Higher protein lower carb diets DO help....

Today's post: Friday, 3-20-2009

Recently there was a report that you could be successful in losing fat whether you ate a lowfat higher carb diet or low carb higher protein diet.

As we’ve posted on however, this study was quite misleading in a way. Every one of their groups ate more vegetables; had virtually eliminated the junky semifoods that tend to be most fattening; had virtually eliminated eating lots of fatty meat; and they all ate less total calories each day and exercised regularly.

So this study didn’t really prove no food group was best or worst for fat loss as the related headlines claimed.

What they proved is that if you do a great job on all the basics of fat loss and eating right to support your health and do regular exercise, it matters much less on the scale how much weight you’ll lose with what food components you eat most of within those guidelines.

But there is a lot of evidence that leaning towards a higher protein, moderate intake of health OK fats and oils, and lower carbohydrate intake is better.

Day before yesterday, Weds, 3-18-2009, a study was announced that I think supports that well enough to be the definitive word on the subject!

An article they titled. “Moderate-protein diet may beat high-carb diet” by Amy Norton, Reuters Online Health news on Weds, 3-18-2009 announced some research that had been reported in the Journal of Nutrition, for March 2009.

This study found that a reduced calorie diet with some extra protein was most effective at fat loss. And, even more important, it was best at producing the key improvements in increasing HDL and lowering triglycerides.

And, as our readers know, THAT means it was dramatically the best at reducing the risk of heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.

(In case you’ve missed it here or elsewhere, researchers have found that the ratio of HDL to triglycerides is an extremely accurate measure of the small particle LDL that causes heart disease because they literally are small enough to fit into the tiny molecular spaces in the walls of your arteries where they build up over time like layers of glue and reduce blood flow and can have pieces break off that then close the narrowed artery which causes a heart attack or stroke. To simplify, high HDL and low triglycerides means your small particle LDL is quite low as is your cardiovascular disease risk. And, if your HDL is low and your triglycerides are high so is your risk of heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular disease because you have enough small particle LDL to be sticking into your arteries and creating cardiovascular disease in you.)

That means that this finding that lower carb and higher protein, reduced calorie diets do BOTH of these at the same time means that in addition to helping you lose fat and reduce your belly fat best, lower carb and higher protein, reduced calorie diets are dramatically the best for protecting your heart and lowering your cardiovascular disease risk.

The findings, reported in the Journal of Nutrition, suggest that trading in some carbs for protein may do dieters good.

In the study, the higher-carb, reduced calorie diet, aimed for 15 percent of calories from protein; 55 percent from carbohydrates; and & percent from fats. The higher protein one aimed for 30 percent of calories came from protein -- including lean meat, low-fat dairy and nuts; 40 percent came from carbohydrates; & 30 percent from fats.

After one year, the average weight loss in pounds was only a bit higher for the higher protein & lower carb diet 23 pounds while the people in the lower protein & higher carb one lost 19 pounds.

But of far more value and importance was that this study found that, the higher protein group lost significantly more FAT, & had greater increases in HDL & decreases in their triglyceride levels.

They quote lead researcher Dr. Donald K. Layman, of the University of Illinois in Urbana as saying, “The extra protein at each meal helps dieters preserve "metabolically active" muscle mass.” . He also told the Reuters Health reporter that, the diet's lower carbohydrate content means lower levels of the blood-sugar-regulating hormone insulin. And that was the reason more actual fat was lost.

They report him as also saying that the greater reduction in triglycerides was mostly the result of cutting carbs, raise triglyceride levels.

That’s quite important because to reduce calorie intake over what you were eating before, you have to reduce something. This fact means that reducing carbs instead of protein, not only helps you lose more fat and a bit more weight, it gives you dramatically better protection for your health.

Dr Layman also noted that a high protein lower carb diet made it much easier to not eat between meals while the lower protein and higher carb people had to eat many small meals as they were virtually always hungry in between meals if they didn’t.

In the real world where people have to work in between meals and can be tempted to eat really fattening stuff if they are quite hungry between meals means that a higher protein lower carb style of eating is much more practical and easier to stay on.

The article also pointed out that since most people eat a protein food at dinner, the higher protein plan added more protein at breakfast and lunch.

Bonus point. Strength training and interval cardio exercise have very similar effects to eating a higher protein diet. They build and preserve muscle mass so the pounds you lose are fat instead of some fat and some muscle. They increase HDL, lower triglycerides, and directly reduce small particle LDL. Even better, they burn enough calories while you do them, and for up to several hours after you stop doing them, that you get similar fat loss results with less calorie restriction so you can eat more and still lose fat.

That makes it much more likely you can keep doing it which means you’ll lose more fat and be much more likely to keep it off.