Protein is known to make you full longer during weight loss plans. It also facilitates muscle repair and muscle mass increase. These are the main reasons why many people opt for the high protein diet. This diet is also known as the “Drinking Man’s Diet”, “Carbohydrate Counting Diet”, and “Atkin’s Diet”. More animal sources of protein are taken in large amounts with some fruits and vegetables to supply a minimum amount of carbohydrate. The high protein diet runs under the principle that there still has to be a carbohydrate source to provide an immediate energy source. Since the carbohydrates in this diet is only very minimal, then your body will use the stored fats as the energy source. This will enable you to lose much weight.

High protein diets, although effective over time, result to a significant amount of weight loss but known to harm your body. The instructions to these diets always come with a warning that you should not engage in a high protein diet for more than two weeks. You could get your lean protein from egg whites, whey protein, lean beef cuts, salmon, tuna, turkey and chicken.  But intake of very large portions of protein exposes you to various risks and negative effects. Here are some of the high protein diet risks that you will have when you decide or continue to be on this kind of diet:

 

 

1. Ketone accumulation

When carbohydrates are not there as immediate source of energy, fats and proteins are the next ones to be used by you cells. One of the high protein diet risks is the production of high levels of ketones when fats are broken down for energy already. Ketones are very toxic to your body. This compound destroys the vital organs and causes acidosis. Too much ketone accumulation in your body could cause a coma and even death to the dieter.

 

 

2. Bad breath and body odor

When you eat mostly animal fat, you start smelling like a real carnivore. The smell of ketones already come out of your body. This is one of the high protein diet risks that you wouldn’t want to deal with. This can result to problems with socialization, interaction, and relationships. You wouldn’t want to smell like a lion in the savannah that just killed its prey.

 

 

 

3. High fat in blood

One of the high protein diet risks is the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. This is caused by the high cholesterol from all the animal fat that you ingest. This would definitely lead to other complications that you will suffer from if you decide to have a high protein diet.

 

 

 

 

4. Muscle loss

When you are on a high protein diet, your muscles are at a risk of getting consumed by your cells, and therefore decrease in mass. This will certainly help you lose weight but in a bad way. You tend to be weaker because the muscles that you have left cannot do what you could normally do before. This is one of the high protein diet risks that you also want to avoid. How can you perform well everyday if this happens to you?

 

 

5. Deficiencies

Various diseases brought about by deficiencies will afflict you because you have already removed fruits and vegetables from your diet. Antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin A, and vitamin C are not introduced to your body anymore. This will result to the accumulation of more free radicals that destroy your healthy cells. This could also result in the acceleration of the aging process and more harmful diseases like cancer. Cutting out your carbohydrates will make your body very deficient in vitamin B and fiber as well. Very little or no fiber in your diet will lead to severe constipation, which will eventually progress to other problems of the digestive tract like irritable bowel syndrome or even colon cancer.

 

 

If you want to avoid the high protein diet risks mentioned, then you should opt for the best alternative to this type of diet. You could just have low-fat, high-carbohydrate, high-fiber diet instead. The high amount of carbohydrates here will give you the immediate energy source for your aerobic workouts. Having high-fiber foods will help you get rid of all the toxins that have accumulated in your body. Low-fat food intake will prevent you from having excess fat to get rid of. Your aim in this type of diet alternative is to reduce your stored fat, maintain your lean muscles, and keep you properly healthy. You should always consult your physician with the type of diet that you decide to try so that you may be guided with all the things that you have to consider with regard to your present state of health.