Red Stuff. And Protein

[Kat Kanning]

Here's my favorite example of what raw food does for people:
https://home.comcast.net/~morn/mornsum.html
I "watched" as this lady transformed her life.

Anyway, to answer your question Caleb, I'd have to third the suggestion to read The China Study.  Cancer researcher went to the Phillipines to study affloxtoxin (from peanuts, corn) and find a way to get more protein to undernourished people there.  What he actually found knocked his socks off.  He found that the toxin only initiated and grew cancer when there was animal protein in the diet.  The worst protein appeared to be milk protein, casein.

He decided to continue his studies and went on to the China Study, which tracked the eating habits and disease of people all over China.  In rural areas where little animal protein was consumed, there was almost no cancer or heart disease.  Where people became more affluent and began comsuming more animal protein, they started getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis....

So how do people survive on only plant protein?  You don't really need protein in your diet, you need amino acids to build protein.  These are less likely to be damaged if uncooked.  You might check out this guy's blog:
http://www.thegardendiet.com/storm.html  Eating whole grains, veggies, even fruit will get you enough amino acids.  Staying away from sugar and white flour will help.  Being a junk food vegetarian isn't going to help much.

[Russell Kanning]

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

doh

[kola]

Here's my favorite example of what raw food does for people:
https://home.comcast.net/~morn/mornsum.html
I "watched" as this lady transformed her life.

Anyway, to answer your question Caleb, I'd have to third the suggestion to read The China Study.  Cancer researcher went to the Phillipines to study affloxtoxin (from peanuts, corn) and find a way to get more protein to undernourished people there.  What he actually found knocked his socks off.  He found that the toxin only initiated and grew cancer when there was animal protein in the diet.  The worst protein appeared to be milk protein, casein.

He decided to continue his studies and went on to the China Study, which tracked the eating habits and disease of people all over China.  In rural areas where little animal protein was consumed, there was almost no cancer or heart disease.  Where people became more affluent and began comsuming more animal protein, they started getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis....

So how do people survive on only plant protein?  You don't really need protein in your diet, you need amino acids to build protein.  These are less likely to be damaged if uncooked.  You might check out this guy's blog:
http://www.thegardendiet.com/storm.html  Eating whole grains, veggies, even fruit will get you enough amino acids.  Staying away from sugar and white flour will help.  Being a junk food vegetarian isn't going to help much.

Yes, avoiding animal foods is the key to The Max Gerson Therapy  program...especially if you  have been diagnosed with cancer or some other serious disease. 

If you study herbivoers and carnivores anatomically, us humans are herbivores. We have the digestive tract of a herbivore. 

Kola

[dalebert]

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. 

This is particularly true of many vegetables. The cellulose in the cell walls traps a lot of the best vitamins and your body isn't able to digest all of it. Cooking the vegetables breaks down the cell walls and releases those making more of them available to digest. How you cook vegetables matters. Boiling is not so good because the nutrients you release go largely into the water and go down the drain. Steaming is good but a better way is fast grilling, wok style. Apparently the #1 method is making soup. This cooks the vegetables really thoroughly and slowly, but even though you're boiling, you're drinking the broth as well which now contains those nutrients you released so it's all good.

[Puke]

If you study herbivoers and carnivores anatomically, us humans are herbivores. We have the digestive tract of a herbivore. 

Kola

What about omnivores?

[Ron Helwig]

I've been a vegetarian for 14 years now. I'm way healthier than the rest of my family, who still eat meat and don't exercise.

Rice and beans covers you on protein. We do a lot of "rice and crap" meals here at Little Minnesota: 3 cups of rice, a can or two of beans, a bag or two of frozen mixed veggies (because its easy), water or veggie stock. 40 minutes in the steamer. Serves a bunch.

Stir frying is good stuff too, but our wok isn't big enough here to cook for a crowd.

Soup is good food!

I really like the Boca burgers and the Morningstar Farms stuff, but the best is Quorn. A bit spendy, but good occasionally.

Jack is getting good at making bread and buns. We're slowly moving to better eating.

[Caleb]

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. 

This is particularly true of many vegetables. The cellulose in the cell walls traps a lot of the best vitamins and your body isn't able to digest all of it. Cooking the vegetables breaks down the cell walls and releases those making more of them available to digest. How you cook vegetables matters. Boiling is not so good because the nutrients you release go largely into the water and go down the drain. Steaming is good but a better way is fast grilling, wok style. Apparently the #1 method is making soup. This cooks the vegetables really thoroughly and slowly, but even though you're boiling, you're drinking the broth as well which now contains those nutrients you released so it's all good.

That's ok. I don't plan on eating too many vegetables anyway.    If it doesn't grow on a tree, it's not for me.    Now if I could only find that coveted chicken soft taco tree.

[Caleb]

Here's my favorite example of what raw food does for people:
https://home.comcast.net/~morn/mornsum.html
I "watched" as this lady transformed her life.

Anyway, to answer your question Caleb, I'd have to third the suggestion to read The China Study.  Cancer researcher went to the Phillipines to study affloxtoxin (from peanuts, corn) and find a way to get more protein to undernourished people there.  What he actually found knocked his socks off.  He found that the toxin only initiated and grew cancer when there was animal protein in the diet.  The worst protein appeared to be milk protein, casein.

