Eating a balanced diet can be a bit of a challenge with a busy schedule, but no matter how busy you are, getting enough protein is critical. Protein has been scientifically proven to be essential to the human diet.
Let’s look at some scientifically proven reasons to eat more protein to ensure your diet doesn’t become deficient.
1. Reduces Appetite
Of all the major aspects of food, protein is the most filling, which means you can eat less protein than fat or carbs and feel just as full. This is because protein reduces the levels of peptide YY in your body, which is the hormone that makes you feel hunger.
2. Good for Bones
Eating protein helps your body build strong bones. It also helps your body to maintain your bones and combats age-related bone density loss.
3. Essential for Building Muscle Mass
You may already know this, but protein is the main ingredient your body needs to build muscles. Of course, you’ll also need to be physically active, but if you don’t eat enough protein, your body won’t be able to build muscle.
4. Helps Muscle Recovery
Even if you aren’t looking to bulk up, protein is needed to help your muscles recover when damaged. So, if you’ve recently had a sports injury, feed your body lots of protein.
5. Gives Your Body a Metabolism Boost
Protein is more difficult for your body to digest than carbs. After eating a high-protein meal, your metabolism will increase as your body breaks down the protein. This can benefit those looking to lose weight, as this boost can help burn additional calories.
6. May Lower Blood Pressure
Eating a high-protein diet has been shown in some studies to lower blood pressure and bad cholesterol. While this might have more to do with the fact that you are eating foods that are low in fat on a high-protein diet, it is still a proven benefit of eating more protein.
7. Helps You Stay Fit
Because protein boosts your metabolism and lowers your hunger hormone, it is a major component when it comes to staying fit. It also can help you to restrict calories when you want to lose a few pounds.
8. Helps With Fat Burning
Protein increases your metabolism, so your body needs more calories to burn. If you aren’t giving it carbs and sugars, it will burn your fat instead, which can significantly help if you are trying to lose weight.
9. Helps Curb Cravings
Sugar and salty cravings often occur when your body is hungry and needs something to burn. If you are eating meals high in protein, you are less likely to reach the state where your body is desperate for calories – meaning you will no longer have junk food cravings.
10. Helps Combat Age-Related Muscle Loss
As people age, losing a bit of muscle mass is natural, but if you eat protein, you can slow the process down. This means you can stay fit as you age and reduce your chances of age-related diseases like osteoporosis and sarcopenia.
Need Help Getting Enough Protein?
As you can see, protein is a necessary component in any healthy diet, but we know that sometimes life can get busy!
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