If you are a fitness enthusiast or an athlete, you must be on a high protein diet which is determined by your total body mass. However, always eating high protein may not always be a good idea as many doctors claim that it could put some pressure on your liver. So what do you do about it?
In this blog, we shall talk about a tweak that will not only help you relieve your liver, but also make your body’s protein synthesis efficiency very high. Interested to know? Here’s how gastroenterology doctors want you make the tweak –
Understanding the basics
Most athletes and fitness enthusiasts have anywhere between 0.8 grams to 1.5 grams of protein per pound of their body weight. This number is decided depending on their training regimen, performance, and the phase of physicality they are in. But, according to research, having lots of protein is not always the answer. Here’s why –
The human body is known for its extensive adaptive skill and within 48 – 72 hours, it adapts to the amount of protein you take. At this point, after your workouts, instead of synthesizing the protein, it releases more cortisol, a known stress hormone which is also associated with muscle loss. This is one of the major reasons why many of the high protein consuming athletes see no muscle gain after a certain period of time.
Not just that, the excess amount of protein on a regular basis that is not being synthesized to perfection, puts your liver on a kind of stress. This makes it difficult for it to perform, and can also lead to hepatitis which is going to put your health in severe risk.
So what’s the tweak that helps you deal with all of this?
Managing your protein well
Since now we know that your body adapts to the protein you have every day within 48 to 72 hours and it affects your protein synthesis capacity, we are going to progressively increase it. For example, if you now have 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight, then for the first two days of the week, intake .75 grams of protein per pound of your body weight.
The third and fourth day, have 1 gram of protein per pound of your weight and on the 5th and 6th day of the weak, go ahead with 1.25 grams of protein/pound of your weight.
Why this makes a difference?
Well for the most part, you are having the same amount of protein you would have in six days, but for the 1st two days you make 25% reduction, the next two days, you have your standard quantity, and for the two days after than you make a 25% increase. This does not allow your body to adapt to your protein intake, and it synthesizes it faster, repairing the microtears in your muscle that were caused from your workouts.
And what happens on day 7?
On the last day of your regime, you shock your body with almost zero protein consumption that day, just when it was expecting a spike. This is the day that your liver gets some rest and your body is craving the protein you did not give it. Once the day is over, you repeat the cycle, and the 0.75 grams of protein per pound of body weight is synthesized as fast as imaginable.
Pretty simple right? You bet it is.
And if you are having some protein related problems and feel like your liver might be affected, get in touch with a gastroenterology in holly springs NC doctor, and a check-up might give you the right answers!
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