Protein

 

Where do you get your protein?

Many fear going vegetarian, plant-based, raw vegan, or fruitarian because they claim the diet does not provide enough protein. Unfortunately, our society pushes protein heavily. Every snack bar, cereal, and cracker box markets how much protein is in it as if the higher the number, the healthier it is. Protein shakes and powders are a billion-dollar industry in the United States. Protein bars are a popular snack among the health-oriented. The average restaurant menu lets you “choose your protein”, implying that a complete meal includes a heavy source of protein such as animal meat, tofu, or fish. Even the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), our trustworthy government, labels protein-rich foods as a separate food category in its dietary recommendations and suggests protein foods take up a significant portion of our plate. Doctors and healthcare professionals warn of the inadequate protein intake of vegan diets, fearing patients will become fragile and malnourished. An unhealthy obsession with protein and the delusion that our bodies require a certain level to maintain stable health is what our society suffers from. Suffering, physiologically, usually follows this as the obsession promotes an acidic and inflammatory medium for disease to grow in the body. Why is protein positioned at such a superior level over other macronutrients and micronutrients?

Some may be scared to lessen their protein intake due to this societal pressure around them, but no fear is necessary. The confusion of protein in the diet is more of an issue of misinformation rather than fact. I’ve done my best here to clear out any confusion and perhaps provide a new way of understanding protein, its different types, and its role in the human body.

 

Culture of Protein

Most of us grew up learning that animal meat was healthy for us and that a plate without chicken, steak, fish, pork, or beef was a sub-par meal. Especially in Western culture, meat consumption is heavily ingrained. Most traditional American foods revolve around animal meat: barbequed ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, biscuits and sausage gravy, etc. Many people who are interested in healthy living still consume meat at least a few times a week.

But it’s not just American cuisine that is heavy on protein, virtually all global food cuisines are heavy on protein. Even Indian cuisine, often touted as vegetarian-friendly, still includes meat and other protein-heavy foods like milk and egg in common dishes. In India, heart disease, stroke, and kidney disease are still top killers. In Africa, also a low-meat-eating country, stroke and ischaemic heart disease sit close by respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases on the list of top killers. In The China Study, author T. Colin Campbell describes the difference between diseases of poverty and diseases of affluence. Diseases of poverty include parasitic infections, tuberculosis, digestive and intestinal diseases, and more whereas those of affluence are coronary heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. In developed countries, diseases of affluence (lifestyle-related, over-nutrition) are more common. Diseases of poverty are due to poor sanitation, hygiene practices, and unsafe drinking water. So even in countries like India and Africa, where meat consumption is less, they still share similar diseases of affluence just like developed countries. It’s good that tuberculosis is not the number one killer in either country, but one can see that there is still a strong societal push on protein consumption just by looking at these lists. Most global cuisines and cultures include meat in their diet, some more some less. Many cultures also correlate eating meat to wealth and masculinity.

While undeveloped countries still consume animal products in their diet, are they eating as much of it as those in developed countries do? It is unlikely. Of course, there is more to health than diet and one must think of the societal and environmental factors that come into play. No doubt, meat contains lots of calories and keeps you full for longer, a smart way to use resources if a family has very little. Humans throughout history have needed to be creative to make the most out of their food via cooking and food storage methods like fermentation, freezing, etc. The types of food mattered, and so meat (when available), grains and starches, beans, and other high-calorie and high-protein foods were staples.

How does your culture view food? How does it view meat-eating? Is food consumed for energy? For nutrition? To gain weight? It’s important to understand how family members before you lived and how their culture viewed food to see how these beliefs seep into your own food beliefs.

