Protein Myths and Legends Excerpt Taken From: Health Freedom Resources

"Never have so many been so confused over a subject about which they know so little."

The word "protein" is derived from the Greek language and means "of primary importance". Amino Acids, the component parts of protein, are the biochemical basis for life and are required by every cell. The immune system’s antibodies are protein. Endocrine hormones are protein. The cement that holds our cells together is made of protein.

STRENGTH AND STAMINA: THE GREAT MEAT MYTH

What do the following World Champion athletes all have in common, besides strength and endurance? They must be big meat eaters, right?

Henry Aaron – All Time Baseball Home Run Champion
Dave Scott - 6-time winner of the Ironman Triathlon (the only man to win it more than twice!)
Sixto Linares - World Record holder in the 24-hour Triathlon
Paavo Nurmi - 20 World Records and 9 Olympic Medals in distance running
Stan Price - World Record holder in the Bench Press
Andreas Cahling - Mr. International Body Building Champion
Roy Hilligan - Mr. America Body Building Champion
Ridgely Abele - 8-Time National Champion in Karate

All of these athletes are VEGETARIANS! There are many, many more top athletes who have discovered that eating meat decreases strength and stamina.

The strongest animals on Earth are also vegetarians: Elephants, oxen, horses, mules, camels, water buffalo, etc. The Silverback Gorilla is 3-times the size of a man and is 30-times stronger! A Silverback Gorilla is so strong it could throw a 200-pound man across the street like a Frisbee! What does a gorilla eat? Raw fruits and vegetables.

PROTEIN AND HEALTH

It has been known for decades that populations consuming high-protein, meat-based diets have higher cancer rates and lower life-spans (averaging as low as 30 to 40 years), compared to cultures subsisting on low-protein vegetarian diets. Some of these have life spans of more than 90 years.

Dr. Alexander Leaf published the findings of his research about the oldest people in the world in the January, 1973 edition of National Geographic Magazine. He found that the three most consistently disease-free and long-lived people on Earth are the Abkhazians of Russia, the Vilacabambans of Ecuador and the Hunzukuts of Pakistan. None of these peoples suffer from Western diseases: NO obesity, NO cancer, NO heart disease! On the average these people live to be over 100 years old. The men are physically active and still fathering children at 100 years of age.

The diet of all of these people consists of 70-80 percent high-water-content foods such as raw, uncooked fruits and vegetables. These people eat very little or no animal products.
Meat protein is the most difficult food for the body to digest. The average time for food (other than fruit) to pass through the entire gastrointestinal tract is between 25 and 30 hours. When meat is eaten, that time is more than doubled!

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine, in September, 1982 states, "undigested protein must be eliminated by the kidneys. This unnecessary work stresses out the kidneys so much that gradually lesions are developed and tissues begin to harden."

In the colon, this excess protein waste putrefies into toxic substances, some of which are absorbed in the bloodstream. The University Of Illinois Medical School reports that "A high protein diet also breaks down the pancreas and lowers resistance to cancer as well as contributes to the development of diabetes."

HOW MUCH PROTEIN IS "ENOUGH"

Human mother’s milk contains no more than 5% protein. This is enough protein to enable an infant to double it’s weight and size during the first 6 months of life! After that, the need for protein DECREASES. Independent researchers around the world agree that the human need for protein each day is only 25 - 35 GRAMS. (about 1 ounce). Many nutritionists feel that only 20 grams a day are more than enough. Meanwhile, the AVERAGE AMERICAN eats more than 100 GRAMS of protean a day - 5 times the actual need!

So how many calories are provided from protein in common raw fruits and vegetables?

WHY DO PEOPLE EAT MEAT?

Since our bodies recycle 70% of the protein waste, we lose only about 23 grams of protein a day. To replenish this lost protein, your body needs only about 1.5 pounds of protein a month! So, why do we think we must eat huge amounts of meat to be healthy? Advertising. The meat and dairy industries spend vast sums of money in television and magazine advertising every year to convince Americans that we must eat huge amounts of cow meat, cheese, milk, eggs, chicken and other assorted animal products.

What’s the truth about meat as a source of protein? The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council states, "One of the biggest fallacies ever perpetuated is that there is any need for so-called ‘complete protein’."

That fact is that protein is composed of amino acids. Amino acids are literally the building blocks of the human body. There are a total of 23 amino acids needed by the body, of which 15 of these our bodies manufacture in the liver -- provided the liver is in good working order. The other 8 amino acids must come from food so the body can build a complete protein.

MAN, THE CARNIVOROUS BEAST!

The idea that we must eat meat to supply protein for our bodies is a lie. Factually, our bodies CAN NOT assimilate the protein found in meat or any other food. The food must be digested and broken down into amino acids. The liver re-forms the amino acids into useable protein for our bodies. Every one of the amino acids our body requires is found in raw fruits and vegetables!

Furthermore, when meat is cooked the amino acids in the meat are coagulated or destroyed. Meat releases large amounts of uric acid into our bodies when eaten. Uric acid is toxic to the human body. The human body does not even have the enzyme "uricase" to break down uric acid!

In order for humans to get any nutritional value from meat it would have to be eaten raw, like the carnivores.

WOULD YOU PREFER YOUR TOXINS ‘WELL DONE’?

According the John Robbins, in his video, "Diet For A New America", the average American meat eater pours 100 pounds of ANIMAL FAT into his veins and arteries EVERY YEAR! The Average American during his or her lifetime will chew up and swallow approximately, 12 entire 3,000 pound COWS, 6 WHOLE PIGS, 3,000 CHICKENS, 3,000 FISH and 30,000 quarts of MILK, not to mention all the other meat and dairy products and by-products.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~GOT HEALTH?~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DID YOU KNOW?

TOXINS FOUND IN ANIMAL FOODS ARE 100 TIMES MORE CONCENTRATED that those found in fruits and vegetables. Raw egg white and rattlesnake venom are, chemically, virtually the same. Proteins that putrefy in the colon cause most of the diseases, such as cancer, and other ailments, such as headaches, affecting people today. The toxic burden to the body caused by excessive protein consumption creates the "garbage" which disease viruses and bacteria feed on. Improperly digested protein poisons the lymphatic system, the bloodstream and the vital organs.

The chemicals given to commercially raised animals destined for slaughter are highly dangerous. These include, but are not limited to: penicillin, tetracycline, sewage-sludge which has been "decontaminated" with cesium-137, radioactive nuclear waste and fattening agents. Cattle are often fed hundreds of pounds of CEMENT DUST to increase their weight before going to the slaughter house. Once the cow has been killed, the carcass is dipped in sodium sulfite to kill the stench of decay and turn the meat red instead of the gray of dead flesh. American eat more than 300 million dead cows which have been handled like this every year! (Ref.: Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, "Fit for Life", 1985.