Where do I begin? Hmmmm. Well, first off I'd like to reiterate that this page is NOT medical advice, and isn't about diet/weight loss; this page is about HEALTH! Not just any health, but striving for optimal health. In your journey to unravel the truth about health it is paramount that you make it your personal goal to continue researching. Of course, I don't claim to be an expert of any kind. I like to think of my self as an active participant in a research experiment orchestrated for the sole purpose of achieving higher levels of health while passing on personal insights regarding health and longevity.
When I'm casually overhearing conversations of so called health enthusiasts I frequently hear the words "I NEED PROTEIN". The voice in my head gives a slight chuckle then humbles it's self. For those who actively follow raw food know that the societal conditioning of the western or the affluent world know that it is very difficult breaking routine habits, especially ones pertaining to food consumption. It seems like decades of misinformation and reductionism have carefully molded the masses to firmly follow the status quo blindly.
The hardest feat in breaking the paradigm of the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) is lodged deep within the mental constructs of who ever is choosing to challenge it. Once one can beak the habits and accept change then he/she can begin to move in the direction of health. I'm no psychologist, but we all can agree, the only person who can change you. . . is you!
On to the insight.
What is protein? 1 : any of various naturally occurring extremely complex substances that consist of amino-acid residues joined by peptide bonds, contain the elements carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, usually sulfur, and occasionally other elements (as phosphorus or iron), and include many essential biological compounds (as enzymes, hormones, or antibodies)
2 : the total nitrogenous material in plant or animal substanceI'll go on to further mention that is essentially comprised of amino acids. Branch-like groupings of amino acids in a multitude of combinations. We consider there to be 23 amino acids. Eight essential, and 15 non-essential. The non-essential amino acids are important as well and are given less credit than they deserve. All nutrients play a roll. Most every food contains amino acids. The fresher, healthier, organic foods tend to have the highest density of amino acids. These amino acids can be tampered with by heat, electricity, radiation and a plethora of other circumstances. Proteins can be structured grouped together in numerous fashions which are diversified by multiple different amino acids, different molecular bonds styles, and many other scenarios. Complete proteins are considered to have adequate amounts of the essential amino acids. This link will discuss more on the topic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complete_protein .
This is what protein is as far as Merriam-Webster and my self are concerned. What YOU should be concerned about is what are the healthiest sources of protein?
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, meat sources aren't the best source of protein. I'd actually have to consider sea algae to be the best source of complete protein, but we will discuss this later. What is the problem with meat you might say?
Lets present this in bullets shall we. . .
- Meat, like any carbon based living creature will decompose after it has died. Any one who works or has worked in the food industry knows that bacteria growth stagnates in environments above 155 F, and below 40F. Your body is about 98.7F. When you consume a piece of meat and your body doesn't produce enough enzymes to break down the poorly chewed animal flesh which is now slowly moving thorough your digestive system (or G.I. track [gastrointestinal track]). These meats in your system now begin to continue to break down while enhancing their ability to host bacteria. Your body now is combating possible bacteria build up while robbing you body of boosting its immune system. A great example of this would be to leave a piece of raw beef out for a day at room temperature and smell it after a days worth of decomposition and oxidation. Then pick it up and tell me if you would eat it? My guess is no. So tell me why you would want that in your system when the difficulty of processing meats is known to possibly take up to weeks in some instances.
[Side note: Think about the saying "there could be old hot dogs in your colon". Also, remember that John Wayne passed away with pounds of undigested meat in his intestines.]
- Animal Protein detriment is quite vast. Not only is it difficult on your body to produce the enzymes to break down meats, but they are also very acid forming on your system. You want your body to be alkalized, which basically means to pH balance your body more towards a base/alkaline state (we'll discuss this another day).
- The book "The China Study" will go on to explain that animal protein was found to be a highly usable source of food for cancer growth. It also goes on to show the areas of china where people who ate the most animal fats and proteins maintained an alarming amount of diseases that were all similarly linked with specific eating and lifestyle habits. In a nutshell the book shows how a whole foods plant based diet proved to not only retard cancer growth but in most cases actually reverse cancer and disease. This scientific finding coincides with the fact that most natural cancer healing is comprised of remarkably healthy eating and detoxification.
I highly recommend this book and wholly endorse it by saying this material should be the catalyst which ignites your passion for health and that children should be brought up on it's teachings.
- Cooking meat also destroys proteins I don't know the exact figure, but it does vary between types meats, how long they are cooked for, how they are cooked and what they are cooked with are. A rough estimate would be about 30-45% of the protein is compromised by being cooked and altered.
OKAY OKAY OKAY! You get it . . . no more meats. But what about all these sources saying we neeeeeeedddd protein? To them I say your RIGHT! I also believe that some people need proteins more than others, while others need more fats and oils, and some more carbs/sugars. When it comes to how much protein consumption one needs I think it best to listen to your body. You body is the best indicator of what you need. Weather it is through feeling, cravings or intuition, one way or another you will tune in to what your body is telling you. There are possible blood tests to perform to be a bit more accurate on how much to consume. My humble advice is to not listen to the recommended daily allowance that the FDA is soliciting. If the whole food pyramid is wrong, then it is possible the RDA's for nutrient in-take may be faulty as well. I do know that over the years the RDA's have changed and been revised. This alone makes me curious, especially when they trend with the food marketing campaigns.