Meals without animal meat are hard to imagine for most people. Our belief that we need to “keep up” with our protein intake is a result of, aside from generational and cultural passing of nutrition information, multiple misleading references that have been ingrained into our belief system of nutrition. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025, a 100+ page resource updated every few years by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), provides direction for people on how to eat for health. This is a modern sign of our disconnection from ourselves. There is much focus on material nutrition such as fats, carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, yet no mention of eating raw, seasonal, or organic foods. Nothing mentions the energetic properties of food, enzymes, phytonutrients, hydration, and long-term physiologic effects of their consumption. There is no information suggesting high-protein diets are harmful to humans, only that cow’s milk is difficult on an infant’s kidneys. It states that FDA-regulated commercial infant formula is the best alternative for a newborn if human milk is not available. This is untrue as there are other healthier options available such as human donor milk, coconut water, or raw milk from another mammal (goat milk). A non-breastfeeding mother reading this information will believe that commercial infant formula is the only choice for her baby. The top formula brands given to newborns in hospitals, Enfamil and Similac, are made with milk or milk products such as whey protein. Unfortunately, this is the only breastmilk alternative available in most hospitals, and mothers are not provided information on other options. This is only a hint of the misinformation available to the public regarding protein, and we can certainly do better. 

 

What Is Protein?

Every cell in the human body contains carbohydrates (mono-, di-, and polysaccharides), proteins (amino acids), and fats (lipids). A protein is made of amino acids (AA), which consist of hydrogen, carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, and iron. There are about 20 amino acids found in the human body and about 9 are considered “essential” meaning our body cannot produce them and instead we need to consume them through food. “Essential” amino acids are phenylalanine, isoleucine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, methionine, leucine, lysine, and histidine.

Amino acids in the human body are utilized for tissue building and repairing, while carbohydrates are used for energy. Carbohydrates, or simple sugars, are the major energy source for our bodily cells. Amino acids are the building blocks of all living cells, and therefore tissues, and the human body. One may falsely believe that because they are the building blocks, we must need a lot of them. Think of amino acids as “structure” and carbohydrates (primarily simple sugars) as “fuel”. AAs are the steel frame of a car, sugar is the gas that makes it move. Once you have the building blocks, it just takes maintenance, but energy is what’s continuously pumping through. Adding more steel to a car only makes it work harder to move, the fuel is where the power lies. 

 

Protein Deficiencies

Vegans get their protein from all plant foods, as all plant foods contain protein. This means that every fruit, vegetable, grain, bean, seed, and nut contains protein, just in varying amounts. Grains, beans, seeds, and nuts contain more protein than fruits and vegetables. Fruit has the lowest amount of protein of all foods, and flesh (or meat), contains the most protein. Accidentally cut your flesh open and what you are seeing, structurally, is protein. Protein is undoubtedly essential to the structure of body cells and plays a big role in the hundreds of biochemical processes within them. However, one may be surprised to learn how some proteins are assimilated in the body versus others. They are not all created and assimilated equally. One may be surprised to learn how little protein humans need to not only survive but thrive. More protein does not equal more health.

It is important to know that there is no such thing as a protein deficiency. In a truly protein-deficient case, they most likely have a deficiency in overall calories. In other words, they don’t eat enough to meet their bodily needs. Or, they may have a malabsorption issue due to a stagnant, backed-up lymphatic system primarily in the gastrointestinal tract. This means nutrients are unable to be absorbed by the cells. One that is malnourished will have low levels of protein (and serum albumin), but also low levels of other nutrients as well. It is extremely difficult for humans and animals to create a protein deficiency, and it is much easier to consume protein in excess. Especially in developed countries where the average diet consists of excess calories, it is rare to come by a true protein deficiency. Loss of hair, brittle nails, muscle loss, and poor skin condition may present with a true protein deficiency, but this can also occur with an overall calorie deficit (for an extended period). These symptoms are also seen when one is in a state of detoxification, either by cleaning up their diet drastically or fasting. In this case, a solid understanding of the body’s healing properties would be important to overcome these manifestations. 

