7 Health Reasons You Don't Need a Lot of Protein ...

One of the reasons you don’t need a lot of protein, or want to eat too much protein is because it can cause kidney damage. When you eat protein in large quantities, your body gets more nitrogen than it can handle, which causes your kidneys to work very hard to remove the excess nitrogen. Since protein can cause problems for kidneys, people with kidney disease are often put on a low protein diet.

Diets that are high in animal protein cause people to excrete more calcium in their urine than they normally would. As a result, the body doesn’t get all of the calcium it needs to build strong bones. Interestingly, countries with low protein diets have lower rates of osteoporosis, which demonstrates there is a correlation between protein and bone health.

If you are eating a high protein diet, you are probably replacing carbohydrates with protein as an energy source. Unfortunately, protein is not an efficient energy source. Unlike carbohydrates, the body cannot use protein readily for energy. The protein has to be converted to energy, which strains the kidneys and prevents amino acids from being used as building blocks for tissues.

You may be surprised to learn that consuming a lot of protein will not increase muscle mass. Consuming more than .7 grams of protein for each pound of body weight will not add muscle. In fact, when you consume more protein than your body can use, your body stores the excess protein as fat!

While adding protein to your diet may help with weight loss if you replace higher calorie foods with it, by itself it won’t help you lose weight. The number of calories you consume is one of the most important factors when it comes to weight loss. You must burn more calories than you take in!

If you eat too much protein, your body produces too much ammonia. Ammonia is a toxin that the liver has to convert into a harmless substance, which taxes the liver. In addition to taxing the liver, too much ammonia can cause encephalopathy, which decreases brain function.

When you focus solely on protein, you can end up falling short on other nutrients. For instance, your body needs carbohydrates for energy. Also, protein is not a good source of certain nutrients such as vitamin C or fiber, which are both essential for health.

Although your body needs protein, it does not need a lot of protein. When it comes to protein you only need .8 to 1.8 grams per kilogram of body weight. Consuming more protein than you need can be harmful. It is much better to eat a balanced diet. Did you know you could eat too much protein?

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