The importance of protein … again!

~ Jane

I see so many clients whose diet is very low in protein. If you’re vegetarian and/or you eat the SAD diet (Standard American Diet) of breakfast cereals, skimmed milk, sandwiches, pizza and pasta then it’s likely you’re not getting enough protein (let alone other nutrients).

We need protein to make and repair every cell in our body. If we don’t do that – efficiently and properly – every second of every day -we get degenerative diseases. Basically, if we don’t replace each dying cell with a healthy new cell, we age faster and die younger.

Protein is made up of amino acids. There are over 500 amino acids in nature; humans need 20 of them to build, repair and renew cells, make hormones, etc etc. Of those 20 – nine are essential – this means we can only get them from our diet. (The other 11 we can manufacture.) For me, this film shows the health implications of not having all 20 amino acids available in our cells …

Meat, fish, seafood, eggs and other animal products are the best and most complete proteins. Follow this link for an article listing vegetarian foods in order of their protein content.
Spirulina (blue green algae) is one of the most ‘complete’ vegan proteins. This Spirulina powder is the absolute best I’ve ever come across – it’s so natural – and it tastes great. It’s grown in a community project and sales support their work with hungry children in Africa (a real win/win).
In my personal opinion, the only ‘healthy’ vegetarian diet is one which is macrobiotic. This means carefully combining pulses and grains and including seaweeds and other nutrient-dense foods. You can read more about this diet here.

However, even if you’re a meat eater, you could still be lacking protein because your digestion isn’t working well enough to break it down and absorb it. You may need to supplement digestive enzymes with your meals, or drink a tablespoon of cider vinegar in a little water before each meal to pep up your digestive juices. I like to recommend taking a B vitamin supplement as most people I see are low on them and we need B vitamins to make digestive enzymes.

Contact me for more information and to book in for a kinesiology consultation.