The Truth About Protein

While living a raw plant-based lifestyle, I'm constantly bombarded with the question, "Where to you get your protein?" This interrogation usually lasts a few minutes and is often instigated by someone with "less-than-optimal" health. Scenarios like these go to prove just how little people really know about protein. 

So what is Protein exactly? 

Proteins are considered the "building blocks" of life and are used for an array of vital bodily functions.

Proteins are constructed of amino acids. When amino acids group together, they form various kinds of proteins. An essential amino acid is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized naturally by the organism (usually referring to humans), and therefore must be supplied in the diet.

There are 22 amino acids but only 8-9 are proved to be essential.

The amino acids regarded as essential for humans are:

• Phenylalanine
• Valine
• Threonine
• Tryptophan
• Isoleucine
• Methionine
• Leucine
• Lysine
• Histidine

Additionally, cysteine (or sulphur-containing amino acids), tyrosine (or aromatic amino acids), and arginine are required by infants and growing children. Essential amino acids are "essential" not because they are more important to life than the others, but because the body does not synthesize them, making it essential to include them in one's diet in order to obtain them. 

The good news is that our bodies naturally pull amino acids together throughout the week from everything we consume and naturally create proteins for us. Simply put, we can eat fruits, veggies, nuts and seeds all through out the week without frantically worrying about combining things properly to create complete proteins. Our bodies do the work of organizing the amino acids to create the protein for us.

We are perfect by NATURE. It’s just science, and knowledge is power.

Enough of the fancy-smancy nutrition lingo...

 What's the 'beef' with animal protein?

• Animal protein takes a minimum of 48 hours for your body to assimilate, whereas fruits and vegetables take anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. 
• In combination with the S.A.D (Standard American Diet) diet, flesh foods are clogging without the proper fiber to push them through.
• Cooking makes meat even more indigestible. If you must consume it, eat it RAW!
• Unless organic and grass fed, meat contains synthetic hormones, antibiotics, and other chemical diseases that are harmful to both the animal and humans
• Animals are our FRIENDS. I feel that we as humans are here to keep the BALANCE between man, animal, and nature but instead we choose to be barbaric and put ourselves at the top of the food chain. 140 BILLION animals are killed a year to stock grocery shelves. We must work to change this!
• We waste many natural resources on those 140 billion animals. Trees are cleared out for animal operations, water is provided to these animals until slaughter, as well as grains for food. 30% of the ENTIRE land surface of the planet is accounted by livestock production.
• The owners of meat companies (dairy, processed food companies etc.) have been lying to you for years in the name of capital gain. At this point, they now have more money than the FDA, USDA, and our government. Who do we believe?

Why eat the animal that eats plants for protein and nutrients? 

Go straight to the source!

 

There is Protein in Everything!

 

 

ALL VEGETABLES CONTAIN AMINO ACIDS! 

The typical vegetarian gets adequate protein as long as caloric intake is adequate and a variety of foods is eaten. Vegetarian diets tend to be lower in protein than non-vegetarian diet, but typically meet or exceed daily protein intake recommendations, which are believed to be beneficial. 

Great plant sources of protein include leafy veggies such as spinach and kale, cucumbers, broccoli, parsley, watercress, artichokes, almonds, cashews, quinoa, amaranth, wild rice, sprouts, seaweeds, mushrooms, olives, goji berries, avocados, chia seeds, hemp seeds, flax seeds,  pumpkin seeds, sprouting, as well as maca root. Many of these sources are COMPLETE Proteins.

 

***Interesting Fact:  1 lb of Romaine Lettuce has 2x more complete protein than 1 lb of beef.***

It’s hard NOT to get enough protein during the day so long as you are eating REAL - from the earth - food.

I encourage you to do the research yourself. Ignorance is a choice in the age of information!

Let's work to banish the protein deficiency myth!

Love and Wellness,
Brooke

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Brooke Johnson aka Brooke Jay is a Social Entrepreneur, Certified Nutrition Consultant, and Wellness Coach,  for RAW! on Wheels., a DMV based live vegetarian service. 

RAW! offers Meal Plans, Juice Cleanses, Coaching, Catering, Yoga, & more! Click the link below for more info! http://www.RAWexclamation.com

Contact her directly at BJohnson@rawexclamation.com