The Great Protein Myth

I am still basking in the warmth of being bundled in big cozy blankets.. and was working on writing the recipe book, which led to a bit of websurfing, it happens .. & I just came across a blog with interesting info on Protein. I get asked so often about this!

One of the biggest food myths there is is that you need to eat meat to get a lot of, or a high-quality, protein. Well, I think it's important on this subject to realize that the only time you need an abundance of protein is when you are growing,, so if you are a baby or if you are muscle-building than you will need more protein than average - but the average person does not need a lot of protein and usually has an abundance of protein anyway - often enough to create health problems. I have heard that here is not a word or description in medical language for having too little protein but having too much in the body is common precursor and can lead to many diseases. That alone should be telling us something! (if only most of us were aware of it)

Also, meat and dairy products contain complex protein complexes already formed. So say its beef, the cow has eaten the grass (all of the essential amino acids are readily available in grass and leafy greens) and with these amino acids it makes the complex protein structures it needs.
Now when we ingest an animal protein our body has to break down this complex protein structure to get the amino acids it needs to create the protein structures that our body needs (which are different). Now first we could have gotten the animo acids in an easier way already broken down from the leafy greens but on top of this after the body destructs and reconstructs the proteins we are left with little bits of unbroken down protein.. the body is very efficient and will only do the work needed, it will only break down the complex protein so far to get the amino acids neded. The rest of the little clusters of proteins are left to circulate around in our bloodstreams before getting eliminated - however, often these little clumps get stuck in places or clung to walls and can help to create and further diseases.. get the picture?

To further add onto the Great Protein Myth Steve Pavlina wrote a blog article which elaborates and adds to this common misconcepption and explains how plants are abundant in protein and that plant proteins are not incomplete.
Read his article here:
Steve Pavlina - The Great Protein Myth