there are sources of information out
there that will tell you that eating too
much protein
is bad for you it's bad for your kidneys
it's bad for your
bones it increases your risk of cancer
in fact nothing could be further from
the truth
in this video i'm going to tell you 11
important signs that you're not eating
enough protein
and i think for most people in modern
countries
that's the case they're eating far too
many carbohydrates
and they're not eating enough protein to
actually build
the tissues in your body every part of
your body from your bones to your brain
to your kidneys need for you to eat lots
of protein and this video is going to
help you understand the signs of protein
deficiency
i'm dr ken berry a family physician with
20 years of
clinical experience and i think you're
going to find this video very helpful
for yourself
and for your friends you decide to share
it with a very common sign of protein
deficiency
is muscle loss or the inability to gain
muscle this is very common in the
elderly
as they don't eat enough protein they
lose their muscle mass
in some athletes if they're not eating
enough protein they work out really hard
and they don't gain muscle at all
another is decreased bone strength and
this is
very very important if you've been
diagnosed with osteopenia
or osteoporosis then you're almost
certainly not eating enough protein
in your diet most people think bones are
made of calcium
they're actually made of protein with a
calcium
atom stuck into the matrix of the
protein
your bones are all protein and if you're
not eating enough protein your body will
not be able to keep your bones
strong another sign that you're not
eating enough protein
is very slow wound healing now
pay careful attention to this if you've
been eating
low protein for years or decades
then you've gotten used to how how long
it takes for your wounds to heal
so you may not recognize your wound
healing as slow
so maybe ask some friends and relatives
uh how long it takes for us a scrape or
a cut or an abrasion to heal
you may find that yours is taking much
much longer to heal
that's a sign of protein deficiency
another
sign of protein deficiency is
weird hunger or cravings your body is
looking for a very short list of
nutrients in your diet it's looking for
amino
acids that come from protein it's
looking for fatty acids that come from
fats
it's looking for vitamins and it's
looking for minerals
if you're not getting enough protein in
your diet then your body is going to
increase your hunger
and it's going to make you have these
weird cravings trying to get
the particular amino acid or protein
molecule that it's looking for
low protein can cause that to happen
another
sign of not enough protein intake is
brittle hair
nails and skin if your skin is dry and
flaky and very thin if your nails break
very easily or they flake up very easily
if your hair is brittle and breaks if
you're having hair
loss for no apparent reason these are
all signs of
protein deficiency now if you have a
severe
terrible protein deficiency you can
actually develop edema
or swelling in your ankles and feet this
is
a kind of an end stage sign when you've
been protein deficient for so long
that your body's about to give up
another sign
of low protein is negative mood
changes so if you're always down in the
dumps you always have a negative mood
this is
actually a sign of protein deficiency
now if you doubt any of these signs down
in the show notes below this video
i've got all the research that i base
this video on so you can go and read the
research study and argue
with the scientists i'm just reporting
to you the facts
another sign of low protein intake is if
you have
frequent upper respiratory infections or
frequent bladder infections
or frequent skin infections your body
uses protein to heal wounds with
and to fight infections with your immune
system has to have
a lot of protein in order to fight off
infections whether we're talking about
bacterial infections
or viral infections if you're not eating
enough protein
you're going to have more infections and
you're going to have more severe
longer lasting infections
another sign and this one is for kids if
you have children or grandchildren
stunted growth is almost always due at
least in part
to a protein deficiency the child just
not getting enough
protein and then last on this list is
insomnia
now when i was doing the research for
this video i i did not know
that a protein deficiency can lead to
insomnia but it's actually quite
well known in the sleep literature and
i've got a link to two or three studies
down in the show notes below
but if you're having trouble getting to
sleep that could very well be
a protein deficiency at risk populations
for protein deficiency
in my opinion include every human being
who follows the
usda guidelines or the american heart
association guidelines or the american
diabetes association guidelines
you're probably deficient in protein but
populations who are specifically at risk
are the elderly very often elderly will
wind up on a tea and toast diet they're
just not getting any protein in their
diet
because their taste buds change as they
get older and they don't have the taste
for meat that they once did
women are notorious for eating their
salad and
not eating the steak so women have to
pay careful attention
especially pregnant and lactating or
breastfeeding women
they really have to go out of their way
to eat enough protein and then children
because of the stunning thing i talked
about earlier it's very common for
for kids to want to live on snack cakes
and orange juice
no meaningful protein there at all so
you have to really if you want your
child to grow up to be tall and strong
and beautiful and intelligent they've
got to get enough protein
in their diet now the best sources for
protein that i recommend
are meat fish eggs and cheese okay
never ever do you need a protein shake
or a protein bar or a protein powder
those are usually wind up being
carbohydrate shakes in bars and powders
but very often the protein contained in
them is not even absorbable
or bio-available for your body to use i
recommend that most people need
two grams of protein per kilogram of
body weight
or if you're in the united states then
one gram of protein
per pound of body weight and i know that
there are
gurus out there who are going to say oh
god that's way too much protein
that'll kill your kidneys or cause you
to have bone fractures
yeah so that none of that's true protein
is good for your kidneys proteins good
for your bones protein is good for every
other
part of you now if you're
more than moderately active or if you're
a an athlete then you may need more
protein
than i recommend but even someone who's
completely sedentary
needs at least that much protein a day
there are two diets that i recommend
both of these diets are going to give
you all the protein that your body needs
that's the keto diet and a carnivore
diet playlist will pop up here at the
end of this video
if you're unfamiliar with those diets
they are part of the proper human diet
and they're going to give you all the
protein plus all the other other
nutrition you need
for optimal health please take a second
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see you next time