Protein: common or missing link?

Most of us equate the word diet with cutting calories. This is understandable, as most diet marketing relentlessly focuses on offering consumers low-calorie options.

Unfortunately, this way of thinking is categorically wrong. The simple fact that any nutritionist will check is that everyone is on a diet. Even those who don’t want or need to lose weight are on a diet, as are those who gain weight. Dieting has nothing to do with cutting calories and everything to do with choosing calories. The foods you ‘choose’ to eat determine the type of diet you follow.

In fact, for the digestive system and intestines, a bar of chocolate and a stalk of celery are not considered junk food or diet food. Both are seen simply as food. The chocolate bar leads to a fast glycemic reaction and the production of fat cells. Celery doesn’t. Still, the body doesn’t label one as junk and the other as diet food. In fact, whatever the body takes in, it tries to use as best it can.

However, outside of the body’s neutral and intelligent internal systems, the term diet persists in our often quite misguided external world of advertising, marketing, and diet plans. As such, we can group diets into two categories: deliberate and accidental.

Deliberate diets are designed with specific requirements, such as those designed for weight loss, weight gain, and weight maintenance. Deliberate dieting is typically what people are referring to when they use the general term “diet.” This is in contrast to the other type of diet which is called “accidental dieting”. Accidental diets have no requirements, and march to the sound of a simple chant: eat whatever, whenever, and the body will take care of itself.

However, even though there are two terms for dieting, deliberate and accidental, there is one denominator that unites them both: protein. All diets, even accidental ones, require protein.

Proteins and the amino acids that include protein are essential for life itself. All body systems depend, directly or indirectly, on proteins. In fact, because protein regulates hormones, some cases of depression or anxiety are actually instigated and perpetuated by a lack of protein or the body’s inability to fortify its neurological system with this critical macronutrient.

However, for dieters, and that includes everyone, the importance of protein is more pragmatic. Many deliberate diets such as the Atkins(TM) Diet and the South Beach(TM) Diet restrict carbohydrates, while others restrict fat. That leaves the protein. Protein is the common link between all nutritionally sound diets. But is it also the missing link? Or, is protein easily accessible and present in the foods we eat?

Interestingly, most American meals and snacks are deficient in protein. In fact, complete protein is missing from 6 of the top 10 foods eaten in the US, and it’s missing from the top 10 snack foods (see chart at end of article). This shortage of protein in the American diet refers both to the absolute amount of protein, which is recommended to be a minimum of 50 grams per day, as well as to the type of protein. The healthiest protein is a “complete protein,” which includes all 19 amino acids. However, even people who eat 50 grams of protein may not be getting complete protein. As such, these people are sometimes unknowingly suffering from some form of protein malnutrition and experience symptoms that include drowsiness, digestive problems, emotional disturbances, and other adverse physiological effects.

So, to achieve a balanced diet, regardless of diet regimen, an appropriate level of complete protein must be present at each meal. This, of course, is easier said than done for most time-hungry people. Unfortunately, these people are more than hungry for time; they are also often lacking in macronutrients.

Pennsylvania-based Protica Research has developed a protein drink to meet the protein needs of busy consumers, dieters, diabetics, students and others. Profect® is an advanced beverage that provides 25 grams of protein in less than 3 fluid ounces. It is packaged in an unbreakable vial shaped like a test tube and can be consumed in 2-3 seconds. Similar to a multivitamin, Profect can be taken immediately before a snack or meal to fortify with 50% of the US RDI for protein and the full spectrum of water-soluble vitamins.

Profect can turn an “empty calorie” snack into a complete meal. Its macronutrient and micronutrient profile fills the nutritional gap found in most meals and snacks. It does this by combining with the carbohydrates and fats generally present in most foods, thus completing the ‘nutritional trifecta’ required by the body to nourish itself.

Of course, this is only the first step. A truly healthy diet must also understand how to properly eat the other members of the macronutrient kingdom, including fats and carbohydrates. In fact, since so many diets revolve around the fluctuation of carbohydrates and fats, it is essential to understand how to properly consume these two sources of fuel for the body to achieve optimal health. However, which fats and which carbohydrates reign supreme? Which ones add weight and which ones actually help the body’s metabolism work more effectively? The answers to these questions will be eye-opening for most dieters, and will form the cornerstone of the diet for many consumers. You’ll find the answers in part two of this two-part article titled ‘The Law of Macronutrient Balance’. If you don’t have a link to the following article, you can find ‘The Law of Macronutrient Balance’ on the Protica website at protica.com/publications

The 10 most popular foods in the US
Source: http://tigerx.com/trivia/foods.htm

1) Fresh produce and processed vegetables

2) milk and cream

3) Flour products, bread and cereals

4) Meat, Poultry and Fish

5) Sugar and other sweeteners

6) Fruit

7) Potatoes

8) Oils and Fats

9) Eggs

10) Ice cream and frozen yogurt

The 10 Most Popular Snacks in the US
Source: http://tigerx.com/trivia/snacks.htm

1) Chocolate bars

2) chips and pretzels

3) Cookies

4) Bars Without Chocolate

5) chewing gum

6) Stuffed Cookies

7) Walnuts

8) mints

9) Granola Bars

10) Cookies

ABOUT PROTIC

Founded in 2001, Protica, Inc. is a nutritional research company with offices in Lafayette Hill and Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. Protica manufactures encapsulated foods, including Profect, a compact, hypoallergenic, ready-to-drink protein drink that contains zero carbohydrates and zero fat. Information about Protica is available at http://www.protica.com

You can also get information about Profect at http://www.profect.com