Protein

Man is an omnivore. We are designed to eat meat, fish, fowl and vegetables. We neeeed fat. The vitamins A,D,E and K are all fat based. The most important fat in the brain is DHA (the oil omega 3, commonly known as fish oil, has 2 components, EPA and DHA).



Barely a week goes by without us being warned not to eat red meat more than twice a week. Ditto with oily fish. We are constantly told to avoid saturated fat. And this is found in the fat of animals and butter – and other natural things like coconut.



Before I get onto the subject of protein, for some mysterious reason, manufacturers are now trumpeting that they are taking transfats out of their products. Since saturated fat is apparently public enemy number one, why should this matter??? Could it be that transfats are actually more dangerous to our health than saturated fat?? (The answer, if you are in any doubt, is a most emphatic YES, transfats are far far more dangerous to health than saturated fat).



What does protein do in the body? Well it builds and repairs muscles and connective tissue. It also does other things and one of those is its use by the liver as part of the detoxification process.



A constant problem I encounter is that because people can’t see something, they assume it doesn’t matter. It is rather like the men that go to the gym and just exercise the ‘beach muscles’ = chest, biceps, quads and abs. These are the muscles they can see in the mirror. The muscles the can’t see – the back muscles, the triceps, the hamstrings are ignored. So it is with the air we breathe and the food we eat and the water we drink. Pesticides cannot be seen. Fumes from aeroplanes/cars and their tyres cannot be seen. A shortage of vital minerals and vitamins cannot be seen (well sometimes they can in the form of skin disorders, for example). The damage you do to your liver by excessive alchohol, painkiller intake or inadequate protein intake cannot be seen. What you cannot see cannot harm you. Would that this were true.



The truth of the matter is that our liver in under constant assault from a cocktail of chemicals that we breathe in, rub on ourselves, eat or drink. In the past liver detox diets that excluded protein and involved fasting were succesful. Now the liver is under such assault that to undertake such a detox is very dangerous.



So the liver deals with the myriad of toxins it encounters on a daily basis in a 2 stage process to turn that toxin into a water soluble form that can be excreted by the body in the urine, sweat or faeces. The second stage is heavily amino acid dependant. Amino acids are what proteins are made of – the body breaks down protein in the stomach and then utilises the 20 amino acids it releases.



My point is that most people start their day with grains – in the form of cereals, porridge (or) toast. Protein is eaten rarely at breakfast on a regular basis. Lunch these days is frequently a sandwich – and how much of anything can you get in a sandwich? A sliver of ham, a leaf of lettuce, a couple of slices of tomato. Instead of eating a sandwich, what if you were to eat, say, a starch-free salad ? If this were to be satisfying it would have to contain rather more than the contents of a sandwich! Then comes dinner – and for most people this is the only time of the day that they eat an appreciable amount of protein. Poor old liver.



Another all too common problem I encounter is that people can no longer tolerate all forms of protein. I frequently hear ‘I only eat chicken and salmon; I can’t stand red meat – it is the smell that puts me off!!’. Many are vegetarians. And such is the misinformation given out that all this is seen as quite acceptable – if not desirable.



So what is going on? Why does the government recommend eating red meat only twice a week? Well protein is broken down in the stomach. For this to happen the stomach needs to make hydrochloric acid (HCL) – a highly corrosive acid. One of the main building blocks of HCL is zinc. In order to function properly the body needs about 42 vitamins and minerals everyday, a plant needs 17. Chemical fertilizers rely on just 3: NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Were we to farm naturally – and this means putting rotted compost that contains vegetable matter and waste products from mammals back on the soil, we wouldn’t have a problem. But for many years farmers have been encouraged to use agro-chemicals and so most of the vital minerals are being progressively leached from the soil. The principal ones in this case are zinc, magnesium and selenium. I run a very simple test for zinc levels in the body. And I have never ever had anyone come anywhere near passing this. Zinc is one of the unseens. What I find even more amazing is people don’t seem to be bothered by a catastrophic fail. Anyway, I digress. So with a lack of zinc comes a low level of HCL production. Sometimes people produce absolutely none whatsoever. So when they eat red meat, which does require HCL to break it down, the meat enters the stomach which bashes it about a bit but the lack of HCL means it stays in there for some time before reluctantly passing through and into the small intestine and on to the large intestine. The guts are a nice, warm, bacteria rich environment. Just right to make the undigested protein rot as it passes through. Now the brain is not stupid. It knows this is happening and it will discourage you from eating first red meats and then ultimately all forms of protein of animal/fowl/fish origin.



So rotting meat passing through the digestive tract is not healthy. Neither is a lack of fibre in the diet. This means people need to eat far more vegetables than they do. Different coloured vegetables. Lots of them. Rather more at lunchtime than a sandwich will provide. Unless, of course, you have the dislocating jaw of a snake and can eat a simply huge sarnie...



So I would argue that instead of avoiding red meat, which the government apparently urges, we need to sort out why we can’t eat it. This means restoring zinc levels, healing the guts and restoring optimal HCL levels. I have also yet to meet anyone with optimal HCL levels.



HCL in the stomach is highly corrosive, and its other job, apart from breaking down protein into it’s constituent amino acids is to bathe the other foods we eat in HCL which will kill off most of the bacteria living there. This is a good thing.




Other useful things found in animal proteins are vitamin B12 and carnitines. Now carnitines are fat burning enzymes – so not all parts of food are fattening. Hurrah. BUT you do need to break the protein down to access the fat burning potential.



More good news: meat protein is what they call thermogenic. This means the body has to work quite hard to break it down and this tends to raise metabolic rate. Starchy carbs are easily broken down – bread can be digested in the mouth. So no thermogenesis from your pasta with tomato sauce or pizza marguerita.



So Eat More Dead Things - they are surprisingly good for you. And those Dead Things you currently can't eat - if you sort out why, you will become an awful lot healthier on the inside.