Protein... a touchy subject

So, the latest craze: a high protein diet. Everyone's doing it. This new fad of consuming a very high protein diet is really doing the rounds, but what's the science behind it? What effect does protein have on satiety or on weight loss?
To be successful at losing weight or maintaining weight loss, one needs to feel full after a meal or till the next meal. It is very hard to do so if you're on one of those crazy and very limited diets. That's one reason the Atkins diet didn't work. You cannot eliminate a total food group and expect to keep the weight off, you can't and shouldn't live like that. So what does the research say about protein and satiety?

There are a lot of mixed results. The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein for a normal healthy adult is 0.8g/kg. The upper limit for protein intake is 2g/kg and beyond this your body cannot proces the extra protein is just excreted out. Most of the studies that I have read suggested that a high protein meal does not have any effect on hunger, satiety or the amount that is eaten in the next meal/snack. I think more research should be done to isolate all the variables that can affect satiety and hunger: timing of the meal, amounts of protein, fat content, fiber intake.
There are better and more effective weight loss strategies rather than consuming a high protein meal. Eating a well-balanced meal with all the food groups, adequate physical activity, and plenty of fluids is the best way to lose those extra pounds.

Granola

A picture of the granola I made
Lately I've been really developing a liking for yogurt and granola. When I went to whole foods recently I bought a package of their dried banana granola. Now most granola is made up of oats, some type of nuts like almonds or walnuts, dried fruit like raisins or cranberries and with some flavoring like vanilla. Now, the package of granola that I bought is very high in sugar, obviously less sugar compared to a bottle of regular soda. It was still too high for me. So this is what I thought, I went through 4 years of culinary school, I should be able to make my own granola and it will be fabulous. With this enthusiasm, I set about making granola this weekend and it would be much lower in sugar than the packaged version....and I had immense success!
These are the ingredients I decided to use: thick rolled oats, raisins, almonds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, honey and cinnamon. It was just simply delicious and it's a great snack too. A good thing to have at home. Its got all heart healthy ingredients and good fats coming from seeds and nuts. Oats are high in fiber and can keep you full longer. Get this, my granola just has 5 grams of sugar and 50 calories per serving compared to the 115 calories and 8 grams of sugar of the packaged version.