Red Stuff. And Protein

[Caleb]

Anybody heard of a product called "Red Stuff" by Gary Null. If you have what do you think of it.

And, if someone wanted to go mostly vegetarian diet, how would I get enough protein. I don't want to make disgusting protein shakes, and nuts are expensive. Is there a cheap source of protein? If I eat the right amount of amino acids, won't my body make all the proteins it needs anyway?

[Russell Kanning]

why would you not be getting enough protein?
good book about it ... The China Study

[MTPorcupine3]

Hemp seeds, legumes, raw leafy greens (spinach, kale), blue green algae...

[Caleb]

why would you not be getting enough protein?
good book about it ... The China Study

I think the wrong kanning responded. you can't answer a question with a question. It's just not protocol.

Dr. Sears says that I need to eat a piece of meat the size of my fist with every meal to get enough protein. Translated into nuts or legumes or whatever, that just seems like a ton. That has always seemed wrong to me, even though the Sears diet seems otherwise good, it just seems like it wants you to eat way too much protein. I think my body can make its own. How do the cows (who eat nothing but grain) make their own protein? Surely my body can do the same thing. I will check out the China Study

[Caleb]

Hemp seeds, legumes, raw leafy greens (spinach, kale), blue green algae...

yeah. so far the hemp seeds and other nuts are looking like the best option. I'm looking for something easy and cheap. And I don't like spinach or kale.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Ya chew and chew and chew those hemp seeds, but, you gotta spit them out to lick the glue on the paper

[dalebert]

Cows eat ALL DAY LONG and have four stomachs. They're not producing protein. Just consuming enough vegetable matter that they get enough. But you're partly correct. Most people eat more protein than their body needs and the extra produces a lot of uric acid and crap that your body is better off without. A fist-sized portion every meal sounds like too much. I heard it's more like the size of a McD's burger patty and not even a qtr pounder- the regular burger. The people who need the most protein are distance runners and people who engage in a lot of aerobic activity. Body builders need a little more but not nearly as much as most of them actually eat. Your body can only pack on so much muscle  in a certain period of time and eating more than what your body can use just becomes more waste material. I'm going from memory, but I think the average person needs about a gram of protein for every three pounds of body weight each day. A distance runner needs about 1 per 2. If you get 1 per 2, you're doing great. The best way to get your protein is to spread it out as much as possible throughout the day. Five small meals a day is the best, or a couple of normal meals with a few snacks. Your body will break it down into toxins if you get too much all at once. This is particularly true if your body is repairing itself like for a few days after a good workout with weights. This will help you get a better benefit from your workouts.

As for amino acids, there are about 13 or so that your body needs to get every day. I forget the exact number. It doesn't need a lot of any particular one. Once you get all 13, you're good for the day and the rest of your protein can be in any form. Meat contains all 13 and it's just about the only thing that does. However, turns out that it's really hard to NOT get all 13 in a day even on a vegetarian diet. Certain non-meat foods contain some and certain other foods contain all the rest. Combinations like grains or rice with legumes (a bean and cheese burrito) or milk and grains (breakfast cereal) contain all of them. Eat a bowl of cereal with milk every day and you've knocked out your needs for amino acids. They don't even have to be eaten at the same meal; just sometime throughout the day. Have milk at one meal and beans later and you're fine.

[kola]

There are different classes of vegetarians (ovo, lacto etc). "Strict" vegans eat NO animal foods. No meat, no fish, no eggs, no dairy...no type of food that came from something with a face."

If you choose to be a true vegan then you need to do your homework in order get the proper amino acids that the body cannot manufacture on its own. Also a B12 vitamin is a good preventative supplement for strict vegans. There are many strict vegans who are living vibrant healthy lives. Those myths of "ya gotta eat you meat to get big and strong" are still floating around and there are false.

Also look into topics covering eating for your blood type as different blood types seem to need different nutrients. I am O negative and need meat.

"All in moderation" is my belief and what you consume should be fresh and not adulterated. Eating small frequent meals is also best. 

I prefer Dr Schultzes Green Drink much better than Gary Null's products.

Kola

[Puke]

Insects are high in protein.

[Vitruvian]

Insects are high in protein.

True.  I've never eaten them, but insects would probably be better for the body than commercially-produced meat, since most of them eat only living green plants (or other insects that eat only living green plants).  I'd be willing to give entomophagy a shot.

