Community » Get Advice » Exercise and Fitness » too much protein?

Hey Cowgirl,

Yes, too much protein "long term" could be damaging to your kidneys and liver if you are not flushing your system with a lot of water and exercise. However, that is long term. There are much worse things you could do to your liver and kidneys. :) Check out the following site for a general overview. Although I am not a physician, I would not worry about it too much unless you are going way, way over the top and not balancing it.

http://diet.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Side_Effects_of_Too_Much_Protein_in_the_Diet

You have to be careful about your protein intake. If you look at the Food Guide it's one of the smallest amounts you should be eating.

My Mother went on the Akins diet and so did I but I went off of it after a week because I felt unhealthier than what I was to begin with...my mother on the other hand stuck with it for over a month and now she has to have surgery to get her gullbladder removed because she was eating too much protein.

When you consume too much protein you also consume a lot of cholesterol with that. Your gulbladder's job is to excrete fluid to help break down fats but if there is too much it is turned into gull-stones. Your body and slowly break down these stones IF you aren't constantly adding more too it by an unhealthy diet of excess protein. However if you are unaware of it and you create more then you run the risk of your gullbladder to rupture which is serious.

Just a note about low carbs....not sure why people have a thing were carbs are the enemy, they are actually vital to your body. If you limit your carb intake you run the risk of your brain shutting down. Most people don't know this but your brain runs off of carbs and need them for cell regrowth. I'm not saying eat a lot of carbs, you have to understand your body, the purpose of carbs is to supply your body with energy and if you don't use that engery it gets stored as fat...so that being said, know your body and when you need carbs. For me I like to have carbs in the morning and sometimes for lunch that way it keeps me energized throughout the day, but at dinner time I restrict the amount I consume because I know I won't burn it off.

Another thing to know about carbs and everyone has heard it before; not all carbs are created equal....stay away from white flour, white rice, etc. You want to fuel your body with the colourful variety of carbs like dark green leafy veggies, carrots (careful with those cause they also contain sugar), bell peppers, etc

Sorry about all the info, I just recently graduated with a 4.0 in healthcare and although diet and nutrition was only a small portion of what I studied, I'm still very passionate about it.

I hope that helps you.

~§heena~