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THE HIGH PROTEIN DIET

Now let's look at the opposite of both the high-carbohydrate and the low-fat diets. The definition of a high-protein diet is a diet that is limited in carbohydrates and includes protein in excess of the amount you personally require to maintain your body functions and structures. While this amount varies greatly from person to person, when I refer to a high-protein diet, I'm essentially discussing a diet that provides over 100 grams of protein per day.

Dr. Atkins and other authors were famous for the high-protein diets, but Atkins may have been blamed unfairly for imposing a dangerous diet on his patients. After all, his clinical records show reduction in serum fats and other health benefits, and his advice was to eat only the amount of protein a person needed—not an excessive amount.

A true high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet (the consumption of far more protein than the body requires and can use) is dangerous and will not achieve long-term weight maintenance. First, it's difficult for the kidneys to process excessive amounts of protein. Second, the weight you do lose will not be fat loss but will be primarily muscle and water weight. While Dr. Barry Sears, author of The Zone, has been erroneously accused of favoring high-protein diets, this is what he actually thinks of them:

These high-protein, quick-weight-loss programs have you losing the wrong kind of weight. And that's not even the worst of it. If you eat too much protein at a meal, your insulin levels will also start to increase because your body doesn't want a lot of excess amino acids floating around in the bloodstream. What will the increased insulin levels do? They now help convert the excess protein into fat.

. . . It's also been discovered recently that high-protein, ketogenic diets may cause changes in the fat cells, making them ten times more active in sequestering fat than they were before you went on the diet. So when you go off the diet, you continue to accumulate fat at a frightening rate. . . . When it [the body] has to deal with a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet, it says, "Hey, I didn't fall off the turnip truck. The brain needs carbohydrate to function, so I'll start ripping down muscle mass, and I'll turn much of the protein in that muscle mass into carbohydrate." You might say, "That's fine. I can live with losing some muscle until I lose my body fat." But remember: Because of those increased insulin levels, you're not losing fat at anywhere near the rate you expect, and you eventually reach a weight plateau.

. . . Put this all together, and you'll see why more than 95 percent of the people who have ever lost weight using high-protein, ketogenic diets have gained that weight back and more. Why? Is everyone who ever tried a quick-weight-loss program a weak-willed ninny? I don't think so. It's just that their high-protein, low-carbohydrate diets have caused permanent changes in their fat cells, changes that virtually guarantee increased body-fat accumulation in the future.

An eating plan that balances protein, carbohydrates, and fats is the only one that will work toward permanent, healthy weight maintenance. Before we discuss that plan in more detail, let's look at the siren call of the dieting world: herbal weight-loss products.

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Hoodia gordonii (pronounced HOO-dee-ah) is also called hoodia, xhooba, !khoba, Ghaap, hoodia cactus, and South African desert cactus.Hoodia is a cactus that's causing a stir for its ability to suppress appetite and promote weight loss. 60 Minutes, ABC, and the BBC have all done stories on hoodia. Hoodia is sold in capsule, liquid, or tea form in health food stores and on the Internet. Hoodia gordonii can be found in the semi-deserts of South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola. Hoodia grows in clumps of green upright stems and is actually a succulent, not a cactus. It takes about 5 years before hoodia's pale purple flowers appear and the cactus can be harvested. Although there are 20 types of hoodia, only the hoodia gordonii variety is believed to contain the natural appetite suppressant.Although hoodia was "discovered" relatively recently, the San Bushmen of the Kalahari desert have been eating it for a very long time. The Bushmen, who live off the land, would cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. They also used hoodia for severe abdominal cramps, haemorrhoids, tuberculosis, indigestion, hypertension and diabetes.In 1937, a Dutch anthropologist studying the San Bushmen noted that they used hoodia to suppress appetite. But it wasn't until 1963 when scientists at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), South Africa's national laboratory, began studying hoodia. Initial results were promising -- lab animals lost weight after taking hoodia.The South African scientists, working with a British company named Phytopharm, isolated the active ingredient in hoodia, a steroidal glycoside, which they named p57. After getting a patent in 1995, they licensed p57 to Phytopharm. Phytopharm has spent more than $20 million on hoodia research.Eventually pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (makers of Viagra) caught wind of hoodia and became interested in developing a hoodia drug. In 1998, Phytopharm sub-licensed the rights to develop p57 to Pfizer for $21 million. Pfizer recently returned the rights to hoodia to Phytopharm, who is now working with Unilever. What you need to know about hoodiaHoodia appears to suppress appetite Much of the buzz about hoodia started after 60 minutes correspondent Leslie Stahl and crew traveled to Africa to try hoodia. They hired a local Bushman to go with them into the desert and track down some hoodia. Stahl ate it, describing it as "cucumbery in texture, but not bad." She lost the desire to eat or drink the entire day. She also didn't experience any immediate side effects, such as indigestion or heart palpitations. Stahl concluded, "I'd have to say it did work."In animal studies, hoodia is believed to reduce caloric intake by 30 to 50 percent. There is one human study showing a reduced intake of about 1000 calories per day. However, I haven't been able to find either study to actually read for myself and am going on secondhand reports.

Information on this site is provided for informational purposes only. It is not meant to substitute for medical advice provided by your physician or other medical professional. You should not use the information contained herein for diagnosing or treating a health problem or disease, or prescribing any medication. You should read carefully all product packaging and labels. If you have or suspect that you have a medical problem, promptly contact your physician or health care provider. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. *With purchase of 4 bottles.

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