 

Protein and Malnutrition

Malnutrition can be present in those falling under both underweight and overweight categories because both involve stagnant and obstructed lymphatic systems due to high-protein and high-fat diets. In the underweight category, the issue of malabsorption is present. These people are excessively thin because their bodies are not absorbing any nutrients properly, not only protein. Their bodies are usually lymphatically stagnant due to consuming high protein, mucus-forming foods (animal flesh, animal products, cooked grains, etc). In other words, the sewage system or eliminating system in their bodies is backed up, so the cells are full of waste and cannot efficiently take in fuel. Most mucus-forming foods are high in protein, so this also harms the kidneys and therefore lessens their ability to efficiently filter out the body’s waste from the lymphatic system, causing more backup throughout the body and its organs. This results in more endocrine organ weakness and when the pancreas, thyroid, and adrenals are involved we see issues with digestion, absorption, and utilization of food and its nutrients.

In the overweight category, there is an excess of overall calories and a high-protein diet, but poor nutrient utilization. According to Robert Morse ND, most of the time there is poor adrenal gland function. This condition is a result of overconsuming mucus-forming foods high in protein, fat, and complex sugars (grains, potatoes, etc) leading to weight gain yet poor nutrient metabolism and levels. Weak adrenals lead to low steroid production which leads to poor sugar metabolism and therefore increased sugar storage (glycogen) as fat. Of course, compromised kidney health, a stagnant lymphatic system, and poor thyroid function are often present as well, so we see malabsorption and poor metabolism. Poor metabolism is due to a weak, lymphatically stagnant thyroid (again, from high-protein, mucus-forming foods). Therefore the body has slow food metabolism and digestion overall, which leads to weight gain.

Both the obese and excessively thin are malnourished, just in different ways. What determines whether one is obese or excessively thin depends on which organs are weak. The emotional factors that lead to weight loss or weight gain should not be dismissed either. Bottom line, those overweight and excessively thin share the same physiological cause of stagnant lymphatic systems from an incorrect and often high protein diet. Low protein levels can occur in both scenarios. When digestion, absorption, and utilization are compromised, there is a risk for low levels of any nutrient in the blood that feeds cells, regardless of the diet’s nutritional composition.

A truly clean and optimally functioning body can eat food, absorb its hydration, energy, and nutrients (including protein), bring the energy (sugar) into the cells to fuel them via blood, metabolize proteins efficiently via the liver, distribute proteins where needed, eliminate their metabolic waste products into the interstitial fluid collected by the lymphatic system, and this system smoothly moves the waste products to the kidneys and comes out as urine. A clean, optimally functioning body is achieved by avoiding high-protein foods that disrupt this homeostatic process. This creates efficient protein processing and usage which renders a lower protein requirement. When there are low protein or nutrient levels in the blood, the body’s cells are compromised in some way. Either the cells can’t let anything in, or they can’t let anything out.

It is similar to the issue of anemia, where both meat-eaters and vegetarians in any weight category can be found with low levels of iron in their blood. Again, just like protein, no matter the weight of the individual or diet, there is a cellular issue with either the digestion, absorption, utilization, or all phases of the iron. More iron does not equal more iron utilization. More grams of protein does not always equal optimal protein assimilation and utilization. Adding more protein by eating animal meat, cooked beans, tofu, or fish would not help the problem and worsen it.

The topic of the nutritional density of foods and the nutrition-to-calorie ratio deserves its own discussion, the point is that it is very difficult to become deficient in protein and one would have to undernourish oneself for an extended period to reach the point of true deficiency. Proteins are found in all fruits, vegetables, and other plant foods. 

As long as you eat a variety of plant foods throughout the week and consume an adequate amount of calories for your body’s needs, you will get enough protein. Remember that some of the biggest animals in the world like elephants and giraffes are plant-eating animals. “Strong as an ox” rings differently knowing that oxen are herbivores.

