myths about protein

I regularly buy The Mother magazine. In fact I think I have every issue ever published. I like that there is an alternative to the 'normal' : aka grossly abnormal modern parenting out there. BUT. I don't dig it all. Sometimes the articles are so unbalanced as to be laughable. But then often I feel irked that people may read all and believe all. It's like, if something is alternative, in comparison to mainstream it must be *more* true. As though we are being privy to some fantastic secrets of the health industry we wouldn't ordinarily see, or something.... I have my gnawing bone already with it after my birth story was published heavily edited. Edited in such a way as to make my birth fit in with the ethos of the magazine. Rather than simply true, the way it really was, beautiful in it's own way. How many more birth stories are edited like this, how many women inspired yes, but other left to feel that they didn't quite manage the perfect natural birth? The latest issue had an article about the myths of protein.

Here are my bones with it:

Firstly it's all about the dangers associated with HIGH animal protein diets. High. Not normal, the mentioned 75-100g of meat is not as far as I see it necessary even for someone who was 6 foot 6 inches and a ran a daily marathon. A more usual level might be at the 40g mark. In understandable terms a can of salmon and two eggs wouldn't be pushing 30g. Atkins high was the amounts in the article (although were one unfamiliar with quantity may not have known). Yes, of course, commercially raised animals and the commercial industry would like us to believe we need huge amounts of meat protein. It's insulting to suggest we'd think otherwise. But what most eat (surely?) if they do and read the magazine, is no where near that, nor do the carnivorous magazine readers eat commercial meat, I am sure! Or should not in any case if ethical eating is the order of the day.

High protein diets: soy, animal, grain or otherwise are not necessary for good health. Agreed. But what about regular 'normal' levels? This is not discussed.

Animal proteins do not cause acid alkaline imbalances. Protein helps *regulate* the acid-alkaline balance of blood and tissue. When protein is lacking there may be a tendency for acid-alkaline imbalances. Reference

The premise that meat eating causes bone loss: untrue. Unnatural isolated powdered proteins from soy, egg, milk and meat are often fed to industrially raised animals, the negative resulting calcium imbalance which occurs has been pounced upon by meat critics who report untruly that it is meat eating that causes osteoporosis.

Protein naturally goes hand in hand with fat, fat soluble vitamins A and D are needed for the proper assimilation and utilisation of protein. Lean meats and proteins without the fat can induce pretty poor health and mineral imbalances.
References here and here and here.

Soy! Tofu! Example of *ethical* protein? What a hoot. Where does soy come from? The UK? Nope. What a MASSIVE, monstrous environmentally damaging footprint eating a tiny heap of soy beans does. Forget the eco warrior footprint being a whisper of a delicate breezy sand print, washed away by the clear fresh non polluted wind... tr la la. Eating soy is like a crater of a footprint, bouldering into the earth. I can't even be bothered to reference it. It's a no brainer.

And healthy? Well traditional fermented soy products certainly can be, eaten alongside traditional foods from country of origin ie, when eating sushi fermented soy helps the body digest the fish, but unfermented milks, cheese and processed tofu substances (Fakin Bacon anyone?)? Healthy?!

Quotes from Weston Price website and related masses of articles on soy:

Soy Interferes with Enzymes
While soybeans are relatively high in protein compared to other legumes, they are a poor source of protein because other proteins found in soybeans act as potent enzyme inhibitors. These "anti-nutrients" block the action of trypsin and other enzymes needed for protein digestion. Trypsin inhibitors are large, tightly folded proteins that are not completely deactivated during ordinary cooking and can reduce protein digestion. Therefore, soy consumption may lead to chronic deficiencies in amino acid uptake.8

Soy’s ability to interfere with enzymes and amino acids may have direct consequence for the brain. As White and his colleagues suggest, "isoflavones in tofu and other soyfoods might exert their influence through interference with tyrosine kinase-dependent mechanisms required for optimal hippocampal function, structure and plasticity."2

High amounts of protein tyrosine kinases are found in the hippocampus, a brain region involved with learning and memory. One of soy’s primary isoflavones, genistein, has been shown to inhibit tyrosine kinase in the hippocampus, where it blocked "long-term potentiation," a mechanism of memory formation.

Or what about this:

Phytoestrogens--Soy Self Defense
Tofu and other soybean foods contain isoflavones, three-ringed molecules bearing a structural resemblance to mammalian steroidal hormones. White and his fellow researchers speculate that soy’s estrogen-like compounds (phytoestrogens) might compete with the body’s natural estrogens for estrogen receptors in brain cells.

Plants have evolved many different strategies to protect themselves from predators. Some have thorns or spines, while others smell bad, taste bad, or poison animals that eat them. Some plants took a different route, using birth control as a way to counter the critters who were wont to munch.

Plants such as soy are making oral contraceptives to defend themselves, says Claude Hughes, Ph.D., a neuroendocrinologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. They evolved compounds that mimic natural estrogen. These phytoestrogens can interfere with the mammalian hormones involved in reproduction and growth--a strategy to reduce the number and size of predators.

And this little well known fact, often ignored: We produce hydrochloric acid! If we were herbivores we would not need to do so.

Side note; This entire year I have not even eaten meat. Yep. But this week I added bone broth and some bits of chicken and feel pretty good. I'll see how it goes. I am actually often pretty glad to be proven 'wrong' about things, it's great when you think about it, you get a little shake and the reminders, number one: don't hold too tight to your ideas and current theories, don't let them shape you, rather be prepared to learn more. Number two, there will always be more; more info, more research, more searching into what we have always known but lost. We move forwards so it's cool to keep embracing the new. If you feel mortally offended by some mere information then you must be holding on too tight to a theory. Don't you think?

And the magazine?

Well I still buy it, I guess I like the pictures :) And of course, I get to chew over things like this......