He decided to continue his studies and went on to the China Study, which tracked the eating habits and disease of people all over China.  In rural areas where little animal protein was consumed, there was almost no cancer or heart disease.  Where people became more affluent and began comsuming more animal protein, they started getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis....

So how do people survive on only plant protein?  You don't really need protein in your diet, you need amino acids to build protein.  These are less likely to be damaged if uncooked.  You might check out this guy's blog:
http://www.thegardendiet.com/storm.html  Eating whole grains, veggies, even fruit will get you enough amino acids.  Staying away from sugar and white flour will help.  Being a junk food vegetarian isn't going to help much.

So are you saying that I shouldn't eat peanuts? Because, to be honest, I don't think I can be a vegetarian if I can't have peanuts because peanut butter and honey on whole grain bread is my new staple.  I didn't realize how delicious whole grain bread was. I had always tried the "whole wheat" bread that is made with enriched wheat flour, and decided that it was so disgusting that I always ate the white bread, but this new bread I'm buying is delicious. Expensive, but delicious.

I agree with you on the protein thing, and that we only need amino acids not protein. That's what I was trying to say, but everyone assured me I was wrong.

I'm also going with a hardboiled egg everyday, but to be honest that isn't something I look forward to eating so it would be easy to drop it. I'm kind of ambivalent about it, I can take the egg or not. Do you think that is something I should discontinue?

Mainly I'm eating fruits and peanut butter sandwiches. Some cashews and sunflower seeds, but that gets expensive real quick. Miso soup is cheap too, so I bought a bunch of that but haven't made any yet. For dinner, I've had pasta a couple of times, but overall, even though it may be "junk vegetarianism", for me it's 100 times better than what I have been eating.

[Ron Helwig]

So are you saying that I shouldn't eat peanuts? Because, to be honest, I don't think I can be a vegetarian if I can't have peanuts because peanut butter and honey on whole grain bread is my new staple.  I didn't realize how delicious whole grain bread was. I had always tried the "whole wheat" bread that is made with enriched wheat flour, and decided that it was so disgusting that I always ate the white bread, but this new bread I'm buying is delicious. Expensive, but delicious.

A lot of vegetarians start off with PB sandwiches as their primary food. Eventually most add more to their repertoire.

I started with mostly rice and ramens. Over a few years I added quite a lot and now eat a much wider variety of food than before I became a vegetarian.

Don't worry about eating too much PB. You'll learn to gradually add stuff, and it will be a lifestyle change as opposed to a diet.

[kola]

Good for you Ron! Do you happen to know what your bloodtype is?

just curious.

Kola

[dalebert]

He decided to continue his studies and went on to the China Study, which tracked the eating habits and disease of people all over China.  In rural areas where little animal protein was consumed, there was almost no cancer or heart disease.  Where people became more affluent and began comsuming more animal protein, they started getting cancer, heart disease, diabetes, arthritis....

This may be a case of mistaken presumptions. There are also studies that show over-eating in general reduces lifespan and that people who ate a lot less in general live longer and are healthier and the difference was rather dramatic. They weren't just looking at obesity and severe cases of over-eating. They found that people who had to manage on less food actually tended to live longer and be healthier. Most of us are probably eating more calories than we ought to, even though it may not be causing us to be over weight. We evolved in conditions of limited food supply and so have a powerful drive to eat when we can. It's quite recent, on an evolutionary timescale, that food has become so plentiful. It may take more cycles of natural selection to adapt to such prosperity.

For something to be a good study, it really needs to have a good control group. The control group should be exactly identical except for the one factor that's being studied. It's really difficult. For example, in this case, you need a group of people who have exactly the same lifestyle and eat the same amount of protein, but in animal form while the study group avoids animal protein but has a similar diet otherwise. Like I already talked about, eating too much protein creates toxins. It's doesn't matter what the source of the protein is. People who eat meat are probably getting too much protein because meat has a LOT of protein and we tend to eat large portions. On the other hand, it's possible that eating a very small amount of lean meat could be good for you because you don't have to eat a lot of calories to get that protein.

[KBCraig]

If you study herbivoers and carnivores anatomically, us humans are herbivores. We have the digestive tract of a herbivore.

Yes, that explains all those carnivorous ruminants, and all those grass-eaters with a single stomach. 

[Lloyd Danforth]

Good for you Ron! Do you happen to know what your bloodtype is?

just curious.

Kola

You're too far away to use him as a donor

[Pat K]

Good for you Ron! Do you happen to know what your bloodtype is?

just curious.

Kola

You're too far away to use him as a donor

[dalebert]

BTW, nuts are one of the few things you want to eat raw if possible. Peanuts aren't actually nuts, they're beans, so I'm not sure about those. Generally nuts have a really healthy fat that's good for energy and good for your blood, but it transforms into an unhealthy fat at a certain temperate; I think it's 180 degrees. Pretty much if they're roasted or something, then the fat isn't the good kind any more.