 

Protein and Energy

This concept may be new to some readers, perhaps they think consuming protein equals energy. The energy felt after eating protein is false energy, not true and dynamic energy. In my other post titled “Raw Veganism“, I hit on dynamic vs stimulated energy. Dynamic energy comes from our cells and stimulated (false) energy comes from the body’s response to an unwanted substance. Stimulated energy from animal meat is due to the adrenaline it contains (accumulated by the animal’s fear moments before slaughter) and its consumption creates stress and is stressful on the adrenals. Long-term meat-eating will in turn lead to adrenal weakness. False energy can come from eating animal products and cooked foods as both greatly slow down the body’s natural and continuous detoxification process. Stronger detoxification occurs went the body has a chance to, whether by eating more raw or fasting. Consuming animal products or cooked foods will divert the body’s energy to digest these foods and leave detox for later, making you feel better in turn because your body is not working on maintenance and repair. Not everyone feels energetic after eating animal products and cooked food, but for those who do, this explanation provides a better understanding.

 

How Much Protein Do Humans Need? 

According to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, “An average woman needs about 46 grams of protein per day; the average man about 56.” However, I’ve heard conventional dieticians state that up to 90 grams are required each day. A simple Google search will show that the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommends using a calculation method of 0.8 grams of proteins per kilogram of body weight. Let’s see what this medical advice looks like with a cooked and raw vegan food plan. Cronometer.com was used to total up protein intake.

Cooked vegan food plan that hits just under 60g of protein:

  • Breakfast: 1 pineapple, 1 cup dry oats cooked, 1 cup blueberries
  • Lunch: 2 cups chopped kale, 2 cups shredded lettuce, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 cucumber chopped, lemon juice 
  • Dinner: 1 cup boiled lentils, 1/2 cup brown rice cooked, 1 cup of boiled brussel sprouts, 2 cups of boiled asparagus, ½ cup of walnuts

Raw vegan food plan that hits 46g of protein looks like this:

  • Breakfast: 1 cantaloupe, 5 large oranges
  • Lunch: 1 cup blackberries, 3 small apples, 4 medium bananas
  • Dinner: 4 medium bananas, 1 head of lettuce, 1/2 cup tomatoes, 1/2 cup carrots, 1/2 cup almonds 

As you can see, one can get plenty of protein on a raw or cooked vegan diet. I want to note that while the above food plans hit the recommended grams of protein, this is a lot of food to consume in one day. Many vegans and raw vegans don’t need to achieve these levels of protein since they’re eating foods with better quality proteins and are creating more efficient bodies with time. 

Chimpanzees and other apes, our closest animal ancestors, eat a diet primarily of fruit. This fruitarian diet, according to Gabrial Cousens MD, averages between 0.2 and 2.2 percent protein, which is the same protein composition as human breast milk. Human breast milk is what nourishes humans at the life stage where they require the most growing and building, yet it is low in protein.

 

Raw versus Cooked Protein

While a calculation recommendation (grams per kilogram of body weight) for protein is better customized to a person than using a general range for adults or children, this still does not take into account the type of protein being consumed. Raw vegans require much less protein than cooked vegans, especially those eating animal proteins. Raw proteins are superior in quality because of their unprocessed condition. This provides the opportunity for the body to digest, absorb, and utilize these proteins optimally. In raw form, proteins are combined with enzymes which assist in all phases of protein processing. Proteins in their raw form contain more energy than cooked proteins, so they don’t rob the body of energy for digestion as much as those cooked. You can think of it as a scale (see scale below in section “Different Proteins”): animal protein is the hardest to digest and fruit protein is the easiest, the lightest on the body. As the body becomes cleaner and more efficient, it requires less overall food (and protein) to sustain energy and function at its best.

