Low Fat High Protein Foods: How To Get Your Lean Protein
Low Fat High Protein Foods – How To Get Your Lean Protein.
All the foods that you eat greatly impact your ability to lose weight. Protein, carbohydrates, and fats each have important roles and specific qualities that make them essental to a fat loss diet. What is interesting this is that the USDA, National Cholesterol Education Program, American Heart Association, and many scientists have previously essentially written off the benefit of protein above the body’s minimal requirement.
“15% of calories or 0.8g/kg is all you need” We’ve heard that before.
However, there has been a surge of research and buzz around the importance of increased protein intake for not just weight loss but cardiovascular disease reduction, blood sugar control, and lowering blood pressure.
If you are looking to maximize fat loss then you are going to need to make sure that you get more than ‘adequate’ protein levels. When you increase your protein intake and decrease your carbohydrate intake, from a biochemical perspective you are removing an insulin stimulating nutrient (carbohydrates) and replacing it with a nutrient that has a much lesser effect on insulin (protein). Protein also causes your body to release another hormone called glucogon which counteracts insulin. Control insulin and you control the rate in which you burn fat.
Here are some great tips for choosing and maximizing lean protein consumption for fat loss (surprisingly from the US Government).
Start with a lean choice:
- The leanest beef cuts include round steaks and roasts (round eye, top round, bottom round, round tip), top loin, top sirloin, and chuck shoulder and arm roasts.
- The leanest pork choices include pork loin, tenderloin, center loin, and ham.
- Choose extra lean ground beef. The label should say at least “90% lean”. You may be able to find ground beef that is 93% or 95% lean.
- Buy skinless chicken parts, or take off the skin before cooking.
- Boneless skinless chicken breasts and turkey cutlets are the leanest poultry choices.
- Choose lean turkey, roast beef, ham, or low-fat luncheon meats for sandwiches instead of luncheon meats with more fat, such as regular bologna or salami.
Keep it lean:
- Trim away all of the visible fat from meats and poultry before cooking.
- Broil, grill, roast, poach, or boil meat, poultry, or fish instead of frying.
- Drain off any fat that appears during cooking.
- Skip or limit the breading on meat, poultry, or fish. Breading adds fat and calories. It will also cause the food to soak up more fat during frying.
- Prepare dry beans and peas without added fats.
- Choose and prepare foods without high fat sauces or gravies.
Use these tips to add high quality, low fat, high protein foods to your diet. The quality of your diet will improve, your weight loss will increase, and you’ll be an all around healthier person.
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