Journey: Protein and Calcium

Hey y'all! I fully intended to post this Monday, but my internet has been out all week. This is probably the last post like this that I'm going to write, though. I still want to tell you about my plant-based journey, but my posts kind of went in a different direction than I envisioned. I didn't want them to sound like a science paper. Lol! However, I do want to give those of you who might be considering eating this way and was wondering about your protein and calcium sources, a few good options. Again, if you have any questions or would like more information, I would be happy to help.

So, today I'm going to talk about protein and calcium. The top two questions I get when someone finds out that I'm eating a plant-based diet is where do you get your protein and calcium.  And I say, plants. Yes, it's true. Plants have both and plenty of it.

There are two misconceptions about protein: #1..You need a lot of it to be healthy and strong, and #2..You can't get enough from plants. Both are wrong. According to the World Health Organization, at most 10-15% of your calories need to come from protein.....of that percentage, the higher end should be for pregnant women and athletes. And, the healthiest way to get it is from plants. Plant-based proteins contain all eight of the essential amino acids. Animal proteins, on the other hand, leaches calcium from your bones and the highly acidic animal proteins inundate your kidneys with acid, causing them to go into hyper-filtration mode. They get over worked as they continually filter out all the animal stuff from your blood.  Plant protein, however, has been shown to protect healthy kidneys and help sick kidneys become better by easing their burden.  And, I'll just throw out there that cancer thrives in an acidic environment. That's a whole other discussion that I'm not going to go into, but the bottom line is animal proteins are acidic, plant proteins are alkaline.

More on the acidic animal proteins in a minute, but first.....I was totally unaware, as I'm sure many of you are, how much protein we actually need. What I found in my research is that The Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government, recommends that men consume 56 grams a day and women 46 grams. I read that the average man actually takes in more than 100 grams and the average female takes in 70 grams. That's getting close to twice the daily recommendations. If you are concerned about building muscle, the best way to do that is by exercising...either by lifting weights or resistance training, allowing for recovery time and then repeating the process. And the best things for muscle recovery and performance are whole-plant foods. They have the perfect amount of lean and healthy protein to keep your muscles strong. So knowing that I needed about 46 grams of protein a day, I went to my food diary and added up all the grams of protein I had taken in on a few given days and the totals was almost dead on...it was between 46 and 48 grams a day. A few examples are: oatmeal with 6 grams of protein, banana - 1.1 grams, broccoli - 3.7 grams, mushrooms - 3 grams, black beans - 7 grams, and whole-wheat pasta - 8 grams. There are many, many more, but this gives you a good idea of what you can count on in just one serving.

As I mentioned earlier, animal protein leaches calcium from your bones and here's why. If you've ever taken a Tums, then you've taken calcium carbonate and you know it's a great anti-acid, right? Calcium is so great that the body uses it to combat an acid environment. Animal protein is acidic. When you consume meat or dairy, the fluids in your body become acidic and is forced to compensate by taking minerals from your bones and tissues to bring the acid level down. And the mineral that the body uses for this is calcium. The constant leaching of calcium can, overtime, lead to brittle bones.

This leads me to healthy calcium sources. Once again, it is plants! Plants offer plenty of calcium and the calcium from plants is absorbed twice as well as the calcium from milk. Only about one-third of milk's calcium is absorbed by the body. The other two-thirds simply passes out with the wastes. In addition, milk contains animal protein and sodium, both of which tend to increase calcium loss through the kidneys. Now don't get me wrong, we need some calcium in our diets, but it should come from healthful sources, namely green leafy vegetables and beans. While there is somewhat less calcium in broccoli than milk, the absorption fraction is higher for broccoli and nearly all other greens than milk. The only exception I read was spinach and although it's high in calcium, for some reason the absorption fraction is low. It's important to remember, that to maintain calcium balance, it is important not only to take in an adequate amount but also to minimize losses like I explained earlier. So, how much calcium do we need? The recommended daily intake of calcium is around 1,000 mg. This isn't hard to do. Greens and beans will give you all the calcium your body needs. If you are looking for extra, for some reason, you can find it in fortified juices and soy or almond milks. A few examples are: boiled collards, which has 266 mg calcium per cup. Others are kale, navy beans, great northern beans, oranges, chia seeds, broccoli, bok choy, even black strap molasses. And once again, there are many, many more options to get your calcium in the plant-based world.

