THE MYTH OF EATING TOO MUCH PROTEIN

Every Saturday, I buy groceries for the following week. 80% of these groceries are animal proteins.

Today, as I am waiting in line at the cashier, this gentleman behind me says “Wow that is a lot of meat”. I turn back and reply “Just enough for the week”. He looks at me like I am joking, but I look back with a straight face. “For the week?! I would buy that much for the month!”

At this point I wanted to say “That explains why you have a large belly and man-boobs”. However, being the nice guy that I am, I just smiled and cashed out my proteins for week:

5 lbs of organic ground turkey

3 lbs organic ground chicken

2 lbs of grassfed ground beef

2  lbs of grassfed sirloin steaks

Most people in North America are UNDER-EATING proteins – animal and vegan protein sources. What is the problem with that?

• Higher risk of insulin-related health issues like diabetes – protein regulates insulin. Every meal / snack should begin with a protein source. I have been able to bring someone’s blood sugar from 11 (very high) to 4.8 (considered normal) in 2 weeks by simply increasing his protein!!
• Lower testosterone – Proteins, especially from animal sources increase testosterone, which as you know is the hormone necessary for libido, muscle, fat loss, mental health, hair, nails, skin, eyes, etc. Men in North america are developing man-boobs because of low testosterone (and poor estrogen metabolism) !! Increasing animal proteins is a great way to address this issue.
• Poor detoxification – Your liver needs certain types and minimum quantities of proteins to effectively detoxify. In fact, the first 30 grams of proteins consumed in the day, are used for detoxification. Another reason why we recommend the Meat and Fats breakfast
• Higher stress hormone – When your body does not have enough nutrients, it cannot function optimally. This is a stress for your system and any form of stress manifests as body fat around the waist. All our clients drop 1-3 inches off their waist within the first week by increasing their proteins.
• Vitamin and mineral deficiencies – There are certain essential vitamins (B9 and B12), minerals (zinc) and nutrients (carnitine, carnosine, taurine) that are only available and/or best absorbed from animal proteins.  These play extremely important roles in metabolism, digestion, detoxification, protein-synthesis, mental health, hormone production. Vegetarians pay attention!!

But then why is there so much fear and fuss about eating “too much protein” ??!! Will your kidneys fail? Will you risk developing cancer? YES!! If you look at the world through a straw!!

Here are the top 5 rules to ensure you improve your health by eating more proteins:

1. Eat organic, hormone free proteins – To be honest, this has become almost mandatory!! The way animals are being farmed, with chemicals and hormones and being fed genetically modified corn, feces, chicken feathers, etc (yes this is actually true), you cannot afford NOT to eat organic and hormone-free. My best sources for healthy proteins are J. W Foods and The Butcher Shop. Another important thing to note is to avoid processed meats because of the chemicals and preservatives used to treat them.
2. Increase your greens – Greens are another food source that is not eaten enough. Or not enough variety. Greens are necessary to help digest the proteins, make your body alkaline, provide energy to your cells and detoxify, besides providing a lot of vitamins and minerals. ALWAYS pair your animal protein with some greens – kale, collards, asparagus, broccoli, swis chard, green beans, spinach, cucumbers, powdered greens supplements, spirulina, chlorella are great options.
3. Add colored salt to your proteins – colored salt (pink, black, grey) contains essential minerals like potassium and magnesium which help regulate water content, blood pressure and absorption of food through the intestines.
4. Supplement with B vitamins – When you increase your protein intake, you need more B vitamins to help process and absorb the amino acids.  But not just any generic B vitamin formula. Make sure it contains the active form of vitamin B9 (called metylfolate or L5 – MTHF). Read more here to understand why you need methylfolate for detoxification.
5. Increase water intake – This is a very simple way to ensure your body can handle the extra proteins. When you increase protein, greens, vitamins, your body needs more water to process them. A good goal is to drink 0.6 – 0.7 ounces of water per pound of body weight. So if you are 150lbs, you will need 90 – 105 ounces of water per day.

There are people with certain conditions that cannot eat a lot of animal proteins. For them, there are other options like plant based proteins or Master Amino Pattern. This of course needs to be discussed with their medical practitioner.

But for majority of us, we need to make proteins the focus of every meal/snack. So next time you hear someone say “wow that is a lot of meat”, you can tell them why 🙂