The Top 5 Reason Why You Should Eat Plenty of Protein!

Reason #1: Increased Thermic Effect of Feeding.

While all macronutrients require metabolic processing for digestion, absorption, and storage or oxidation, the thermic effect of protein is significantly higher than that of carbohydrates and fat. In fact, protein requires 25-30% of the energy it provides just for digestion, absorption, and assimilation while carbs only require 6-8% and fat requires 2-3%. That means that eating protein is actually thermogenic and can lead to a higher metabolic rate. This means greater fat loss and less fat gain.

Reason #2: Increased Glucagon.

Protein consumption increases plasma concentrations of the hormone glucagon. Glucagon is responsible for antagonizing the effects of insulin in adipose tissue, leading to greater fat mobilization. In addition, glucagon also decreases the amounts and activities of the enzymes responsible for making and storing fat in adipose and liver cells. Again, this leads to greater fat loss and less fat gain.

Reason #3: Increased IGF-1.

Protein and amino-acid supplementation has been shown to increase the IGF-1 response to both exercise and feeding. Since IGF-1 is an anabolic hormone that's related to muscle growth, another advantage associated with consuming more protein is more muscle growth when overfeeding and/or muscle sparing when dieting.

Reason #4: Reduction in Cardiovascular Risk.

Several studies have shown that increasing the percentage of protein in the diet (from 11% to 23%) while decreasing the percentage of carbohydrate (from 63% to 48%) lowers LDL cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations while it increases in HDL cholesterol concentrations.

Reason #5: Improved Weight Loss Profile.

Research has shown that reducing the carbohydrate ratio from 3.5 - 1 to 1.4 - 1 increases body fat loss, spares muscle mass, reduces triglyceride concentrations, improves satiety, and improves blood glucose management.

 

 

If you do not have enough protein in your current nutrition, here are 5 reason why you should start. I recommend 1 gram of protein per lean body tissue and up to 1 gram per body weight for individuals. For individuals trying to lose weight, I recommend 1 gram of protein for there ideal body weight.

 

For example, if there current body weight is 200lbs and there ideal body weight is 175lbs, I recommend 175 grams of protein per day.

No matter what your health, fitness, and performance goals are, eating plenty of protein has benefits for every individual. Start replacing your carbohydrates with protein! You'll be happy you did!

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Happy Nutrition for Running :)