In a week or so, I'll try to summarize all the important points. For now, let's call it a day. But first, let me give you an update on my progress. My energy levels are still off the charts.  Last week, I cleaned the front porch, the screened porch and patio of pollen. I vacuumed the cushions, washed the furniture and even mopped the front porch floor. I vacuumed window screens, removed them and washed the windows. And if that wasn't enough, I planted my summer vegetables and even started a new raised bed. I, also, planted a few pots of zinnias and marigolds from seeds. This week, I've ridden my bike 44.73 miles and walked over 6.5 miles. It seems like the more I do, the more energy I have.  I continue to check my blood sugar levels daily and they are continuing to come down. This last week, they have been below 100 mg/dl, consistently.....with a couple of exceptions. The weight loss is starting to slow down a bit. The first few weeks, I was averaging about 3 lbs of weight loss per week. Now, I'm losing about 1 lb per week. Hallelujah, I'll take it! I've now lost a total of 16 lbs.

I hope you check back in a couple of days....I'm going to share a favorite recipe with you.

Take care....talk soon,

Laurie

 Oh wait! There is a Food Revolution Summit coming up that you might be interested in . There will be many doctors, experts and researchers to listen to in daily videos. Some of these are ones that I've already learned from and can't wait to hear what they are going to bring to this food summit. Dr. Neal Barnard, Kris Carr, and Dr. Dean Ornish to name a few. It will take place online from April 29 - May 7 and it's free. If you would like to sign up to be able to watch these incredible videos, click on this link.

 

My Journey to Health and Wellness

 

 

Get ready, y'all. This is going to be a little long.

I am a fifty-something woman who grew up in the south eating some very amazing, deliciously sinful foods. Fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, hamburgers and french fries, pizza, barbecue chicken and coleslaw were the norm. Basically, a typical western diet. Years of eating this way took it's toll. In 1983 my father started experiencing heart problems. He had his first open heart surgery that year…. a bypass. Daddy’s journey of battling heart disease had begun. Mama changed how she prepared meals and cut sugar from their diet. Daddy tried to eat right, but longed for those good foods he grew up eating, too. In the end, he fought long and hard. After his second bypass surgery, a stroke, angina, diabetes, copious amounts of medication, and thousands of dollars in health care he finally succumbed to his long battle with these chronic diseases. In May of 2008, he drew his last breath. Daddy’s struggle and death ingrained in me the will to do life differently. At the time, I was in x-ray school. I had gained weight and my blood pressure was getting high. I remember one day after clinicals, one of my classmates and I stopped to have our blood pressure taken. Mine was 150/80 something. I was taken aback. This blood pressure reading definitely got my attention. I had just lost my father to heart disease and here I was about to go down the same path. I declared I wouldn’t follow in his footsteps and started searching for a better way. However, I was so busy with school, studying and clinicals that I didn’t give it my best effort. But after graduation, there were no more excuses. 

One afternoon around that time, I was watching the Oprah Winfrey show and her guest was Kris Carr. Kris was a young woman diagnosed with a rare cancer that was incurable. She had multiple tumors in her lungs and liver. Given this news, Kris was determined to live the best life she could live with cancer. The short story…..she began a research journey that led her to some amazing discoveries in the area of nutrition. Using the grocery store as her pharmacy, she arrested her cancer. She had found a way using nutrition and then wrote a book about it. Kris' book is what led me to become a vegetarian in the fall of 2008. I remember thinking that if eating a plant-based diet can do this for her with cancer, what would it do for me without cancer. 

So, I began eating a vegetarian diet a week before Thanksgiving.  Wow, what a time to start something so new. I ate about a 2 oz. piece of turkey that Thanksgiving and then that was it for years. The first thing I noticed was how amazing I felt. My skin looked dewy and my blood pressure had returned to normal. Within 2 weeks, I had lost 4 lbs. That was a nice benefit since I had struggled with weight issues for many years. I never seemed to be able to lose more than 5 lbs. on any diet or at any given time. I was hopeful that this way of eating would not only keep me from having the same health issues that my father had, but that I would also, finally, be able to lose the weight. Unfortunately, the weight didn’t come off like I thought it would. The other benefits, however, were outstanding.

