise or fall suddenly, making it less likely for us to go back to overeating.

Someone else said, I heard that high protein has many disadvantages. Aren’t people against eating too much meat and fish now? Moreover, doesn’t high protein increase the burden on the kidneys? In fact, the reason why "big fish and big meat" are bad is because they contain excessive cholesterol and saturated fat, not the protein. It is true that the metabolic waste of protein needs to be excreted through the kidneys. Since we eat a lot of protein, we need more water to continuously flush the kidneys and take away the waste. Then, the "water pressure" that the kidneys bear during this process will be much higher than before, which will aggravate the progression of the disease in patients who already have kidney disease.

Finally, if you want to enjoy the benefits of high-protein weight loss, there are a few things to note:

Be sure to choose foods that are low in fat and high-quality protein, such as white meat such as fish and shrimp. For livestock meat, remove the white solid fat, and remove the skin of chicken and duck. These are all ways to reduce saturated fat. In addition, eating the meat and discarding the soup after stewing can reduce the risk of gout and excessive sodium intake. Eat a bag of milk to supplement calcium every day, eat an appropriate amount of staple food at each meal to prevent starvation ketosis, and add 500g of vegetables and 250g of fruit, and you can start your weight loss plan again!

Do you need to eat protein powder when losing weight?

When I was a guest on a program, one of the episodes analyzed several legendary weight loss drinks. In addition to the unreliable Dead Sea salt water and slimming chili peppers, the host also gave the example of a weight loss meal replacement. It is to mix corresponding fruits and vegetables with protein powder, and then add some lipid powder mainly composed of medium and long-chain fatty acids to enhance satiety.

In fact, there is nothing wrong with this meal replacement from a scientific point of view. I have introduced to you the principle of protein weight loss in previous articles. After eating, our body's digestion, absorption and metabolic activities will be enhanced, and this process will produce more calorie consumption. A protein diet can increase basal metabolic calories by 30% to 40%. In addition, increasing the proportion of energy provided by protein in the diet can help prevent muscle loss during weight loss, providing a material basis for "reducing fat without losing meat." High-protein foods are much more filling than pure carbohydrate foods, so blood sugar levels are less likely to rise or fall suddenly, which makes it less likely for us to go back to overeating.

However, there are two problems that are difficult to avoid when using these powdered substances as dietary replacements. One is that although the ingredients of protein powder and lipid powder are clear and easy to quantify, they lack various plant compounds found in natural foods, and many benefits such as antioxidants are difficult to exert, which is a pity for women who love beauty. Next, they are both consumed as liquid after being mixed with water. The "volume" in the stomach is really too small, which can easily make people feel like they have not eaten. Two scoops of protein powder and an egg have the same calories. Which one do you think will make you feel fuller?

Fish, meat, eggs, milk and beans are all good sources of protein. Based on 100g of raw weight, eggs contain 12g of protein, fish contains an average of 18g of protein, chicken wings contain 19g, and tenderloins contain 20 to 22g. Soybeans are a natural source of high-quality protein. The amount and quality of protein in dry beans are comparable to that of cooked chicken breast, reaching 40%. Even if made into tofu, the protein content can reach 8%. It also contains no cholesterol, so it is the main source of protein for vegetarians. 3% protein in milk also means that you can get 9g of protein per 300ml. In addition, not only do nuts contain 20% to 30% protein, but 500g of rice and flour can also provide 7g of protein, which is equivalent to one egg. Even vegetables have some protein...

In short, although protein powder is not harmful to healthy people, if you can eat a palm-sized piece of meat every day, you don’t need to supplement protein deliberately. It is better to save the money to buy more high-quality natural food, and then find a place you like to exercise.

This article is from the book "Professional Nutritionists Teach You How to Eat Right, Lose Weight, Get Rid of Chronic Diseases, and Stay Away from Metabolic Syndrome" published by Gao Baoshu