An interesting tid-bit on why it's possible people were sold on meat as your protein source could be attributed to this: In terms of what food on the planet would most likely contain an EXACT branch-chain amino acid complex that is identical to what a human consists of is actually human flesh. Your human flesh if consumed would contain the exact proportions of amino acids that comprise the proteins of your body. Unfortunately these highly complex strands of proteins would be very difficult for your digestive system to break down and by due process be rearrange back into a usable form which would be now bioavailable (absorbable or biochemically usable would be other good synonyms). Animal meat, being that it is closer to our human flesh would be thought to be a worthy protein source. Which it actually is, but its detriment out weighs its benefit.
Now lets look at the animal. Where does the animal that we eat get it's nutrients to create proteins? If you guessed plants and grasses, than you are pretty much right! In the like you would want to imagine that if you were to eat the right kinds of foods then you would be building protein the proper way. Natures way!
Here is the grey area. You might say come on!!! No MEAT? Actually I have a couple small contradictions. The first is that all of the studies done in "The China Study" noted that test subjects that ate under 5% of their calories as animal proteins seemed to be in the least harm. While the other subjects that ate 20% of their calories as animal proteins had a far greater cancer rate, especially the ones who were genetically predisposed to having cancer. So you may be able to safely have a miniscule amount of meat less than frequently. The second grey area is consuming healthy hormone and antibiotic free meat that is, for lack of a better term, organic. This instance is interesting because we know how unhealthy the animals are that we are given as food at your restaurants and fast food places. This poor quality meat is made of sick and dying animals pumped with antibiotics so that they live long enough to reach weight and size to be sold. This is a due greatly to GMO (genetically modified organism) corn. For info on genetically modified corn and foods check out the documentaries "The Future of Foods" and "King Corn". If a cow continues to eat this GMO corn with out antibiotics it will die. Another fun fact is 90% of chickens have cancer before they are processed/slaughtered. I'm not trying to scare you, I'm just informing you of what is going. The world should know. Actually 60% of the world is vegetarian. So the world already knows and some how we didn't get the memo. Another fun story I heard once was about a group of people who live to great lengths over their 100's in perfect health. Almost like how an animal hardly ages physically then just passes on. These people consumed a whole foods plant based diet with meat on a once a month sort of occasion. I'd like that kind of health wouldn't you? Another sort of grey area has to deal with types of meats and how they are processed in your digestive system. I am not certain but through reading and my own personal experience if I were to have to eat meat I would first and foremost consider if it were healthy high quality meat, and second, which meat is easiest to process for my system. Through my own feeling and research I believe that eggs are close to the easiest on the sysetem. Then fish, which vary between type. Then chicken, then pork, then lamb, then beef. I don't know how lobster, crustaceans, mollusks etc. come in but i do know that they are very acid forming on your body which is bad. So if i had to choose it would be a healthy, organic, wild sort of egg or fish if i had to eat meats. And further more in this grey area is food pairing. If you were to eat water melon, cucumber, papaya, or guava while eating meat the enzymes in the fruits would help your body break those down. So while eating this healthy meat source I would strongly consider using a sort of enzyme rich food source to help break this meat down so that my body could better use its nutrients!
I could speak volumes on protein but fear that it may result in a loss of interest due to lengthy blog articles. Bare with me, i'll get to the good news now.
WHAT SHOULD WE EAT!!!!
Well knowing first and foremost almost all live food contains amino acids. If you are eating an uncooked form of plant it certainly has amino acids. Most plants don't contain a broad balance of aminos so they are not considered a complete protein. If you combine your foods properly for instance, leafy green vegetables, a nut source and a seed source, along with a fruit you most likely have a significant source of amino acids that would be now rebuilt into highly usable proteins. The fact that these amino acids are plant based makes their ability to be digested very simply. They would be more absorbable if they were uncooked and untreated, and even more absorbable if they were properly cultured. A good example of a combo would be a smoothie or a meal that consisted of Kale, flax seeds, almonds, a banana and an apple. As we know nuts and beans have protein in them, along with flax seed, hemp seed, quinoa, and algae. Algae is a remarkable source of complete protein. Unfortunately, algae tends to be expensive, and also would need to be consumed in great volumes to attain it's benefit. Fortunately for us we can substitute our protein with more soaked and sprouted nuts, and other great plant based sources like hemp seed and quinoa. If you were looking to gain weight and add muscle mass I would strongly consider eating these things in a larger number along with supplementing additional protein. A daily example would be a large bowl of quinoa for breakfast. A cup of nuts as a snack. A green shake with hemp seed, fruits and greens for lunch. A sun warrior protein shake after work out. (http://www.sunfood.com/Catalog/CategorySearchResultsView.aspx?CategoryId=0&SearchTerm=sun+warrior&Cid=&gclid=CMXNroqqyqICFQ8mbAodRUAmwg) . And a nutritious meal including some sort of natural plant based protein and maybe a bit of algae before bed.
For weight gain and strength training it's necessary to consume more clean carbohydrates as well.
This is all I have for you today. Hopefully we all can make conscious efforts towards eating healthier sources of proteins. I also hope this blog may help guide you when your lost. If any thing is unclear in the aforementioned article I encourage you to go out and research as much as you can and if you find something to be of error or interest let us know so we all can reap the reward. Until then continue to strive towards a new you. The transformation is never instant and the information is never ending. Don't lose hope! Keep on truckin' and gradually transition into feeling better all the time.
Kyle C. Simmons
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