Counting calories may not be enough to administer your appetite or your weight, new surveys suggest.
Watch the percentage of protein calories can be an important key, according to Alison Gosby, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney. Protein and weight control can go together, suggests her search. He echoes the results of others.
In his study, she discovered that men and women fed a 10% protein diet with 12% more calories over four days than on a 15% protein diet.
"Any dietary intervention resulting in dilution or protein restriction in the diet will promote excesses in an environment where food is abundant," says WebMD.
Although many experts believe that the content of protein in the diet plays an important role in determining how many calories we eat, and how hungry we are, the new study lends some solid numbers to that idea.
is published in plos one.
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Gosby and other researchers believe that people have especially strong appetite for protein.
When the protein in the diet gets very low, "We continue eating in an attempt to reach our level of protein target," says Gosby. This is known as protein leverage effect. Some think low protein levels in the diet can help boost the obesity epidemic. From 1961 to 2000, other research shows, the US diet decreased from 14% protein to 12.5%.
Gosby asked lean men and women, the average age 24, to eat diets with three different protein contents: 10%, 15% and 25%. A diet that is composed of about 15% protein is often recommended.
Men and women ate each of the three diets for four days at the research center. They had unrestricted access to other foods, as well as the fixed meals they received. What they ate were recorded.
As the protein refused to 10%, men and women tended to eat more carbohydrates and foods containing fat, boosting the risk of weight gain. But Gosby discovered that increasing the protein of 15% to 25% did not seem to make any difference in total calories eaten.
The final analysis reported in 22 men and women, all very thin. Its medium body mass index (BMI) was 21.8. A healthy BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
"This study provides a little more support - [but] is a short-term study - that the protein consumed helps us feel to the maximum," says Connie Diekman, Rd, University Nutrition Director at the University of Washington In St.. Louis. She revised the study discoveries for WebMD.
"So including some [proteins] every time we eat can help us make better food choices and cut what we eat next time we ate," she says.
"With the goal of 15% -25% of total energy intake as protein looks on right for a moderately active person," says Gosby. "The message to take home is to avoid foods rich in fat and simple sugars as recommended in the current dietary guidelines. These foods dilute the proportion of protein in the diet." And this can encourage people to eat in excess, take in many calories and gain weight.
Just like finding out if you are eating a diet that usually includes 15% protein?
If you eat 2,000 calories per day to maintain weight, a protein-rich diet 15% would include 300 calories as protein, says Gosby. This translates into about 75 grams of protein. A grass has 4 calories.
Your suggested menu to keep the protein at 15%:
- A bowl of cereal, piece of fruit, toast, banana and orange juice. Which provides 48 protein calories or 12 grams, total.
- For lunch, a slice of ham and cheese with salad on a roll, yogurt and a piece of fruit. Which provides 28 grams of protein or 112 calories.
- For dinner, a piece of chicken, vegetables, potato puree, and ice cream with fruits - a spoon. Which provides 148 calories, or 37 grams of protein.
If you jump the yogurt and eat a chocolate bar and eat cake instead of fruits with your ice cream, then add two soft drinks, your protein intake will stay in about 300 calories, she says. "But your total intake of energy will have increased by about 600 calories."
Diekman offers this guide: Six portions of whole grains give you 18 of its 75 grams of protein, while 3 cups of dairy products give you 24 grams.
A co-author of Gosby reports receiving a fee of Conley Rosemary's diet company and fitness for lectures and articles.
