There is a weight-loss diet that is frequently recommended by women's magazines to readers who wish to lose weight, and is also often provided to beginners at the gym who want to build a lean physique into a strong one. This is the protein-based weight-loss diet, and it is often accompanied by protein-based supplements. A promotional booklet once taught sports enthusiasts this: "If the diet lacks protein, the body begins to consume its own protein substances until they are exhausted. This condition will affect athletic performance, and it can even be said to cause losses." How terrifying. This consequence did indeed occur in the drought-stricken areas south of the Sahara Desert during famines. But what is the situation in Germany?
Not only are sports enthusiasts convinced that those small protein powders and protein drinks can give them energy, but even overweight individuals have been persuaded that they can also melt away excess fat. And so, businesses began to make money. The raw materials are nothing more than cheap things, such as milk powder or soybean powder, and they are the leftover scraps from milk processing plants and margarine factories. In the past, these were all poured into the feed troughs for domestic pigs. But be warned: compared to those short-lived domestic pigs, which are often slaughtered after being fattened up, when people take protein powder for a long time, although they do get bulging biceps or thigh muscles as promised by the salespeople, the terrible thing is that uric acid also increases, and even more terrifying consequences appear: gout and damage to liver and kidney tissue, and absolutely no one can escape. However, there are very few "guarantees" regarding this aspect. After all, businessmen have worked hard to double the value of their cheap little powders, making them more expensive than delicious, juicy steaks. How could they intentionally shoot themselves in the foot...
Strictly speaking, protein-based supplements are a continuation of the Atkins diet. As early as 1863, this diet was strongly advocated in a "Letter on Corpulence" by the Englishman William Banting. The Atkins diet was the idea of a Parisian doctor, Claude Bernard. It advocates completely giving up carbohydrates and replacing them with protein-rich foods. The reasoning is as follows: carbohydrates can be converted by the body into fat for storage, but protein cannot. Therefore, in other words, people can eat steak to their heart's content without worrying about gaining weight. As for the lies that today's fitness magazines wishfully promote, claiming that "the body can convert protein in food into muscle mass," this was not something the Atkins diet could have imagined at the time.
However, after numerous trials of the Atkins diet, people had to point out that in addition to the common negative effects of general weight-loss diets, such as weight rebound and osteoporosis, this dietary plan also "uniquely" caused severe depression among the dieting population. Due to the lack of carbohydrates, the body rebels, producing only small amounts of serotonin, and as a result, a person's mood plummets. At the same time, an extreme craving for sweets is almost irresistible, and a strong desire torments the dieting volunteers mercilessly. Fortunately, they can still consume a relatively adequate amount of fat, thus avoiding the agony of gallstone colic. This is some kind of a balance, because those who only eat fat-free foods to lose weight generally suffer from gallstone colic. However, on the whole, only a very few people can stick with this questionable diet method to the end and achieve their weight-loss goals in the short term.