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Dr. Alfred Harper, Chairman of Nutritional Sciences of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and of the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council says, "One of the biggest fallacies ever perpetuated is that there is any need for so-called complete protein."
There is a lot of faulty information out there pertaining to protein that I'd like to discuss with you today. A very common question I get asked is, "Do I need to combine foods with protein in order to be sure I'm getting *complete* protein?"
First, let's take a look at how this erroneous protein theory
came to be taught as truth (sounds a lot like the evolution theory too, doesn't it!?)
In 1914 there was a rat study that led people to believe that the only way one could obtain *complete protein* was to eat meat. Then along came Frances Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, who originally proclaimed the "gospel" of complementary proteins back in the 1970's. She has since printed a correction, which I will share with you in a moment, but the theory tenaciously lives on. Recently I was reading a book written in 2002 entitled, "What Would Jesus Eat?", and in it the author promotes this outdated and erroneous information as well. No wonder people are confused!!
I was a student of nutrition in the 70's and I too was swept along with Frances Moore Lappe's theory. I was *religiously* combining my rice with tofu and sesame seeds as she taught that one must have three foods with *incomplete* proteins combined in one meal. What bondage! Now that I'm a follower of Y'shua (Jesus), my eyes have certainly been opened to the vanity~and folly~ of following MAN.....and this *complete protein theory* is the perfect example of that. Today, we know how very unhealthy this is. Excess protein in our diet has been shown to set the stage for all kinds of diseases in the human body.
In Frances Moore Lappe's 10th anniversary edition of Diet for a Small Planet, she writes:
"When I first wrote Diet for a Small Planet in 1971, the idea that people could live well without meat seemed much more controversial than it does today. I felt I had to prove to nutritionists and doctors that because we could combine proteins to create foods equal in protein usability to meat, people could thrive on a non-meat or low-meat diet. Today, few dispute that people can thrive on this kind of diet. In fact, more and more health professionals are actually advocating less meat precisely for health reasons, reasons I discussed in 'America's Experimental Diet.' In 1971 I stressed protein complementarity because I assumed that the only way to get enough protein (without consuming too many calories) was to create a protein as usable by the body as animal protein. In combating the myth that meat is the only way to get high-quality protein, I reinforced another myth. I gave the impression that in order to get enough protein without meat, considerable care was needed in choosing foods. {Emphasis mine, Editor}
Actually, it is much easier than I thought.
With three important exceptions, there is little danger of protein deficiency in a plant food diet. The exceptions are diets very heavily dependent on fruit or on some tubers, such as sweet potatoes or cassava, or on junk food (refined flours, sugars, and fat). Fortunately, relatively few people in the world try to survive on diets in which these foods are virtually the sole source of calories. In all other diets, if people are getting enough calories, they are virtually certain of getting enough protein."
Now, let's look a little closer at protein. ALL plants have protein, however when we eat protein our body cannot use it *as is*. In other words, it does not absorb the protein. The body must first digest it and break it down into amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. There are 23 different amino acids. Our body produces 15 "Non-Essential" amino acids~meaning that they can be manufactured by the body. Eight amino acids must be obtained from the food in our diet, and is why they are often referred to as "Essential Amino Acids". They are all *essential* to our health, but 8 MUST be provided by our diet. Therefore, you can see that we actually eat protein for the amino acids our body needs.
Our body stores these amino acids in an *amino acid pool* in the blood and the liver. As we obtain them from our fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans/legumes, grains and meat, the body stores them until the cells need them. We do NOT have to obtain them all in one sitting, or get them from eating animal products alone.
Let's think about this for a moment from a Biblical perspective. Meat is
NOT a *superior* protein. If it were so, Adonai would have
provided it for man long before the Flood. He would have given it to man in the Garden. We know that man survived very well on a pre-Flood
diet of
plant foods.
Our Creator tells us to eat freely of the foods He created for us to eat. He doesn't instruct us to combine foods a certain way. If it were so, then He would have given us explicit instructions in His Word on how to do that~ but He did not! We are not to follow the foolishness of the world by eating any of the fashionable ways that man comes up with.
Here are some examples of the world's "wisdom": Eating a fruit only diet; a mono diet; weigh your food type diets; count calories; high protein diets that are back in *style* again; the blood type diet.......need I go on?! NO. HaShem wants us to eat from the foods He DESIGNED for us......and FREELY. This is freedom and good health as long as we truly follow His Health Laws. We get into trouble nutritionally when we stray from Father's teachings, which are always for our benefit. Listening to men instead of HaShem by eating altered foods so that they have a long shelf life will ultimately damage our health.
I find it interesting that this culture is so obsessed with protein
in the
first place. How do you think that came about? Yes, the propaganda
by the
meat, egg and dairy industry. Why do I say this? Because protein is
very
easy to get enough of when we are consuming enough calories...in
fact, it's
almost impossible to be protein deficient on a calorically adequate
diet!
If you do not eat any meat in your diet, or choose to eat meat as in Biblical times~in moderation and for special occasions, such as on Shabbat and for Adonai's Feasts ~
be sure to get enough calories in your diet each day which will ensure that you are getting all the protein in your diet that you body needs.
In Health!
Fern Guyer
CNH, Herbalist
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