When we cook protein, we denature it meaning we permanently change its molecular makeup. By cooking proteins we also kill living enzymes and phytonutrients purposely placed by nature to assist our bodies in digesting, absorbing, and utilizing them. Without living enzymes and phytonutrients, our bodies must work harder to break down proteins. By cooking, we’ve processed the food and changed the perfect chemistry in it, thus lessening the synergistic potential of the food. Protein breakdown creates simpler amino acids. Amino acids in an acidic environment bind with minerals and fat creating a loss of available amino acids for the body to use. But, in an alkaline environment, amino acids are better available for tissue growth and repair. Amino acids in an acidic environment will also re-bond, and the new crosslinked proteins are harder to digest. Think of egg yolk, a high-protein food, and how cooking coagulates the fatty acids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals to make it solid. Now think of raw egg yolk, which still contains much of its water in combination with fat, proteins, etc. Eating the egg yolk raw would be a better way to consume it (although not designed for humans) due to the higher water content and chemistry that is untouched by heat. Animal flesh is energetically dead to begin with, so there is no true energy to be given to the body and no living enzymes to improve its digestion and absorption. Raw animal flesh would be easier and more hydrating on the body, as no cooking has been done to process, dehydrate, coagulate and further acidify it. Pasteurized cows milk is cooked milk, which destroys vitamins, saturates the fats, and binds proteins to minerals, according to Robert Morse ND. Cows don’t boil their milk before feeding their young. Human mothers don’t cook their milk before breastfeeding. While not optimal for the human body, if one is to drink another animal’s milk it should surely be raw to lessen the harmful impact on the body from the protein and ensure maximum benefit from the “good” factors like vitamins and minerals. As you can see, the benefits of keeping your protein raw are vast both with animal and plant protein. One can see much health improvement when changing their animal protein from cooked to raw, and one can obtain incredible health by changing their plant proteins to raw.

Cooked and animal proteins contribute to acidosis and inflammation in the body as they are foreign to the body, harder to digest, produce acidic byproducts, give less oxygen to the body, dehydrate the body, and cause lymphatic fluid stagnation. This leads to poor absorption and elimination of proteins and cellular waste. As a result, the protein that is consumed is not able to be utilized properly. A flaw within conventional protein recommendations is that they dismiss the fact that the body can go many days without food and this is when the most healing and regeneration takes place.

 

Animal versus Plant Protein

All protein sources are not created equal when it comes to their metabolism and effects on the body. Plant proteins are cleaner for the body and higher in electromagnetic energy. They don’t require a lot of energy to digest and be utilized by the body as much as animal protein does. Below is a visual on the scale of less optimal to most optimal proteins.

 

Cooked Animal protein > Raw animal protein > Cooked vegetable protein > Raw vegetable protein > Raw fruit protein

 

Meat, fish, eggs, and dairy are all acidic, or inflammatory, to the body and do not promote proper muscle growth and repair. They are mucus-forming foods. By committing to animal meats for protein, you’re also getting cholesterol, saturated fat, and heme-iron. These have all been linked to a higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, stroke, and more. Animal meats also contain no phytonutrients. Plant protein from vegetables is alkaline, non-inflammatory to the body, and is better utilized by the body for muscle (structural) health. Plant protein gives you no cholesterol, saturated fat, or heme-iron and, in its raw form, is abundant in phytonutrients and digestive enzymes.

Animal protein is considered “second-hand” because the protein is not from the animal itself, but from the animal or plant they consumed beforehand. And when it’s from a small animal they ate, that protein came from the plants that the small animal ate. Animal protein is dead flesh, it contains little to no electromagnetic energy. Plant protein is considered “First hand” as this is where the herbivores (that are eventually eaten by humans) get their protein.

 

Animal Protein Plant Protein
“Second-hand” “First-hand”
Lower electromagnetic energy Higher electromagnetic energy
Requires more energy to digest Requires less energy to digest
Acidic, inflammatory Alkaline, non-inflammatory
Heightens risk of disease Lowers risk of disease

 

Protein and Degenerative Disease

This can explain why a multitude of studies found online show that people who eat both cooked and raw vegan diets have a much lower risk of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and kidney disease. While cooked vegan diets still include protein-rich plant foods like seeds, nuts, beans, and legumes, and in excess can be non-optimal for the body, they are still a softer blow to the body versus animal proteins and don’t create such an inflammatory effect. Cooked animal meat is hard on the body. It is energetically dead, therefore robbing the body of energy in order to digest and assimilate. Compare this to raw fruits and vegetables, even sprouted nuts and seeds, which are energetically higher foods and therefore easier on the body. Proper digestion of meat protein requires an acidic stomach. The stomach pH of carnivores differs from the stomach pH of frugivores and herbivores. Carnivores have more stomach hydrochloric acid than frugivores because they need more acid to break down their raw protein-rich food and to kill any pathogenic bacteria within it. The stomachs of frugivores are more alkaline than carnivores because they require less protein. Humans are natural frugivores and our stomachs are not designed to break down animal protein. When we force it to do so, diseases appear.

