why protein?

[pippa]

Me and james are finding it strange that neither of us are really craving carbs, everything that seems to trigger that 'mmm, i could use some of that right now' feelings are all proteins. Cheese, lamb, chicken etc

i was wondering if anyone knew why this was
(or if we're both just weird?)

 

[shrinking violet]

Same thing has been happening to me!

 

[pippa]

i dont suppose you have any idea why? i just thought i'dbe DYING for bread or potato but if you held a baked spud or a lamb cutet infront of me, i know which one i'd go for

 

[jacqui_xm]

I have protein cravings too, usually for chicken or prawns. If you'd asked me before the diet what I would have missed most, I would have said chocolate. Weird isn't it.

 

[SteveM]

I went through this when I first lost my weight and spoke to my nutritionist friend about it. I cannot remember everything she said at the time (it was over a year ago), but the essence was that the body itself is best at knowing what it wants/needs. The problem is that we tend to ignore it and override its demands with what we would like, what we want etc.

When you take food out of the equation completely, the body's messages to the brain are not being masked by the rubbish that we tend to put inside ourselves, so the messages are clearer and less prone to misinterpretation.

The bottom line is that the human body does not really need that much in the way of carbs to survive - just enough so that it has the stores for a quick burst of energy when it is needed. What it does need though is protein, which it apparently breaks down into sugars for energy, amino acids for the bodys own maintenance (cell regeneration etc), and loads of other things.

That's the way I remember her explaining it anyway .....

 

[doctorbeat]

Makes sense. I read that until 10000 years ago when humans developed agriculture, we were largely carnivorous, with carbs coming only from plant matter that was foraged.

Considering that 10000 years is practically nothing in evolutionary terms, we are currently eating a diet that is totally unsuitable for human beings.

There's a diet based around these ideas called the 'Paleolithic diet', which is pretty much a low carb, high protein diet.

It's interesting to note that wheat (gluten), peanuts and milk (lactose) are all artefacts of the onset of agriculture and wouldn't have been available to humans during the evolution process.
Maybe the reason that people have allergies to these products is because they're not part of our natural diet.

An interesting thing about the CD is that it partially adheres to this philosophy in that carbs are kept to a minimum, with the emphasis on protein and fat as energy sources.
Since CD is also low in fat, the body ends up using stored body fat for energy, but it's still the same process.

I can't help wondering about this current emphasis on a high carb, low fat diet being healthy. No wonder we get so many people with obesity, diabetes, coliac disease and IBS. Maybe it's from eating foods that are outside of our natural 'operating parameters'.

One thing that I have noticed is that people on low carb diets tend to look a whole hell of a lot healthier than they did when they were on high carb diets.

 

[pippa]

why thankyou doctorbeat, we'd be lost without you!

(ladies and gentlemen...my fiance! love you, sweetcheeks!)