Protein Poisoning

[mmcclure 3]

I don't know if this has been brought up before but, I wondered if anyone has suffered from Protein poisoning since WLS and a high Protein diet? I never knew this existed until a friend of mine's mother got it and ended up in the hospital for a week because she was on Atkins!

Everyone keeps talking about how low our carbs have to be in order to lose weight and keep it off but at what point do we put ourselves in danger if we eat too little carbs? I have been following a high protein diet for over a week now (on a three-month intensive diet/exercise/behavior modification program) and I have already lost quite a bit of weight. However, I've done this before and I know that, just as soon as I start eating carbs again, I'll start gaining. On the other hand, I don't want to endanger myself (or my daughter who is doing this with me). If I simply do a calorie counting thing, I seem to be hungry all the time because so many of the diet plans consist of a lot of carbs.

[WeekendWarrior 0]

You would have to eat 6 pounds of rabbit and nothing else for weeks on end to get Protein poisioning aka rabbit starvation. As long as you eat some fat and carbs you should be OK. I would also doubt an obese person would get it due to them having fat stores to live on.

[KabinKitty 10]

I personally cannot exsist on too much Protein in my diet. I lose weight like crazy, but then I start having problems feeling weak and very shakey. I've been told it's because I'm going into ketosis. I was told that if I would drink more Water that the effects of ketosis would not be so bad.

Well, I just have to say that I've tried eating a very high protein diet a few times and if I continue with it for over a month, I experience dibilitating pain in my kidneys, like someone is squeezing and twisting them. I also become nauseaous. It lasts for about an hour, then I am exhaused and will sleep for hours.

I feel this type of diet damages my kidneys and I won't do it again.

[Jachut 487]

Actually, carbs dont strictly HAVE to be low to lose weight, in the end, its calories that count. I think a carb modified diet is probably healthier, we overload our bodies with easy sources of energy that provide little true nourishment, but you dont have to do an Atkins style diet either if its not your thing.

I disagree totally with keeping your body in ketosis by lowering carbs that much and I also disagree totally with eating a lot of animal products for Protein. That's just my personal opinion. I think you'll find though in any successful weight loss diet there's a notable absence of junk food which is - you guessed it - processed carbs and saturated fat. Good healthy diets are usually higher in lean Proteins too.

And the reason you gain weight so easily when you go back to carbs is that you are keeping your body in a semi starved state that is not really natural - your liver is totally deprived of glycogen and the FIRST thing it is going to do is replenish itself, becuase the function of this is to have a ready store of energy if you cant eat for a while. The only fuel our body runs on is sugar, everything we eat is converted in the end to simple carbs and glycogen is one of these. When your liver fills itself up again because you ate some bread and potato, back comes a whole lot of Water - because carbs bind to Water in the body. So bang! Up goes your weight, mainly becuase you've rehydrated. High Protein weight loss consists of a lot of water loss.

But for a WLS surgery to actually get protein poisoning - whatever the BALANCE of our diets, we cant eat that much!

I think the greatest danger is ingesting so much artificial sweetener in protein shakes!

Edited July 14, 2010 by Jachut

[WeekendWarrior 0]

Your body can synthesize glycogen from fat, complex and simple carbs and Protein, but you body can not synthesize Protein. If your protein intake is too low, then your body will canabalize your muscles including your heart to get the required protein.

Most sleever's eat from 60 to 100 grams of protein a day. 100 grams of protein is only 3.5 ounces, so you would be a long long way from getting any sort of protein poisoning on a normal sleeve type diet.

The whole reason they tell sleever's to eat "protein first" is if you don't, you will be full and not be eating enough protein, so too much protein is usually impossible for a normal sleever to get.

If a high protein diet is causing kidney problems, you need to see your Dr. ASAP as this is a sign of kidney failure.

As with all forum advice, take it with a grain of salt or a Protein shake, and please ask your Dr. if you have any serious issues.

[mmcclure 3]

Ok, so this all makes sense now. The person I know that got Protein poisoning didn't eat rabbit, she is overweight and ate almost exclusively Protein (animal, I'm sure). For all I know, she sat there and ate steak after steak and nothing else.

My daughter and I are doing a modified carb diet, I guess you would call it. Not Atkins, but trying for 60-80 grams of protein minimum and low carbs (not really counting but all sources are low in carb count). The protein is from varied sources, including soy (protein bars, tofu, etc.), chicken, fish, milk and some beef. The carbs are almost exclusively vegetables, salads and limited whole wheat bread. Once a week, we are allowing ourselves something that we really really want (hey, we have to do this for three months before surgery). We are losing weight and I think this is pretty healthy.

This is pretty much what our diet will be like after surgery, once we are on whole food again, right?

Thanks!