How to Be Healthy

Proteins are one of the major building blocks of all cells.  Protein is essential for repair and maintenance of all tissue.  All proteins are comprised of 22 amino acids.  Since we don’t manufacture proteins we must get them or at least the building blocks of proteins, amino acids, from an outside source such as animals or plants.  Despite the importance of proteins in cellular and tissue repair and growth, the environmental and health issues associated with high protein consumption must be taken into consideration. 

  BSE is not the only health issue associated with beef.  Animal sourced proteins have no fiber, no phytonutrients, may be relatively high in saturated fat, are seriously deficient in many vitamins, and are calorie dense.  Low-carb dieters take note; there are other ways to get your protein other than eating a cow every month.  Quinoa, spirulina, whey protein and soy, in fact all whole foods, are excellent alternatives to eating animal based proteins.  Farmers can produce approximately ten times as much usable protein on a plot of land by raising crops like soybeans rather than cattle.  And that’s just for starters; superfoods like spirulina can produce even more protein per acre if given enough water.  Supergrains like quinoa offer outstanding yields and provide a complete, high-quality protein at a fraction of the cost of producing beef, pork or chicken.  So, if you just look at the usage of land, it’s easy to see that you can feed ten times as many people on these high-protein crops compared with meat.  There is also definite health issues associated with a high animal protein diet such as: 

·         Decreased calcium levels associated with increased calcium excretion,

·         Elevated risk of osteoporosis and heart arrhythmia as a result of lack of calcium,

·         Increased stress and strain on the kidneys did to increased blood uric acid from protein metabolism, 

·         Increased incidence of gout, a form of arthritis,

·         Decreased levels of antioxidants from lack of variety in diet,

·         Increased LDL cholesterol.

  All the side effects are as a result of high protein in diet; nevertheless protein is extremely vital especially for growth and development of children.  50% of all children under the age of 5 that die of malnutrition yearly die from of lack of protein. 

Every protein molecule in the body is continually wearing out and will need to be replaced. With every break down or needed replacement, access to more proteins and amino acids is needed; but not all protein is created the same.

The number of all possible protein arrangements is a figure too large to contemplate, let alone write. This explains why there can be such a tremendous diversity of tissues, functions, and enzymes in the millions of different plants and animals in the world.

One unfortunate aspect of protein metabolism is the fact that amino acids cannot be stored in the body for any length of time. In other words if a food protein which is lacking one or more the essential amino acids is eaten, there isn’t a reserve of amino acids containing the missing amino acid needed to complete the food protein. For this reason complete proteins must be eaten every day in order to supply the body with the amino acids and proteins needed for daily repair. Examples of incomplete proteins are most grain flours, corn and gelatine.

If incomplete proteins are the only proteins available in the diet, eventually this will lead to catabolism, the breakdown of muscle and organs as the body cannibalizes these complete protein sources. The easiest way to avoid this situation is to include animal based protein products such as fish chicken and turkey as well as red meats in your regular diet. All of these contain complete proteins which can be utilized easily by the body. It is possible to get a complete proteins from a vegetarian diet through the proper mixture is and combinations of grains and beans; despite this, vegans have issues with protein malnourishment sometimes.