I loved playing with Lego bricks as a child. Assembling one piece over the other, creating a house, a castle, the whole city! Solid building blocks are used by the body to grow bones, muscles and organs. Proteins and amino acids are easily understood as a rather important element in human nutrition, where amino acids combine to make a huge range of proteins the body needs across very many functions. Protein food intake is essential for life and one of the 3 macronutrients alongside carbs and fat.
Collagen is rich in amino acids glycine and proline and used as building material for ligaments, tendons, artery walls and healthy skin. I was in Hong Kong recently and in Traditional Chinese Medicine the equivalent animal part can be used to support a human organ. It is a very interesting theory and somewhat taken on by Naturopathy and also Western science.
Desiccated thyroid is animal thyroid gland that has been dried and powdered for medical use. Do you want to restore the lining of your gut or look after your joints? Collagen in bone broth and gelatin but also in beef tendons or chicken feet will bring readily available elements the body can use. Studies suggest that amino acid glutamine stimulates intestinal mucosal growth and protects from mucosal atrophy.
Proteins and amino acids are needed to build enzymes, catalysts speeding up metabolic reactions like digestion. Tyrosine is the precursor of the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine. And tyrosine with iodine makes thyroid hormones.
You don’t sleep well? Tryptophan is a precursor of melatonin, the sleep regulating hormone. I discussed insulin, the master hormone, in detail when writing about carbs and guess what’s needed to make insulin? Yes. Amino acids are also used to build glucagon, parathyroid hormone, calcitonin and even immunoproteins, key components of the immune system.
Sounds technical and boring? It’s good to learn some basic science in nutrition to combine with a healthy lifestyle and ideally a food culture. You want to make sure what’s on your plate is contributing to your health and happiness. What’s wrong with protein then? Nothing in absolute of course as nothing is good or bad. Quality and moderation is the name of the game.
A juicy T-Bone steak, burger patties and chicken legs on a sunny Sunday barbecue. How familiar that look, smell and taste, meat is such a staple these days, the majority of people in the West don’t pass a day without some. Modern agriculture and animal farming combined produce so much food we moved the world from a chronic deficiency of protein to eat quite a lot of it. The officially suggested daily intake is 0.8 gr per kg of body weight but maybe a more optimal 1-1.5 gr per kg should be recommended, depending on age and lifestyle.
If you think meat on Sunday only was the default among European peasants for many years. And now 1kg of lean skinless, boneless chicken breast costs less than 8 USD in the UK and around 2.5 USD in Thailand. At any given time we share this beautiful Earth with 19 billion chickens! Protein rich poultry, beef, pork, eggs and seafood are on every restaurant menu.
Another easily available and conveniently ready to eat source of protein is dairy, which sometimes gets a very bad rap and often for good reasons. High quality Greek yogurt and grass fed, unpasteurised goat cheese deserve a spot in the fridge, in my opinion.
High protein diets have quite a history in the fitness community, but also among celebrities, models and people trying to lose weight. Bodybuilding, weightlifting, pumping iron are synonyms of a hard body, strong juicy muscles, a six pack Schwarzenegger or Stallone’s style. And high protein, low carbs, low fat diets usually come with the gym routine.
There are 2 high protein diets popularised by the media and worth delving in: Atkins and Paleo.
Dr Robert Atkins was quite the celebrity in the early 2000s. His diet, high in animal protein and fat was extremely popular and loved by fans the world over. A controversial cardiologist, it seems he had a history of heart attack, congestive heart failure and hypertension and I am not sure whether his very high consumption of commercial animal products, bacon and chronically low carbs and also low fruit and veg intake might have contributed to his poor health. One of the problems with the Atkins or Dukan high protein diets, beside the fact they are restrictive and unbalanced, no effort is made towards sourcing high quality grass fed or wild animals and the intake of vegetables is low. And commercial, processed meat is a group 1 carcinogen, possibly the worse type of food.
The Paleo diet is a dietary plan based on foods similar to what might have been eaten during the Paleolithic era. It seems to be a much healthier option and possibly the healthy version of a low carbs, high protein diet. Grass fed lean meats, wild fish, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds are consumed in abundance and no grains, pulses, added sugar, dairy or other produce of modern agriculture is allowed.
If done well, this way of eating has shown to contribute to more weight loss, improved glucose tolerance, healthy blood pressure, low triglyceride and good appetite management. Grass fed or ideally wild venison, pheasant and partridge casserole anyone? Atlantic sardines and mackerels? If ethics and sustainability are no priority for you, genetics predispose you favourably to meat consumption and you have the money and inclination to hunt down wild boars and reindeers, then make sure you combine those with a lot of alkalising vegetables and fruit.
Of course, living the Yoga lifestyle and particularly in Koh Phangan, the vegan and new age island, sustainability and ethics do matter to me. Despite trying a vegetarian diet for 6 months, I follow no diet at all and I do eat eggs, fish and occasionally meat, keeping the rest of my nutrition mostly whole plant based and very low in dairy. And yes, I do very well when I eat good quality fish and meat, but I am also lucky to do well with good quality plants. I get quite a bit of my protein from pulses, wholegrains, nuts and seeds.
A couple more things on high protein diets. Do they work for weight loss? Protein is the most satiating macronutrient and has been proven quite useful in weight control programs, maybe also because of the thermic effect of food, the energy required for digestion, absorption, and disposal of ingested nutrients. The body uses 5 to 15% of the energy consumed to break down carbohydrates. 20 to 35% for proteins, which means they have the double advantage to make you feel fuller and burn more energy for digestion.
Too much protein and low fruit and veg intake is acidifying for the body, a possible precursor of osteoporosis and tough on the liver and kidneys because of ammonia, a waste product of protein metabolism the liver turns to urea and the kidneys excrete. And when coupled with low physical activity, excess protein is ultimately saved as fat.
As often the issue here is quality and balance. Quality in terms of whole, unprocessed, naturally produced, organic, grass fed and healthy living. And balance in terms of combining protein with good quality fat, low GI carbs and lots of protective, fibre rich, alkalising vegetables and fruit.
How about protein powders and supplements? I like supplements for targeted protocols and healing regimes only. Short term, you can boost your energy and rebalance through good quality supplements. In the long run natural, wholefood nutrition and a healthy lifestyle is the only way for me. If you need to constantly lean on supplements to integrate and reduce a deficiency, you better get off “this or that” diet and start learning what balanced nutrition means.
Ultimately, we are all similar yet all different and genetic predispositions, age, lifestyle, culture and personal beliefs need to be respected and taken into consideration when shopping for food.