[dalebert]

I'm extremely skeptical of the blood type diets. I'd like to see some evidence or even some explanation of why blood type would have any affect on dietary needs. I used to eat a high carb, grains and etc. vegetarian diet, and it made me flabby and lethargic. I found out later that's what my blood type calls for according to those diets. I lost a lot of weight and felt much better when I quit being a vegetarian. I'm sure I could eat a healthy vege diet but a high carb diet isn't good for anyone. Balance is where it's at. Don't pay attention to fads. If you go vege, be careful that you don't substitute a lot of breads and others carbs or a lot of cheese for meat. Keep it diverse and you should be fine.

[kola]

Raw is best in almost all cases. Why? ENZYMES. Cooking destroys them (or most of them). There a few foods that are enhanced by cooking (tomatoes, oatmeal etc)

Without proper enymes, we can eat and eat and eat and not assimulate it properly.

That are many good books dicussing eating for your blood type. If you are a skeptic, find some information and come to a conclusion. What works for some does not work with others. That is the biggest weakest in Traditional/Conventional Modernday Medicine. They do not acknowledge that we are all different. For example, we may have a different ph balance of stomach acid and we all utilize foods differently based on individual physiological functions. We may be lacking precursors to convert processes. No two people have identical metabolisms yet the Modern Medicine Models have a one size fits all mentality. 

It is my belief that many diseases and illness begin in the colon due to opoor diet and poor bowel habits (mainly constipation. It overtaxes liver function as it has to clean up the sludge. Excess proteins overtax the pancreas. The liver and pancreas (and kidneys) have vital jobs in cleansing the blood. When they are overburdened the body begins to break down, the blood is poisioned and it slowly pollutes itself (read about Leaky Gut Sytndrome). Clean blood equals a clean body equals a fine running machine.

But it ain't that simple. But there are many good nutritional "foundations" which give an interested person a place to start. The worse thing one can do is jump into some "natural" diet unknowingly and create more problems than when they started. Thus the Medical Goons are quick to make mockery of it. (ie the overuse of herbal laxatives or the idiotic overdosing of phen-phen).

Kola

[Vitruvian]

Raw is probably not best.  The body produces the enzymes necessary for digestion on its own: there's little or no evidence that food enzymes improve the process.  More importantly, it has been suggested that cooking was crucial in our evolution.  First requiring the mastery of fire, cooking increases the bioavailabilty of nutrients and calories, permitting us to thrive without having to consume large volumes of raw food, as do apes. 

[Caleb]

I don't think there's much chance in hell of me ever going raw. I don't have the time to prepare lots of food, and thus must buy foods that are pre-prepared. When I tried going raw even for a week it was too much because almost everything you can possibly think of is pasteurized. Going to a modified vegetarian diet is about the best I can hope for. (Modified, I say, because I think a little fish now and then is good for you.)

Insects are out. I want to eat healthy, not gross.

I've been trying the vegetarian thing for a couple days, and so far it doesn't seem too hard, but Dale is right. I'm switching to a lot of pasta and cheese combinations that, while tasty, aren't particularly good for me. I have switched to whole grain bread, though, and I suppose a switch to whole grain pastas wouldn't be too awfully difficult.

I am rediscovering how much I love fruits. I enjoyed some blueberries earlier. And apples. And the oranges were almost a spiritual experience.

[kola]

Sometimes I just listen to my body and eat what I crave.

If I crave fish, I eat it. Sometimes I just eat a big T Bone steak.

Othertimes I will eat 2 cans of corn with real butter and sea salt...nothing else.

I eat a lot of salads and could eat tacos everyday and sometimes do.

Sometimes for dinner I will eat a huge bowl of organic oatmeal, throw in some fruit a bit of Maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon.

I rarely eat fastfood as it makes me sick and 2 minutes later I am hungry again. Worthless shit. If you avoid it for a while you will no longer crave it nor have any urge to eat that crap.

I am not overweight and I have great blood results (cholestrol levels, etc).

Diets have the word DIE in it. I hate the word and hate almost every "diet".

Explore and learn, find what works and then enjoy. You must enjoy what you eat to keep balance.

btw I believe if you are happy, overweight BUT healthy, thats OK. This baloney about "ideal weight" is bullcrap. There are many happy healthy overweight folks. Just becuase one is skinny does not make them healthy.

Kola