Things You'll Need:
- Awareness
-
Step 1
What the studies have found: The health risks associated with a high protein diet include heart disease, kidney stones, stroke, pancreatic cancer and osteoporosis. Now those risks are based on the intake of clean protein, not mass farmed animals which are exposed to, among other things, parasites, steroids, antibiotics and artificial hormones. Those compounds do make it to your plate and have a cumulative ill effect on your health and body weight as well.
-
Step 2
Cooked meat is extremely hard for the body to breakdown, though admittedly deliciousWhy are proteins bad for us, I thought they were essential, especially for muscle building? They are absolutely necessary to our diets everyday, but not out of proportion. The digestive process for proteins takes a lot of energy from the body, notice how much longer it takes before you feel hungry after eating steak versus pasta. In some cases this is effective in controlling your food cravings, however, an unbalanced protein intake will overwhelm your digestive system and a lot of protein will go undigested. Herein lies the problem.
-
Step 3
Narrowing of the arteries from cholesterol plaqueUndigested protein is a fairly toxic substance for the body to deal with. Undigested proteins are released into the blood stream where they are effective at swelling blood vessels along with increasing bad cholesterol levels. This eventually leads to hardening and narrowing of the arteries, hence strokes and heart attacks are linked to high protein diets.
-
Step 4
Overload your colon with protein and you are sure to experience gastrointestinal distressFurther, undigested protein that entered your system with environmental toxins, such as those associated with mass farmed animals, will get backed up in your system as well. However, their journey and effect on the body is different from that of excess proteins. Toxins are ushered into body fat and the colon to keep our body safe from them. The more toxins in your body, the more fat you will carry as protection. The more backed up your colon, the less toxins that are allowed to make it out before they leave the stagnant colon and enter the blood stream. Once back in the blood, many toxins are whisked into your fat cells.
-
Step 5
A healthy Japanese bento box with TofuLet's now reference the common diet of the world's longest living population, the Japanese. It is known to consist of grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, shellfish, seaweeds and low intake of animal protein, including animal protein from dairy products. In summary, the Japanese benefit from a diet high in plant based foods. Further, raw foods high in protein, such as sushi, are much easier on the digestive system than cooked animal protein.
-
Step 6
So how much protein per day and from where? Based on the health and longevity experienced by the Japanese, an 80-20 principle was created. Only 20% of your dietary intake should be protein and the remaining 80% from the vegetarian menu. If you are going to eat meat, chicken and eggs, then purchase free range, which will greatly lower your exposure to environmental toxins. Eating two meals a day high in animal protein is not healthy, as a benchmark. View the resources for sample Japanese diet plans.
Comments
chava812 said
on 3/3/2009 Great summary of what those who go low-carb should be doing as they increase their protein: keep upping the veggies! Most of those who read Dr. Atkin's book know this, but those who try to wing it do not! Having lived in Japan, I can attest to the fact that most Japanese in their older year