Low Carb in the UK

Can I eat too much Protein? What Happens if I do?

Rather an informative post to the list, so I repeat it here!

From: Stan Bleszynski

Chrissy wrote:
I was reading a very interesting thread on another group recently about how too much protein can cause an insulin reaction and stop you losing weight. It all got very technical (and to be honest would have put me off if I had been new to low carb) but it just served to remind me about the fat/protein/carb ratio. When I put my foods into FitDay I usually end up with around 74/20/6 but it's been as low as 60/35/5. What does everyone else usually aspire to and have you also found that too much protein stalls you?

Yes I did find some adverse reaction to excess proteins too, in the initial stage of my dietary experiment (=the learning curve).

Two things usually happen:

1) Short-term effects are similiar to overeating carbohydrates - headache and stomach aches but may last much longer. Up to 24 may be even 48 hours. After carbohydrates these symptoms usually dissipate after 6 hours. The reason is that about 56% of proteins may end up converted to blood glucose and act as sugar but because proteins stay in your system longer, they act as a steady and very persistent source of glucose. Aspirin does help.

2) Long term effects of systematic overeating of proteins or eating too much of the _wrong_ proteins may cause dry skin symptoms (& skin allergies) and gout. This is of course reversible but may take several weeks to take effect, and in case of gout, exercizing will speed it up. One other sign of consumming excessive proteins are white crescent-like marks and sharp ridges along the surface of fingernails. Another (abnormal) sign indicative of eating too much proteins (and insufficient fats) is feeling unusually hungry most of the time in spite of eating normal amounts of food (note that on high fat you only need, for example 1500Cal/day if you are 145lb!).

Regarding proportions of fat/proteins/carbs, I follow Kwasniewski's "Optimal Nutrition" which states F=2.5-3.5g per 1kg of ideal body mass per day, P=1g +/-15% and C=0.8g (may be as low as zero or as high as 1g) . By calories that would be approximately 80%/10%/10% and of course most of the fat should be natural and saturated.

BTW Kwasniewski was recommending that if you really HAVE to overeat something it is less harmful to overeat carbohydrates than proteins... It is also important not to eat excessive calories, but just enough in order not to be hungry.

Stan