Haven’t you always thought that meat protein was superior to plant protein, and that you had to eat meat protein to get “complete” protein for your health and fitness?
And the only way you could get so-called “complete” protein from plant foods was to mix and match certain plant sources of food?
This is certainly what we were all raised to believe, isn’t it? In fact, most Americans, to this day, still believe in the superiority and the absolute necessity of animal protein for health and fitness.
In spite of what the egg, dairy, and meat industries, along with our government and many experts, have told us all these years, meat protein is not superior to plant protein: protein is protein is protein is protein, no matter what source provides the protein.
Whether a certain essential amino acid, the building block of protein, is provided by a plant or animal, it is the same amino acid.
Furthermore, contrary to what many people accept as truth, we do not have to mix and match plant proteins to make a so-called “complete” protein.
If you have any doubts about getting enough protein through plant foods, just look at the animal kingdom.
How many elephants, cows, horses, giraffes, or apes eat cows, chicken, or fish to get enough protein?
How many of these large mammals mix and match plant sources of foods to get complete proteins?
If these animals with great, big strong muscles can eat a diet of plant foods, and not a large variety at that, and get plenty of protein, so can we.
When in doubt, look to nature for answers; not to those people or industries who have an economic interest in certain sources of food, such as the meat, egg, dairy, sugar, and cereal industries. You may be familiar with the popular book from the 1970s, Diet for a Small Planet. This book promoted the theory that we have to mix and match plant proteins to get “complete” proteins, such as eating rice and beans together at the same meal.
Here is an interesting fact that you may not be aware of.
The author of this book, Frances Moore Lappe, rescinded her “mix-and-match” theory in the early 1980s. She herself said that she had unintentionally misled her readers. She acknowledged the fact that we do indeed get enough protein by eating a variety of plant foods, without consciously combining certain plant foods at one meal.
Do you wonder why you have never heard that plant sources of protein are complete in themselves? Perhaps it has something to do with the power of commercial interest groups.
The World Health Organization recommends that our diets consist of 5% protein—that’s all.
Oranges have plenty of protein—8%. Romaine has plenty of protein—34%. Oatmeal has plenty of protein—15%. Brown rice (8% protein), cantaloupe (9%), carrots (10%), cucumbers (24%), tomatoes (16%), spinach (49%), broccoli (33%)—all of our fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and beans have plenty of protein for human health and fitness.
The fact is, sometimes it’s hard to hear the truth above the roar of the egg, milk, and meat industries, the cultural norm, and our own attachment to the foods we have learned to love to eat.
But, if you listen closely with an open mind, you will become more and more skilled at sorting fact from fiction.
More importantly, as you become more aware, you will consciously make healthier food and lifestyle choices for the lifetime reward of health and fitness, comfort, mobility, joy, hope, and purpose.
Dr. Leslie Van Romer is a health motivational speaker, writer, and lifestyle coach. Visit http://www.DrLeslieVanRomer.com for more inspiration.