protein -something we all should know about

[Guest guest]

Protein

YOUR body is largely made of protein: your skin, muscles, internal

organs, nails, hair, brain, and even the base of your bones.

Like the muscles, hair which lacks elasticity and resiliency and

perhaps breaks or refuses to take a permanent will often change to

healthy hair after a few weeks of improved nutrition. Nails which

break, peel, or crack can likewise change when the diet is improved.

 

Another cause of fatigue, particularly common among women and

children, is anemia, or lack of red corpuscles, which are made almost

wholly of protein. Without adequate protein anemia quickly results and

persists until the nutrition is made normal. Anemia, however, can

result from any number of nutritional inadequacies.

If protein is abundantly supplied and the diet is otherwise adequate,

we can expect high resistance to diseases and infections.

Experimental work has shown that when a low-protein diet is replaced

by one high in adequate proteins, the antibody production is increased

a hundredfold within a single week.

 

When all parts of the body are maintained by the absorption and

utilization of adequate food, health and youthfulness are likewise

maintained. Conversely, you grow old on the days your diet is

inadequate. Since your body structure is largely protein, an

undersupply can bring about aging with depressing speed

 

Proteins from brewers' yeast, certain nuts, soybeans, cottonseed, and

the germ of cereals are complete proteins. The proteins of peas,

lentils, navy and lima beans, cereals and flour with the germ removed

lack some of the essential amino acids; they are therefore incomplete

and cannot support life alone

The greatest hindrance to good health in this respect is ignorance.

Many surveys of thousands of persons having enough money to eat as

they choose have shown that about 60 per cent get far less protein

than is adequate

 

 

Proteins are made up of smaller units called amino acids. There are

about 20 different amino acids, eight of which must be present in the

diet. These are the essential amino acids. Unlike animal proteins,

plant proteins may not contain all the essential amino acids in the

necessary proportions. However, a varied vegetarian diet means a

mixture of proteins are consumed, the amino acids in one protein

compensating for the deficiencies of another.

 

The eight essential amino acids required by humans are: leucine,

isoleucine, valine, threonine, methionine, phenylalanine, tryptophan,

and lysine. For children, histidine is also considered to be an

essential amino acid.

Good sources of protein for vegetarians include nuts and seeds,

pulses, soya products (tofu, soya milk and textured soya protein such

as soya mince), cereals (wheat, oats, and rice), free-range eggs and

some dairy products (milk, cheese and yoghurt

 

Many plant proteins are low in one of the essential amino acids. For

instance, grains tend to be short of lysine whilst pulses are short of

methionine. This does not mean that vegetarians or vegans go short on

essential amino acids. Combining plant proteins, such as a grain with

a pulse, leads to a high quality protein which is just as good, and in

some cases better, than protein from animal foods. Soya is a high

quality protein on its own which can be regarded as equal to meat protein.

Increased protein needs during pregnancy and breast feeding are

usually met simply by the extra calories from more food. Because

infants and children are growing they require more protein than adults

(proportional to their body weight).

 

Muscles are built from protein. Unlike fat cells for fat and muscle or

liver for glucose, there is no place in the body to store protein. We

need to consume enough protein to allow our muscles to be healthy and

perform work

When people start consuming too much protein (over 2.0 g/kg/day), the

extra protein can become a stressful stimulus for the kidney. This is

even more of a concern as we get older and our organs are less

efficient and effective. However many people do not even get anywhere

like this amount in my experience.

 

According to Adele Davis book your breakfast can be a very big

influence on how you feel throughout your day.

 

Studies show that children who have a good breakfast do better in

school. When all this is known it beggars belief that some parents who

allow their children to skip breakfast, that is bordering on neglect

and in the future that point may be a factor in the consideration of

whether parents are indeed fit parents. I would not be surprised to

see in the future legal action taken against parents on this point.

 

It doesn't take much further thought to know that adults will feel

better and perform better at work as well. Whether you work at home,

on the farm, at the office, at school, or on the road, it is not a

good idea to skip breakfast.

If you were in the army skipping breakfast would mean you would be on

a charge as this was considered to be a serious offence.

 

If we skip breakfast, we are likely to become tired when our brains

and bodies run low on fuel. By mid-morning, a lot of us grab a cup of

coffee, or wolf down a sugary candy bar to wake up again. This might

work for a few minutes, but by lunch time we are hungry, crabby, and

perhaps our mood might make us a little more prone to making unhealthy

choices at lunch. Eating a good breakfast sets the tone for the rest

of the day.

 

Blood sugar seems to be the key here , and low blood sugar can cause

it seems ,craving for sweets ,growling of the intestines, leading to

exhaustion headaches, weakness, wobbliness, palpitations of the heart

may be noticeable, the legs may suddenly give way, nausea may also be

present.

 

The cells of the nerves of the brain can produce their energy it seems

only from sugar even, when sugar is decreased only slightly thinking

becomes slowed and confused and nerves become tense. The person whose

blood sugar falls below normal becomes more irritable grouchy moody

depressed and uncooperative blackouts and fainting may also occur.

