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“Today the link between animal products and many different diseases is as strongly supported in the scientific literature as the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer,” says Dr. Joel Fuhrman in Eat to Live. But aren’t animal products the best source of protein?
Your body uses protein to repair tissue and build muscle, blood, bones, skin, hair, and teeth. You need it to be healthy, though opinions on how much you need vary. The USDA recommends about .4g per pound of body weight per day, while the WHO says 37 to 40g. Regardless, Americans eat too much protein (women 70g per day; men, 100g), mostly from animal sources, and it’s packaged with a lot of calories, saturated fat, cholesterol, trans-fats, and no fiber.
In The China Study, T. Colin Campbell illustrates the association between animal protein—even from low-fat dairy products and skinless white meat—and higher rates of cancer and heart disease. “The assumption by health professionals and government agencies that you need meat, milk and eggs to get enough protein is incorrect and contributes to chronic diseases that are responsible for nearly 1.5 million deaths each year in the U.S. alone,” say the authors of The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle. A vegetarian diet contains more than adequate protein which, accompanied by fiber and antioxidants, protects you against chronic disease.
In most plant foods (except fruit), 10 percent of the calories are from protein—50 percent in green vegetables! Calorie for calorie, broccoli and spinach contain more protein than meatloaf or a cheeseburger. Even romaine lettuce is protein-rich. A vegetarian diet of processed foods may be low in protein, but as soon as you add unprocessed vegetables, whole grains, beans, and nuts, the diet becomes protein-rich.
Perhaps you’ve heard plant foods described as “incomplete proteins” and worried about combining certain foods in order to get enough protein. A food may be labeled an “incomplete” or “low quality” protein if it has less than the ideal number and variety of essential amino acids in a 100g serving. Oatmeal is considered a low quality protein because, while it’s high in some amino acids, it’s low in others, so none of its amino acids reach the ideal level. But that’s based on only 100g—less than a quarter cup. Here’s an easy solution: Eat a little more oatmeal!
Since a cow is biologically closer to a human than is, say, broccoli, people think the cow must contain superior protein. But where did the cow get its protein? All protein originally comes from plants. Eat a variety of vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts, and seeds, and these high-nutrient foods will be digested and reassembled as your body needs them.
The fitness industry preaches, “More protein for more muscle mass!” But excess protein, just like excess carbohydrates and fat, simply means excess calories, and if unused, your body stores the excess calories as fat. The way weightlifting builds muscle is by damaging the muscle fibers, which your body then builds back stronger and larger, using protein in the process. But your protein shake will not automatically manifest as a bigger bicep or a more defined latissimus dorsi. Naturally, athletes need more protein—they need more of everything else too, including calories. As long as you consume enough calories from a variety of unrefined plant foods, you will get enough protein. And don’t be afraid of getting weak on a plant-based diet: Horses, elephants, rhinoceroses, hippopotamuses, gorillas, and giraffes—some of the largest and strongest beasts on the planet—are all herbivores!
High-protein/low-carbohydrate diets promise rapid weight loss, but what they omit is the risk of high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer, kidney disease, kidney stones, and even sudden death. And don’t think, “I’ll just eat this way until I lose the weight.” By restricting carbohydrates—your body’s preferred energy source—these diets trick your body into thinking you’re fasting; as soon as you resume eating normally, you will gain the weight back.
A client told me that when he and his wife didn’t eat meat for a few days, they felt weak and fatigued; as soon as they ate meat, they felt better again. A friend tells me she doesn’t feel “viable” without meat in her diet. One explanation is that as the liver metabolizes animal proteins, the nitrogenous waste it releases into the bloodstream are toxic. Withdrawal from these toxins causes many people to feel hypoglycemic even when their blood sugar is not low. So they eat more protein because they think they need it. But the heroin addict feels ill when detoxing too; it doesn’t mean he needs heroin.
A word about dairy products and osteoporosis: American women drink about 30 times more cow’s milk than women in New Guinea, yet we have 47 times more broken hips. Comparing hip fractures and dairy product consumption across many countries reveals a distinct correlation between the two. Not that dairy products cause osteoporosis; the disease has multiple contributing factors. But, dairy products do not prevent the disease as the dairy industry advertises.
I’m guessing you’re not going to calculate your intake of individual nutrients every day, let alone your total calorie intake. No need; forget about individual nutrients and focus on eating a variety of unrefined plant foods as close to their most natural state as possible.
Then enjoy your good health!
“Each small step you take away from foods that are less than helpful to your well-being is a large step toward health and vitality. Each bite of meat or cheese that you replace with fruit or vegetables will have a positive impact in your health.” –T. Colin Campbell and Christine Cox, The China Project: Keys to Better Health, Discovered in Our Living Laboratory.
Protein Quiz: True or False?
· Avoiding red meat and switching to low-fat animal products such as chicken, fish, and skim milk protects against cancer.
· Meat, chicken, eggs, fish, and dairy are the best sources of protein.
· A high-protein diet is healthy.
· Plant foods have only incomplete proteins, so you have to combine the correct types of plant foods in order to get adequate protein on a plant-based diet.
· The calcium in milk protects us from osteoporosis.
Answers: All of these statements are false!