This is a great old question that is more than likely asked in every Health Food Shop, Supplement Store, Pharmacy and Chemist across the country on a daily basis by people coming in who are learning about nutrition and how protein is a big part of their daily diet.
So in saying that, what are the benefits of a high protein diet?
The benefits are numerous (and I will go into a few of the details below), also of note is that you generally won’t find a diet or type of diet that doesn’t include protein in it somewhere.
If it doesn’t have a bit of protein in it, I’d be questioning it because proteins and the amino acids contained in them are the building blocks of life and you can’t live on carbohydrates alone.
Now in regards to the my meaning of a high protein diet, I don’t mean you are having massive amounts of protein each day, I mean high protein because you are eating protein at a level higher than your carbohydrate intake and also at a bit higher rate than is usual for you and you normal diet.
Now back to the benefits of a high protein diet;
- Helps with weight loss
- Appetite suppressant
- Helps with recovery from training
- Increase in overall daily health
- Daily energy boost
- Body composition change over time
- Muscle preservation in a calorie controlled diet
- Control of sugar cravings
- Thermogenic effect
- Cost saving of eating protein and following a high protein diet
- Speeds up your metabolism
- Good for cholesterol
- Increase of muscle mass
- Repair and maintenance of your body
- Improved muscle tone
As you can see the benefits of having high protein in your diet are numerous and also cover a lot of different goals too, so it isn’t just a body builder that benefits from having a high protein diet.
Also remember as I have said above, what is a high level for you may not be for someone else, it is finding out what level of protein in your diet is needed to achieve your goals, a 100kg lean body builder that trains 6 times a week in the gym has different protein needs to a footballer and also an everyday person who doesn’t train looking at losing weight.
The high protein mixed with low carbohydrate is the usual diet of choice for a person looking at losing weight and also for people looking to lose weight and retain their muscle mass too.
But there are many different types of high protein diets around, the variance comes in what you have with your protein through the day, it can be low carbohydrate, high fat, high fibre or a mixture of all of these.
The key still in any high protein diet is to still keep the other key nutrients present as well, all of these together will give you a lot more benefit in the long run.
So, if you are embarking on a high protein diet adventure and asking what are the benefits of a high protein diet, make sure you do a bit of home work and ask a lot of questions first.
Listen and learn what will be the best for you and also what will be the best for you in regards to a high protein diet solution over a long period of time and I hope I have covered most of the benefits here for you.
Enjoy what you learn and makes sure you enjoy the eating too!
