Fresh90’s Weblog

This is always a tough one.    Where is all my energy?

 The other day I posted something on the Beach Body forum about spinach having 50% protein.  Well, one of the mods responded that spinach is not a complete protein.    I know that theory went out the window long ago - it was originally written by Frances Moore Lappe in Diet For a Small Planet  which she later corrected in print in the 10th Anniversary Edition,  since the theory was proven to be untrue.   

 I have been reading Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. and happened to come across the following:

“Some people believe that only animal protein contain all the essential amino acids and that plant proteins are incomplete.  False.  They were taught that animal protein is superior to plant protein.  False.  They accept the outdated notion that plant protein must be mixed and matched in some complicated way that takes the planning of a nuclear physicist for a vegetarian diet to be adequate.  False.

“I guess they never thought too hard about how a rhinoceros, hippopotamus, gorilla, giraffe, or elephant became so big eating only vegetables.  Animals do not make animo acids from thin air; all the amino acids orginally came from plants.   Even the nonessential amino acids that are fabricated by the body are just the basic amino acids that are modified slightly in some way by the body.  So the lion’s muscles can be composed of only the protein and amino acids that the zebra and gazelle ate.  Green grasses made the lion.

“I see about twenty to thrity new patients per week, and I always ask them, “
Which has more protein - one hundred calories of sirloin steak or one hundred calories of broccoli?”  When I tell them it’s the broccoli, the most frequent response I get is “I didn’t know broccoli had more protein in it.”  I then ask them “So where did you think the calories in broccoli came from?  Did you think it was mostly fat, like an avocado, or mostly carbohydrate, like a potato?”

“People know less about nutirtion than any other subject.  Even the physicians and dieticians who attend my lectures quickly volunteer the answer “Steak!”  They are surprised to learn that broccoli has about twice as much protein as steak.

“When you eat large quantities of greeen vegetables, you receive a considerable amount of protein.  Remember, one 10-ounce box of frozen broccoli contains more than ten grams of protein.”

Pages 137-138 Eat to Live by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.