I am going to try to limit the conspiracy theories in this post except to say that we have been fed a line of crap by both the meat and dairy industry all under the un-watchful eye of the USDA and FDA. We have been told in order to have sufficient calcium and protein we needed 3 glasses of milk a day and a bunch of meat.
They seem to have left out the part where both dairy and meat - especially red meat - cause inflammation in your body. Inflammation is the root cause of most chronic disease. That list includes arthritis, cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more.
The other thing the meat and dairy guys forgot to mention is that there are abundant sources of both protein and calcium available in plants and grains that do not contribute to inflammation.
Chicken is roughly 35% protein and beef and pork come in in the 25-27% range. They also are by their nature high cholesterol foods. On the other hand broccoli is 45% protein and spinach is 30%. Neither are high cholesterol foods and both have enzymes, antioxidants and phyto-chemicals that promote health and longevity.
In the grain world quinoa is 17% , amaranth is 17%, and wild rice comes in at about 10%. Beans come in like this. Sprouted beans (Truroots Sprouted Bean Trio) at 25%, and your kidney, canellini and black beans are around 25% protein. Even popcorn is over 10% protein.
The recommendation is that we take in at least 10% and not more than 35% of our calories from protein. So you could actually get the minimum from eating popcorn. I wouldn't suggest you do that, but that is what is necessary as a minimum.
There has to be a downside to getting all of your protein from plant sources. The only one I have found is that plant based sources do not provide enough vitamin B12. My multivitamin has the full daily amount of B12 in it so I'm not worried. There are plenty of supplements available for every niche.
I mentioned calcium as well so here we go. The USDA recommends 800 -1200 mgs while the World Health Organization recommends only 400 - 500 mgs per day. The same protein sources listed above will provide you with all of the calcium you need to meet either requirement. The bonus to the plant sources is absorption. The dairy sources do not absorb into the system the way the plant sources do which would require you to need less of them than the dairy sources.
The most comprehensive large study ever undertaken of the relationship between diet and the risk of developing disease which involved over 350 workers studying 6500 people concluded that the main protein in dairy - casein - is "the most relevant carcinogen ever identified." I like cheese as much as the next guy, but I use a small amount of imported Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano only anymore.
So - what does it all mean, Paully? It means we have all been fed a line of crap by the meat and dairy industries that is just meant to keep us buying their product. Similar campaigns were used by tobacco years ago. Some of us remember the Winston ads of "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should." Now they can't advertise on TV at all. When will the meat and dairy guys fall out of favor as well? Are their diseases - Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Arthritis and more - not as deadly as tobacco's were?
More soon....
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