protein

Amino acids

Proteins are composed of building blocks called amino acids. The protein we consume is broken down into these amino acids, then the amino acids recombine to maintain our cells, support their growth, as well as make antibodies, hormones, and help regulate our fluid and electrolyte balance.

The body can manufacture 15 of the 23 essential amino acids, and the remaining 8 need to be eaten to make them available to the body. Although meat and dairy products are complete proteins and contain all 23 of the amino acids, you can get all eight of the required amino acids by eating a variety of fruit and vegetables every day.

It used to be thought that you need to eat a complete protein at every meal, so that you needed to combine brown rice with one of beans, nuts, seeds, or wheat, or combine beans with one of brown rice, corn, nuts, seeds or wheat. However, recently the author of this combining theory realised that the body stores amino acids for a period of 24 hours, so that over the course of 24 hours if you eat a variety of fruits and vegetables such as nuts and seeds, spinach, kale, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, squash and asparagus, you will get enough amino acids that your body requires for its protein functions.

Plant based proteins

Considering our nearest biological relatives the chimpanzees eat a completely plant based diet, and are some of the strongest animals in the world, or considering the strength of an animal such as a cow, one can see that plant based foods are sufficient for building body muscle and tone.

Proteins from animal sources create an acidic residue in the body that promotes aging, as well as diseases such as cancer, and it is preferable to limit consumption to no more than three times a week. Sea animals are better sources of animal protein due to the fact that they are easier to digest. Land animals can take up to twice as long to digest in the gut, and because they spend so long in our intestines, there is more time to putrefy and develop into toxic mass in our intestines, pumping toxic chemicals into our blood stream.

Although, culturally, protein is an important part of our diet, and removing it from the diet may not be for everyone, there are some basic principles that can reduce the effect it has on our health. For example, it is best to eat animal protein in the evening, to give the body adequate time to digest it, since so much energy must be utilised in its digestion.

Proteins should also not be eaten with starches or carbohydrates, in proper food combining that we will discuss soon, however, eating proteins with lots of salad and vegetables is better.

The other problem with animal proteins is the way that they are raised agriculturally, with 13 times the amount of antibiotics used in their diet, than is prescribed to humans worldwide for illness. These antibiotics end up in the meat that we consume.

Animals have feelings, and feel utter terror just before they are slaughtered. This has an effect on their bodies, with high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol being released into their bodies, and some of this energy is passed onto us when we eat their meat.

Leafy greens are great sources of proteins, as well as nuts and seeds, chlorella and spirulina, as well as legumes and beans, in order of preference.

Soy

Soy, although a complete protein comes laden with problems such as increased oestrogen levels, trypsin inhibitors that reduce protein digestion and amino acid uptake, is mostly genetically engineered, which can create food sensitivities and depresses our thyroid function. It is also one of the foods most heavily contaminated with pesticides.

Some soy is fermented and this much better for you to eat, products such as miso and tempeh have been fermented for long periods of time which deactivates the trypsin inhibitors making these products more easily digestible.

Dairy

Dairy is also a complete protein, however, it comes with a whole heap of problems. We are simply not designed to drink human or any other milk after a few years of age. Although dairy products do contain a lot of calcium, the acidic residue that these products leave in the body, stimulates calcium loss from the bones to neutralise the acid and protect internal organs, and therefore a study has found that the more dairy one consumes, the more calcium is excreted in the urine, meaning that the more dairy you eat, the more calcium you lose from your body.

Studies have also shown that bone fractures are more common in people who eat more dairy products, contradicting the heavily subsidised notion so common in public health that dairy is healthy is large quantities every day.

Our bodies are not designed to break down cow’s milk. Some findings suggest that 75% of people are intolerant of lactose in cows milk, and we simply do not produce lactase (the enzyme needed to break down lactose), after the age of two or three years of age.

Casein is a protein in milk that coagulates in the stomach and is incredibly hard for the body to break down. Dairy also creates mucus, which is desperately tried to be eliminated from the body in the form of pimples, phlegm or mucus.

There are much better sources of plant based foods to get your daily calcium needs, and later I will provide a great way to cutting out dairy without any problem at all, without even missing it!