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Not Another Story On Protein

By MJ Jensen

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 08Jul2008 Word count: 829 Viewed: 171 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

There is a vast quantity of foods that you can eat these days. A shopping trip to the grocery store can be an adventure. Everywhere you turn, there's yet another food promising you it is healthy, low fat or speeds weight loss. Added to this confusion is that there are some foods that are beneficial for metabolism, and some that aren't; and the differences aren't always easy to detect.

luckily, we're going to tackle this problem right now and describe the three basic food groups/types that are indeed good for a speedy metabolism helping your weight loss. In terms of protein, studies have shown that having enough protein in your system can actually increase the speed of your metabolism. This is because protein is difficult to break down. Or rather, it requires more energy to break down. It's like feeding the body a knot; it needs a bit of time to unravel it. And, as you know, when your body spends time on something, it spends energy (calories). And so the more time it can spend breaking down protein, the more calories that it uses. When you increase muscle you increase the bodies need for protein, which assist weight loss.

The USDA Food Guide suggests around 50 grams of protein a day for a reasonably active adult. Keep in mind that there are different sources of protein: some lean, and some high in fat. The Burger King Whooper delivers up to 36 grams of protein, but they also deliver a 48 grams of fat; plus another 52 grams of carbs which makes the Whopper nutritionally worthless. Just eating this monster burger means you should not take in any more food for the rest of the day except maybe celery.

The benefits you enjoy from the protein are far outweighed by the immense fat intake; which, the Whooper fat intake is 48 grams for one hamburger. The total recommended daily intake of fat per the FDA and USDA is 65 grams, so with this burger alone you have only 17 grams of fat left for the day. But let's say we get the combo meal. Add in French Fries, protein is 2.5 grams, but watch out for the fat, 13 grams. So for lunch we just used up 61 grams of fat and where are we standing with protein, 37.5 grams of protein . So the thing to do is ensure that your source of protein derives from lean protein so we speed up our weight loss, not slow it down with fatty foods.

Typically, protein from some fish and chicken breast (example compared to the Whooper, oven roasted chicken breast 7 grams of protein and .16 gram of fat) is lean; though not all of it these choices are lean so check labels. If you're a vegetarian, or simply looking for non-meat lean protein alternatives, low-fat cheese, legumes (lentils), and yogurt are all good sources. Simply check the food labels to determine if the source of protein is lean (doesn't deliver high fat content), or fatty. Warning, just because the label says "low fat" doesn't mean it is. It might be slightly less fat then the original product. Read the labels you would be surprise what you'll find and how the manufacturers play with words. You have to know what your eating for your weight loss to be effective and what foods speed up your metabolism, labels will reveal the truth to help you lose weight.

In terms of carbohydrates, there probably isn't a more battered around micronutrient than this. It's gone from being the greatest thing in weight loss history, to one of the most reviled. And really, it's not the fault of the innocent carbohydrate! It's really just a matter of information and knowledge, instead of speculation. I remember in the not to distance past that you were suppose to do "carb loading".

The thing to remember is that when carbohydrates are refined, such as white bread and potatoes, they are what the diabetic world refers to as high glycemic index (GI) foods, because they require spikes in insulin in order to be digested. As you may know, when insulin is released into the system, it promotes the storage of fat; and some experts believe that it also pushes down metabolic speed (which makes sense).

Therefore, the good kinds of carbohydrate to consume are those that are high in fiber, and those from fruit and vegetable sources. Why? Because these sources of carbohydrates don't score high on the glycemic index. In other words, they don't cause a spike in insulin levels, and therefore, they don't promote fat storage. The body doesn't have to work hard to break down these simple carbs. This is a key point to remember is avoid complex carbohydrates, the body has to break the carbs down and they might end up as fat, delaying your weight loss goals

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