I stayed committed to eating a vegetarian diet for a few years. But then, when we moved to the lake, we found this great little hamburger joint that made the most amazing hamburgers. I began eating meat again. This little hamburger addiction only happened on the weekends. I would eat healthy during the week.  I was still struggling with weight issues and desperately wanted to lose a few pounds. Back in 2008, I had signed up to follow Kris Carr’s newsletter and blog and last summer, she announced that there was going to be an online health summit hosted by James Colquhoun of Food Matters taking place and that I just needed to sign up online to be a part of it. I signed up and began watching the numerous videos and interviews and became intrigued by all the health information I was hearing. I mean, I thought I knew so much about health and nutrition, but this health summit opened my eyes to so much more. This health summit focused a lot on people dealing with cancer, but the science behind it just made so much sense to me. I could feel a change taking place in my outlook on food. As a result of that summit, I was beginning to think that eating some meat wasn’t so bad. They recommended that if you ate meat, to eat wild caught fish and grass-fed animals. They also recommended that you cut out gluten and sugar. So, I did. Deep down, though, as I was eating the grass-fed bison or wild caught salmon, I just felt like this was not the way I should be eating. 

And then, almost simultaneously, I began going to a new doctor that wanted to do blood work for a baseline measurement as part of getting started in his practice and I watched a video by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr. where he talked about reversing heart disease. He wrote a book called Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. As it turned out, I would need to read that book. When my blood work came back, I was shocked and so disappointed in myself. I felt like I was a healthy eater. And, although my exercising had been sporadic all winter, I still exercised. Yet, my numbers were high……high cholesterol, high blood glucose, high triglycerides and I mean really high. All I could see was my father’s journey of poor health, but this time it was happening to me. After my initial shock and a few tears, I went straight to the bookstore and purchased Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn’s book and devoured it in two days. He made sense…..a lot of sense. He performed a study on a group of heart patients, some of which had angina and some had already had bypass surgeries. They were sick! This study was conducted to see how the patients would do on a low fat, plant-based diet. Basically, they would not eat meat, dairy or oils (which included nuts and avocado). They would eat only plant-based…whole grains, legumes, beans,  vegetables and fruits. The result...every one of the participants improved dramatically and over time reversed their heart disease. They lost weight, their cholesterol levels came down, their angina went away and 20 years later they are still alive and well. 

Well, I thought, that’s it! I am going to have to be one of those people that eats a vegan diet. Vegan sounds radical, it sounds restrictive and depriving. Low fat, plant-based sounds better, doesn’t it? Anyway, that week, I turned a corner. I made the commitment to get healthy. I am committed to eating in such a way that it results in weight loss and good health. I heard someone say this and I feel exactly the same…I don’t want to grow old being fat, sick and medicated. I want to grow old as healthily as I can. 

So, why am I sharing this with you? I can tell you that I thought long and hard about it. If you have been a follower of my blog, you may have noticed that my trend is to be upbeat and light-hearted as well as fun. I would rather tell you good things than dwell on the not so good. It has almost given me the shivers to share my state of health with you. LOL!  But, just the other day, one of my favorite doctors that I follow online shared a verse of scripture. When I read it, it resonated with me. I felt like I had done all this research, watched countless videos, followed many doctors and their findings on health and realized that I shouldn’t keep it to myself. The scripture…. Matthew 10:8…..Freely you have received, freely give. So there you have it. I want to freely share what I’ve learned with you.

Over the next few weeks, I will share with you my journey back to health. I will share the names and websites that I’ve followed. I will give you the numbers from my original blood work, my progress along the way and finally, the new numbers on my follow-up visit for repeat blood work at the end of May. 

I know this has been long, I apologize for that. But I really felt strongly that I needed to give you a little background before proceeding. My hope is that the information I share will be of help or at least of interest and that I can be an encouragement to you, if you find yourself on a similar path or want to avoid it altogether. 

Take care and we’ll talk soon.

Laurie

Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor nor am I a nutritionist. I am not here to tell you that my journey to health is the answer for everyone. I encourage you to do your own research and decide the best course for your health. But, if you want the short story…something to get you started toward better health, then maybe I can help. 

I’ve done the research according to my lifestyle and health concerns. Along the way, I may not tell you exactly how something works. I may not remember the details, but at the time of my research it made sense to me. So, I remember the main idea, the benefits, basically the thing that you are supposed to do. I will be writing these posts to tell you what I’ve learned about what to eat or not to eat and how it can affect your health.

Again, I am not a doctor. If you find information here contrary to what your doctor says, then by all means…do what your doctor tells you to do. I am not a professional, just someone who is truly interested in living healthy, for as long as I live. And, I would love to be that encouragement for you.