Quote:
Originally Posted by enkeivette
No no, higher protein/ lower fat/ carbs is always better. What I said specifically, you don't need 1 gram of protein for every pound that you weigh, everyday, unless you're bodybuilding/ hardcore working out. Because an average person does not need that much protein, and unused protein, like anything else, turns into fat.
So if you're 200lbs, but you're not very active, 3 steaks a day won't do you much good. Haha
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Fat is NOT bad for general real world health. An excessively high protein diet is not only not needed, it's problematic because it is taxing on your liver to process out excess AIR. If you keep the protein moderate, and the carbs VERY low, meaning a high fat diet you can actually enter ketosis, a state your body metabolizes fat to ketones (rather than protein and carbs to glucose).
Saying ony 1 gram of protein per pound of weight (which is not a bad rule of thumb, less for most would be fine and a little more for heavy lifting, say in the range of 0.8 - 1.5 seems to work out) and keep carbs and fat as low as possible doesn't really tell you much. Protein is about 4 calories per gram, meaning for a 200 pound person 200 x 4 = 800. Assuming you're being even vaguely active at around 200 pounds hand have a moderately fast metabolism, you'll need around 2,500 calories a day to maintain your position, meaning 1,700 hundred calories need to come from somewhere else. This is where it gets pretty fascinating. About the only thing there is broad agreement on is that these should not be mostly simple carbs, after that for ratio between fats and carbs, there is not. Traditionally it has been that these should be complex carbs and less fat, and there is some sense in it perhaps for endurance athletes who have to build up their bodies capacity for storing glycogen and who also want to be basically light as possible. However, for most people a higher (animal) fat diet with activity is perfectly fine for health and strength. Among the two enormous benefits off the bat is that you won't be nearly as hungry all the time and probably more importantly you won't be having insulin peaks and valleys either. Beyond this more are beginning to say that fats are critical for proper neurobiological function, and many other internal processes. Like it or not, our bodies are optimized for eating what was available without processing for the majority of history and that means animals, nuts, fruits and vegetables. It means no refined grains and definitely not refined simple carbs. In other words a core of the modern Western diet is at odds with nature and hey look at all the physical dysfunction . . .
NOTE: Animal fats and oils from nuts and olives are fine. Hydrogenated oils are terrible!! In practical terms this means things like butter is fine, margarine is bad.