Archive for the ‘high protein foods’ tag
Good Sources of Protein
Plant based foods are great sources of protein, or amino acids, that help our bodies build and repair tissue. These foods help us synthesize the 8 or 9 essential amino acids that we can’t produce.
This list is not complete and is conservative in the percentage of calories from protein.
31% Spinach
27% Hemp Seeds
20% Broccoli
23% Peas
20% Cauliflower
14% Cabbage
16% Kale
17% Romaine
18% Chickpeas
15% Wild Rice
14% Flax Seeds
14% Sunflower Seeds
12% Celery
11% Blackberries
08% Peaches
07% Oranges
Some of the strongest animals on the earth including elephants and gorillas eat raw plant based diets, building massive muscle and strength on just fruits and vegetables.
The best sources of protein are the amino acids in fresh living plant foods. Bypassing the steps of breaking down the protein into usable amino acids, your body creates the protein more efficiently since the body spends a great deal of energy taking protein (found in animal and cooked foods) and breaking it down to usable form by the body as amino acids.
Other good sources are nuts (higher fat), seeds (higher fat), sea vegetables, and bee pollen.
And in comparison, cooked foods have lowered amounts of usable protein (up to 50% less) since the heat ‘bonds’ most of the proteins together. This makes them harder to synthesize and lowers the actual amount our bodies can use. It also takes longer (and more energy) for our bodies to process ‘cooked’ proteins into amino acids.
By avoiding animal and cooked foods in particular, you not only avoid the antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals and junk that are fed to cattle today to increase yield and control diseases, but you also allow your body to get the essential amino acids that it synthesizes into protein most efficiently, avoiding the ‘middle man’, protein. Animal protein also starts decaying the minute the animal is killed, further destroying the proteins and amino acids every minute in the cleaning, preparation, storage, transportation and again preparation until it gets to your plate.
The other problem with high protein foods is that they are normally rich in fat as well. It’s hard to find a high protein food that isn’t also naturally high in fat content. There are a few, but not many.
Fresh plant based foods are without comparison the best source of protein for your body.
Dangers of a High Protein Diet
Our protein requirements are minimal and a high protein diet, as most Americans consume, can lead to higher risks of disease and other health issues. Studies have shown that as consumption climbs over 5% protein from calories, so do the risks of disease.
Here are a just a few diseases that are associated with high protein, specifically animal protein diets:
- Osteoporosis – high animal protein diets have been shown to encourage calcium loss and make bones more brittle and fragile. Plant based diets have show to increase bone strength and avoid osteoporosis.
- Cancer – Hundreds of thousands of studies have linked animal food diets to most every cancer known to man. Fat is linked in part since animal based diets are normally also higher in fat as well. Often mentioned is also highly heated foods which not only combine or ‘bond’ the proteins and amino acids and become less usable by the body to synthesize, they are also carcinogenic. The FDA admits that all cooked foods contain carcinogens.
- Kidney Problems – Long term consumption of animal foods has shown risks of complete loss of kidney function. The longer term and more consumption of animal foods shows decline in normal kidney function. Kidney stones are one symptom of high animal protein diets.
Studies have shown increased calcium excretion in higher animal food diets. In addition to increasing the risks of osteoporosis, this also increases risk for kidney stones. Researchers in England found that when people added only about 5 ounces of fish (that’s about 34 grams of protein) to a normal diet, the risk of urinary tract stones increased by as much as 250 %.
In addition, so called ‘normal’ amounts of protein (according to accepted societal levels) have shown an amazingly high level of cancer.
What are the other risks of a high protein, animal based diet? How about obesity, high cholesterol and breast cancer?