3 Ways Protein Improves Your Life

Are you struggling with your nutrition?

Are you experiencing excessive hunger at night?

Are you interested in aging well?

Then get on that protein train.

There’s so many aspects to nutrition that can make eating healthy overwhelming.

Let me dial it down for you a bit.

Eat enough protein.

We all know it’s important to eat fruit and vegetables. We all know a diet rich in fast food isn’t great.

We all know how to fill a plate or bowl with carbohydrates and fat. (If you don’t believe me, tell me what you had for breakfast.)

What we all don’t know is that protein can make or break success when it comes to nutrition.

Let’s talk about 3 ways protein can improve your life:

1. Improves fullness:
   
   Protein balances out your hunger hormones.
   
   Do you find yourself constantly going for seconds? Or maybe you feel like a bottomless pit of hunger at times?
   
   Check your protein intake.
   
   Ghrelin is your hunger hormone. When ghrelin is high, your hunger is high. Protein helps to decrease ghrelin, especially ghrelin levels after meals. This research study looked at ghrelin levels specifically with a high protein breakfast, which is something you should incorporate, as well.
   
   Leptin is a hormone that helps to regulate energy balance in your body. It is directly related to the amount of fat, or adipose tissue, a person has and is associated with feelings of fullness.The larger the amount of adipose tissue, the greater the amount of leptin.
   
   Why? Leptin helps to tell your brain, “Hey, we’ve got enough energy hanging around here, we don’t need to eat.”  You’ve likely encountered the effects of leptin if you’ve ever gone into a calorie deficit for fat loss. As body fat decreases, leptin levels decrease, and your body hears a SOS, “We need to eat.”
   
   Enter, greater hunger levels. High protein diets have the power to help decrease leptin levels and improve satiety.
   
   One aspect of leptin that is worth discussing: leptin resistance.
   
   This is becoming more and more common.
   
   Leptin levels rise with an increase in adipose tissue, or as individuals gain fat. Remember, leptin communicates with the brain to say, “Hey, we are ok, we don’t need any food.”
   
   However, if this communication is left unchecked, (such as obesity, and subsequent inflammation), leptin resistance can develop. The brain becomes resistant to the leptin communication. Therefore, the brain senses low leptin levels (poor communication), and as a result, cravings increase. The individual then eats more food as a result, and calorie intake rises, and the cycle continues. One of the best ways to deplete that cycle: increase protein intake.
2. Prevents muscle loss as you age & promotes muscle growth
   
   If you want to age well, you need to preserve (and grow) muscle.
   
   However, this becomes increasingly hard as we age.This also becomes a challenge if you are trying to lose fat.
   
   Why?
   
   Many people focus on the scale weight in a fat loss phase.
   
   However, the scale shows you body weight. It doesn’t tell you exactly what was lost: fat or muscle (or water).
   
   Preserving muscle and growing muscle is one of the best things you can do for your well-being and your metabolism. What should you do?
   
   Eat enough protein. Diets rich in protein are associated with retention of lean body mass during fat loss phases.
3. Protein helps to balance blood sugar levels
   
   This isn’t just for the 37 million Americans who have diabetes.
   
   Or the 84 million Americans with pre-diabetes, or insulin resistance.
   
   This is for everyone wanting to prevent any disease.
   
   Blood sugar balance is key to optimal health. Your hormones, your energy, your mentality - they all would benefit from blood sugar balance.
   
   Protein can help.
   
   Protein lowers post-prandial, or after meal, glucose spikes.
   
   Protein’s ability to improve satiety and prevent excess body fat also exhibits its ability to aid in blood sugar balance.  
   
   If you’re still not convinced this is important for you, did you know blood sugar imbalance plays a role in inflammation, metabolic syndrome, non-alcholic fatty liver, high blood pressure, PCOS, hormonal irregularities, heart disease, high cholesterol, and cognitive decline?

Key take away: Eat your protein, and prevent disease. It’s imperative to your overall health, especially as you age.

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