How to Eat Healthy

Step 6 Get Enough Protein

A body needs protein to be healthy.

Most Americans get more they need. The same is true for the British.

The average person needs about .37 grams per pound or .8 grams per kilogram of body weight.

Its important to get enough protein but eating to much can be toxic.

To get protein from plants its important to eat complimentary foods to get a complete protein. Beans and rice together are a complete protein. Peanut butter on whole wheat bread is a complete protein. Peanuts are heavily sprayed with pesticides so choose only organic peanut products.

All animal products have protein but not all are healthy. Conventionally raise animal products should be avoided. Those animals are raised in horrible conditions and have all kinds of growth hormones and antibiotics administered to them. Its bad for the animal and you dont want that stuff inside you.

Most jerky, bacon, ham, lunch meats and sausages have sodium nitrite, which is a preservative and very bad for you. Most pickles also have sodium nitrite so avoid them, too.

Look for pasture raised or organic meat. Grass fed beef has more available protein than conventionally raised beef.

Free range chickens are better for you than conventionally raised chicken. Conventional chicken is mushy and has no flavor.

Eggs are a great source of protein. Look for hens fed a vegetarian diet. Free ranges eggs are great. Fertilized eggs have vitamin E. A healthy egg has an orange yolk and a sturdy shell.

Alternatively raised animals are treated well and the ranchers practice humane animal husbandry. Hopefully alternative farms will become the norm and conventional farms and the mean way they raise animals will be history.

Anyone choosing to cut meat products out of their diet needs to add B12 either by adding B12 fortified foods or taking supplements. A B12 deficiency can take years to rear its head. The effects of a B12 deficiency are anemia and nerve disorders including blindness. If you choose to be a vegan please get plenty of information about balancing your diet so you can stay healthy.

Comments

[murf73]

By the way, if you are a vegan and are worried about vitamin B12 deficiencies, a really good source of all your vitamin B's is nutritional yeast (brewer's yeast). Just throw a spoonful into soup, sprinkle some on a salad, sprinkle some on your sandwich, and voila! You are set! Besides, your body only needs about 2.4 micrograms of vitamin B12, so if you have some nutritional yeast once in a while you should be fine.

[murf73]

Despite what people may think, protein isn't really as big of a deal as people make it. Almost every food you eat has protein, so as long as you consume enough calories then you should be fine. Seriously, has anyone actually known someone with a "protein deficiency"? You might hear about it in poor, developing countries, but those people aren't getting enough calories in general! As long as you eat a variety of foods (whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables and nuts) then it would be virtually impossible to NOT get sufficient protein.
Also, it isn't necessary to combine proteins. Your body is going to break down the protein you eat into amino acids and again, it you eat a varied diet then you are naturally going to get all the amino acids that you need.
But other than that, this article is great! It's always nice to see other people trying to spread some common sense. Keep it up!

[scotdancer]

I'm enjoying your posts, but chickens are not vegetarian, they eat insects, and each other when kept in cages : (, so to be fed a totally vegetarian diet, they must be kept in batteries, in the same poor conditions as the large chicken farms.

[Veganlady]

It isn't necessary to combine whole grains and legumes in the same meal to form a complete protein.  You can, for example, eat whole wheat toast in the morning, then eat lentil soup for dinner and still create a full protein.  Pretty cool eh.

[nutellamonster]

A note on organic meat or chicken: It's frightfully expensive compared to conventional products. But look, just look at the way animals are treated when raised conventionally, and compare that to the way they're treated on organic farms. Seriously, if you have to eat meat (and I do because I love it), do so in a responsible way: Not too much or often, but with a good conscience. Plus, supermarket-bought meat often shrinks because a lot of its weight is made up of water which is injected into the meat (true!) - so on that account, a good piece of meat might be a bit more expensive, but it doesn't evaporate in your pan...
Also, the CO2-footprint of meat is very, very large, even for organic meat. It takes a lot of energy, water and other resources to raise those animals and proceed the meat until it turns up in the supermarket. One more reason to cut down on your meat-eating...
Your local (organic?) farmer might be another good source for quality meat, and you know where it came from, what he does or doesn't do to the animals, and it's not transported long ways to you. It also strengthens your community if you buy locally.