 

According to Adele Davis book, Many studies have been done on

breakfast and blood sugar

 

People who eat breakfast are significantly less likely to be obese and

diabetic than those who usually don't, researchers reported today at

the American Heart Association's 43rd Annual Conference on

Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention.

 

Our results suggest that breakfast may really be the most important

meal of the day, " says Mark A. Pereira, Ph.D., a research associate at

Children's Hospital in Boston and assistant professor at Harvard

Medical School. " It appears that breakfast may play an important role

in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. "

 

The reason is that one's blood sugar stays up at optimum levels

throughout the day only when enough protein is eaten at breakfast.

What is " enough " ? In Adelle's judgment, an average-size person should

have about 60 grams of protein a day, and about 1/3rd of that at

breakfast. That's at least 20 grams.

That's rather difficult to do! An 8-ounce cup of milk is 8 grams. An

egg is 6 grams. Two eggs and 8 oz of milk is thus 20 grams. A half cup

of nonfat cottage cheese is 19 grams. Egg whites are 3 grams each, so

you figure!

 

Studies similar to these have been conducted in many universities. The

results have been consistently the same: well-being and the level of

efficiency experienced during the hours after meals depend upon the

amount of protein eaten.

 

The meals which produced a real zest for living also contained some

fat and a certain amount of carbohydrate. " (p. 23, paperback version).

She warns of the dangers of too much fat and carbohydrate, but

consistently recommends that small amounts of both be eaten together

at meals.

 

The meal furnishing 55 grams of protein sustained a high level of

energy and a high metabolism for six hours afterward.

 

IN other studies efficiency for three hours was obtained only when a

meal was eaten containing 22gramms or more of protein.

Children do not learn well unless nutrition is obtained and much money

is wasted.

Irritability caused from low blood sugar is a factor in divorces.

 

Car accidents can obviously also occur from low blood sugar as

thinking is slower. Low blood sugar driving may be as serious as

drunken driving.

 

 

The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council

recommends the following amounts of protein, in grams, daily:

 

Children Adults

 

Under 12 Years Over 12 Years Men -- 70

1-3 -- 40 Girls 13-15 -- 80 Women -- 60

4-6 -- 50 Girls 16-20 -- 75 Pregnancy -- 85

7-9 -- 60 Boys 13-15 -- 85 Lactation -- 100

10-12 -- 70 Boys 16-20 -- 100

 

 

These figures, , are generally considered to be too low. If you wish

to maintain your attractiveness, vigor, and youthfulness as long as is

humanly possible, it is probably wise to eat considerably more protein

than the Board recommends and/or to count only the grams of adequate

protein you eat. Whenever the diet has been deficient in protein for

some time, an intake of 150 grams or more daily is probably advisable

for a month or more. Such large amounts are also needed in the

treatment of various disease conditions.

 

 

Sources of proteins, Amounts, Completeness

(com=complete, inc=incomplete), Grams of Proteins

soybean flour, low fat 1 cup com.

60

cottonseed flour 1 cup com.

60

white flour 1 cup

inc.

8 to 12

wheat germ 1/2 cup com

24

brewers' yeast, powdered 1/2 cup com

50

powdered skim milk 1 cup inc

60 to 70

egg 1

com

6

milk, whole or skim, buttermilk 1 qt. com

32 to 35

milk, whole or skim ½ litre com

15

cottage cheese 1/2 cup com

20

American or Swiss cheese 2 slices com

10 to 12

soybeans, cooked 1/2 cup com

20

peanut butter 2 tbsp inc

9

cooked cereals 3/4 cup inc

10 to 18

prepared cereals 1 cup inc

1 to 3

navy or lima beans 1 cup inc

6 to 8

macaroni, noodles, rice 3/4 cup inc

3 to 4

Meat, fish, fowl boned or with little bone or fat** 1/4 pound 1

serving com 18 to 22

meat, fish, fowl with moderate bone and/or fat *** 1/4 pound

15 to 18

meat, fish, fowl with much bone and/or fat **** 1/4 pound

10 to 15

yoghurt I pot

 

6-8 grams

vegi burgers soya based 1

8

vegi sausage soya based 1

6-8

some bread always brown 1 slice

5- 6

 

Thousands of persons think they get adequate protein from one egg at

breakfast and meat for dinner; their actual intake may be 26 grams or

less, although their requirement is perhaps many times that amount.

Since a quart of milk supplies 32 to 35 grams of protein, one usually

finds that the person who drinks a quart daily has a fairly adequate

protein intake, whereas the person who avoids milk is almost

invariably deficient.

 

Here is a fairly good starter breakfast wise

2 vegi burgers 1 yogurt 2 slices of brown wholemeal bread gets

you around 32 gramms

 

 

So look on the labels for the protein content, every parent should

study nutrition, as good parents will want the best for their children

as parents you are forming habits in your children then of course form

good habits.