Yeah, yeah, we know plants have protein, but it's nice to have "back up" when explaining it to others. When I came across this explanation, I thought some newbies might appreciate it:

[michaelbluejay.com]


My favorite raw vegan

brazil nuts, hemp seeds, goji berries.

Thanks for posting, Trive!

Great post, Trive. I am so tired of this question. Most folks that ask you don't have a clue about nutrition themselves...

I encountered that in my Anatomy and Physiology class the other day. On an aside to amino acids the instructor went on about essential amino acids, and non-essential amino acids. She then said you needed to consume BOTH! I just couldn't believe it. I guess that really nullifies the meaning of essential and non-essential. And to go on further, she went to say how difficult it was to get 'complete proteins' on a plant based diet. (because she thought you needed all 20 amino acids at once, in the proper ratios)

I just took at deep breath, and let that pass. I know a number of you here probably would have not let it go. But this particular instructor isn't kind to correction, and another student tried to argue about something else just minutes before. I didn't want to take up valueable class time either, as this wasn't even in the book.

How does this whole idea of 'complete protein' remain alive? I thought this was disproven even in conventional nutrition. Actually, does anyone know of any references to this fact using conventional nutritional sources?

Mislu,

I've never met any instructor that was "kind to correction", as you put it.

That's a great one Trive!

avacados! almond milk sunflower seeds hummus

the more salient question would perhaps be " How the heck do you AVOID protein"?

cuz its got its stamp all over our foods

Trive, that is the site that finally convinced me ( a couple of years ago) that humans are not omnivores but herbivores. That protein page is also a very nice one. Why isn't this taught at schools?

Well, a lot of things they teach us at schools are wrong, this is just one of them. A lot.

I find explaining hard when people have not heard of amino-acids before...


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I just remembered a conversation about diet I had with my brother a few years ago. I should preface by saying my brother is a high fruit and veg omnivore, and tends toward fish based and vegetarian meals. He exercises at the gym several days a week and commutes by bicycle or on foot, about even with taking public transportation(which still involves some legwork to get to). He's slim but fit; he's one of those guys that love salads. Anyway, in this chat, when we got around to protein, he told me that his doctor, a younger fellow around our age(mid-late 30s) told him he should try to get around 80 grams of protein a day. I recall being shocked--a rare occurrence--and saying, "Wait, what?" a couple times, followed by, "Is your doctor insane?" So, the Protein Myth is apparently alive and well in health sciences curricula currently.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2010 02:11AM by Tamukha.

I also wrote an article on this theme.

With 'the festive season' coming up, might help for those inevitable questions...

[debbietookrawforlife.blogspot.com]

Great article, Debbie! Thanks for adding it to this thread.


My favorite raw vegan

Oh Mislu, that is very sad. It's so tragic when a non-expert in a position of authority diseminates incorrect information about something they know little of. I hope you'll print out some info for this instructor and leave it anonymously on their desk. If they have a genuine interest in knowledge perhaps it will stimulate them to actually research and learn something about it.

Tamukha,
A book published by Gold's Gymn recommended getting 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight. Many years ago I actually followed that recomendation for a short time. That was way more than 80 grams of protein. I was getting around 175-180. The book also said that 100 grams of carbohydrate was enough for an active body builder.

Strictly following that lasted about a week. Then one night I woke up at 2am and HAD to have some noodles, it was driving me up the wall, I literally could not sleep until I made them and ate them. After that I thought the limitation on carbohydrates must be wrong. I also particularly disliked the the smell of urine in my sweat. My body was working overtime to get rid of the metabolic poisons from excess protein. For some reason I still kept plenty of protein, but significantly added carbohydrates and fats. I also switched to mostly vegetable sources of protein, mostly because it was cheaper. Still I am sure it was way over kill on protein. that was about 20 years ago.

I read nearly the entire artice you posted Trive and it's great, I bookmarked it for later. I only wish it was better editted for grammer and punctuation, it's hard to use a poorly editted article as a reference for doubters and doctors. Maybe I'll copy and paste it into a word doc and do it myself...

Its a great link. We had it on our site but Michael Bluejay got peeved and asked us to take it down. He only wants it up somewhere if he puts is up..

I sent him a note, he's kind of a grouchy dude ain't he?

Oh, some other nutritional thing came up in class. Some women expressed concern about eating fruit. They thought that it would make them fat if they ate too much of it. And also to avoid it completely if trying to loose weight!

I kept my mouth shut. I don't know if I should have.