Discover The Truth About Eating Too Much Protein

by: Gary Matthews

Lets face it protein is an essential nutrient, and is vital to your health and is used to build muscles, skin, hair and nails. However, many people put their health at risk by eating too much of it.

The typical American diet already provides plenty of protein and there is no point in adding any more, unlike fat cells, there is no place in the body to store protein so the excess is eliminated or is seen as fat rather than muscle.

So what you need to do is to consume just enough protein to allow your muscles to be healthy, perform work and grow. But how much is just enough?

You only use protein for about 15% of your energy use, the majority of energy comes from fats and carbohydrates.

Exercising doesn’t necessarily mean that you require more protein but more carbohydrates to stop your body breaking down protein and using that for energy.

Try to make sure that 70% of your protein comes from sources such as meat, fish, eggs or poultry. The complete protein provided by these foods combines with incomplete protein consumed from other food sources.

So your body makes the best of all the protein that you consume.

If you are consuming too much protein, you are probably consuming too many calories over your maintenance levels and this will show as an increase in your body fat levels.

And with the advent of the latest fad high protein diets, not enough carbohydrates are being consumed so the protein is converted to glucose and not converted into muscle growth.

What is needed for muscle growth is not more protein but high intensity strength training with the required amount of time for rest and recovery between sessions.

Because that major bodybuilding star you saw in the latest magazine requires 300 grams of protein a day doesn't mean that you have to. What he won't tell you is that taking Steroids is behind his muscle gains and not his diet.

High intensity strength training and not food stimulates muscle growth

Consuming excessive amounts of protein is not only bad for your liver and kidneys but also promotes vitamin and mineral deficiencies. It is also linked to osteoporosis and some forms of cancer.

One way to overcome the need to eat large quantities of protein is to increase the consumption of protein in stages until a maximum efficiency point is reached and then to drastically reduce it again.

This obliges the body to over-compensate by increasing the efficiency for the absorption of protein into the body.

An example of a Protein Loading diet is found below.

Week One

• Breakfast: Poached egg on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.
• Snack: Fruit and protein shake.
• Lunch: Chicken, potato, and vegetables. Fresh fruit salad.
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, and biscuits with cheese.
• Dinner: Fish any style, rice, vegetables, and whole meal bread and fruit salad.

Week Two

• Breakfast: Two poached eggs on toast, cereal with fruit salad and milk.
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
• Lunch: Chicken with potatoes and vegetables (any style)
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, biscuits with cheese.
• Dinner: Roast Beef with vegetables, brown rice, whole meal bread.

Week Three

• Breakfast: Three eggs any style on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, and protein shake.
• Lunch: Turkey with potatoes and vegetables, brown rice, whole meal bread.
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
• Dinner: ½ Chicken, potatoes, veggies, brown rice, whole meal bread.
• Before Bed: Protein shake.

Week Four

• Breakfast: Four eggs any style on toast, cereal with fruit and milk.
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
• Lunch: Spaghetti with meat sauce, potatoes, brown rice,
• Snack: Nuts, fruit, protein shake.
• Dinner: Roast Pork, potatoes, brown rice, whole meal bread.
• Before Bed: Protein shake.

After week four of this protein loading diet, move from the max intake of protein to the lowest. So in the fifth week go back to week one menu, in the sixth week, week two menu and so on.

Make no mistake about it this protein loading diet provides a balance of protein, fats and carbohydrates and combined with high intensity strength training will be very effective in increasing muscular bodyweight without the need to ingest large quantities of protein

About The Author Gary Matthews is the author of the popular fitness eBooks Maximum Weight Loss and Maximum Weight Gain. Please visit http://www.maximumfitness.com right now for your 'free' weight loss or muscle building e-courses.

When Is Best Time To Eat Protein For Building Muscles|Muscle Growth?

by: Chris Chew

Every bodybuilder and fitness enthusiast knows that you must eat enough protein for muscle growth. Without the amino acids of protein, your muscles cannot grow no matter how hard and often you train your. Protein is the building block of muscles and there are no other nutrients to substitute protein for muscle growth.

It is recommended that if you want to grow and build muscle mass, the rule is to eat one gram of protein per pound of your body weight per day. That is a lot of protein which many people cannot get in their normal dietary meals and protein supplementation is often necessary. Without eating enough protein, all your muscle building training in the gym will be futile. Such a waste isn’t it?

So when is the best time to eat protein to optimize muscle growth? How and which type of protein should you eat to get spectacular muscular growth?

•Eat protein first thing in the morning – After a good night’s sleep, your body is in a catabolic state. That means your body is burning your muscle for energy since your glycogen store is low. So eat quickly digestible protein such as whey protein the first thing in the morning even before you brush your teeth to prevent your muscle wasting away or catabolism.

•Eat protein between your meals – To keep protein flowing in your bloodstream so as to feed your muscles continuously throughout the day, take casein protein in between your meals. Casein protein is slow to digest and as such will continuously release protein into your bloodstream to feed your muscles for many hours in between your meals. In this way, your muscles will be constantly receiving protein throughout the day.

•Protein before/after gym workout – It is a known fact that eating fast to digest protein such as whey protein before your workout will promote muscle growth as your muscles are being fed as you training to build muscles. Then take whey protein again after your workout along with some carbohydrates to repair your muscle cells after you have damaged them during your workout.

•Protein before bed – Since you will be going without food for many hours when you sleep and muscle building is at its optimum when you sleep, you must encourage your muscle to grow by eating casein protein before you sleep. As casein protein is slow to digest, it will continuously feed your muscles for as long as seven hours when you sleep and thus encouraging your muscles to build and grow.

So now that you know when is the best time to eat protein and to encourage building muscles, follow these tips and see your muscles growing like you have never seen before.

About The Author Chris Chew is a fitness trainer of fashion models, actors and male pageant competitors. He is also the creator and author of Burn Fat Build Muscles Fast System. See his websites http://www.sgfitness.com and http://www.sgfitnessonline.com.