Digestion and metabolism of animal protein result in the production of acidic waste products such as uric acid, purines, amyloid deposits, sulfuric acids, and phosphoric acids. According to Gabriel Cousens MD, high-protein diets contain 20 times more phosphorous than calcium. To balance out these sibling electrolytes, the body pulls calcium from the bones. Long-term, high-protein diets lead to osteoporosis (lowered density of the bones). Vegetables, and plant proteins, have a balanced phosphorus-to-calcium ratio and do not require the body to pull electrolytes from other sources to maintain homeostasis.

 

Protein and Kidney Health

Keeping your kidneys healthy is vital for the proper elimination of wastes and toxins in your body. After protein is metabolized it is excreted through the kidneys and comes out through urine. The causes of kidney injury are multiple and complex but can be boiled down to disruptions in kidney blood flow (prerenal), inflammation or ischemia (intrarenal), or postrenal disruptions. These include cancer of the bladder or prostate, spinal and neuromuscular disorders, or traumas of the pelvis or perineum. Since the kidneys are major filters of our lymphatic fluids which contain waste, if their function is even slightly compromised, one can see multiple upstream manifestations of this clogged system. Even small signs such as skin issues or headaches can be linked to weak kidneys. As kidney function improves with transitioning towards a better diet, fasting, and meeting the body’s needs, headaches lessen as the acids can flush out of upper circulation and into the urine. When kidney filtration improves and urine contains waste sediment, the body no longer has to use the skin, also known as the “third kidney”, to eliminate toxins and cellular waste in the form of acne and rashes. Chronically, kidney disease manifests in all systems from head to toe, including psychological. Electrolyte imbalances can also occur with impaired kidney disease, and this forces the body to maintain homeostasis by taking electrolytes from other parts of the body or retaining them when consumed. If you can’t eliminate waste, your body will accumulate it. When waste is accumulated, disease erupts.

In the book How Not To Die by Michael Greger, MD, he states that “within hours of consuming meat, your kidneys rev up into hyperfiltration mode. This is true of a variety of animal proteins-beef, chicken, and fish appear to have similar effects. But an equivalent amount of plant protein causes virtually no noticeable stress on the kidneys.” This could be the reason why kidney disease is so prevalent in our society and why patients with this disease are told to keep a diet low in protein. Could it be the lack of acidic metabolic byproducts when plant protein is consumed? Could it be that, when raw, the enzymes, phytonutrients, alkalinity, and energy combat the harmful effects of protein nitrogenous metabolism? When reviewing conventional nutritional therapy for patients with chronic kidney disease, as the condition of the kidneys worsens from acute kidney injury to end-stage kidney failure, the dietary protein allowance decreases. It’s safe to say that excess protein does not do the kidneys well.

Comparing what has been discussed versus what our “experts” and society tell us, there is a large contrast in perspectives regarding how much protein is necessary for humans to thrive. What we do know is the physiological impact that animal protein and excess protein overall (animal or plant) have on the body upon consumption and long term. Vegan diets are lower in protein consumption, but not deficient. Plant proteins are cleaner to use and more effective at tissue building and repair than animal proteins. Diets that include animal protein are not healthy for humans, as they are inflammatory and acid-forming. Major eliminative organs, our two kidneys, are especially adversely affected by animal protein. This can lead to many health issues down the road.

The road to better health and joyful living is a tough one, but every bit of truth feels like a breath of fresh air. There is more to health than protein, let alone any single nutrient. As long as erroneous beliefs exist in us, we cannot let in the truth. Letting go of old beliefs regarding protein and health can be difficult…but it can also be easy. Moving towards our species-specific, frugivore, low-protein diet does wonders for every body, including yours. 

 

 

 

 

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