Where Do You Get Your Protein? Part 1

by Tera Warner

“Where do you get your protein!?”

This is  by far the question people ask me the most.  Questions like this are classic for revealing the degree to which we actually know very little about protein, at all.

What’s the big deal about protein?

Most people talk about protein, but what we should be addressing are the amino acids– the building blocks of protein. Whenever we digest foods that contain protein, it has to be broken down into amino acids, and peptides.
A protein is really just a huge compound containing hundreds of thousands of amino acids connected in very complex ways. Protein is one of the three macronutrients we consume. In many ways, it doesn’t really make sense that people are so concerned about their protein and while the transcripts explain all these reasons scientifically and chemically, you only need to look at the gorilla, a close genetic relative to humans, to see that on a diet of plant-based foods, this creature is certainly not missing any protein power.

In his lecture “The Truth About Protein”, Dr. Adiel Tel-Oren said:
“If you have sufficient caloric intake and you’re eating wholesome foods then there’s no reason for you to worry about protein at all.”

He talked quite a bit about the daily recommended allowances and what people are actually consuming. When he talks about this, you realize the degree to which we really are consuming far more protein than we need. The important thing to ask ourselves is, what are the consequences of doing so?

Too much protein?
People who have reduced protein intake need to eat a lot less protein because they recycle their protein much more efficiently. Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:
“On a regular basis, we excrete protein from our dying cells in the gut, and we reabsorb those proteins. We also have some protein/amino acids secreted in the bile and we reabsorb them too. And we have all those enzymes, secreted by our pancreas, all those digestive enzymes that are also made of protein, and we reabsorb them as well.
So we are very good at recycling our protein and therefore we don’t need that much; especially if our intake is fairly low.

When you hear…all the reasons for having a lower protein intake, you will start thinking about how I can avoid excess protein, rather than how I can get more protein.”

Where do you get your protein?

“All plant materials include amino acids, with no exceptions, and therefore there should never be a lack of amino acid in our diets. However, watery greens have much less protein (2 – 3% of total calories) than cruciferous vegetables (such as cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts, or broccoli), which have about 10% of their calories coming from protein (which is exactly what the food and drug administration recommends). Green leafy vegetables even have a higher percentage of calories coming from protein.”

So if we are eating protein, it needs to be in the form of amino acids which are easy to digest. We don’t want protein, we want amino acids. Of course some of the reasons many of us choose not to consume our protein from animal sources is because of the negative consequences (including Cortisol, putrefaction, toxicity, ammonia, acids, loss of minerals, etc.), as well as increased toxin creation within the animal meat, such as many nitrates, nitrosamines, and nitrites, created during the cooking and preparation of  meat.

Nonessential amino acids are far more important than the essential ones. Nevertheless we do need to get some amounts of essential ones, and it is easy to get them from green leafy vegetables, legumes, some grains, broccoli, cauliflower and nuts and seeds. They have adequate amounts of amino acids in them for everyone’s needs if you eat a sufficient amount of them.

You never see an ape eating something different from another ape, because it has a specific body type. They eat whatever is available from nature, with a certain degree of flexibility.

So, the bottom line is that you don’t need to add fancy things to your smoothies, or pump up your salads with protein powders. Just eat what makes sense, according to nature, and observe the results yourself when you start eliminating excess protein from the diet.

And remember: Take change on a gradient in order to achieve the best results.

If you would like to access the complete “Truth About Your Protein” lecture transcript from which much of this article has been inspired, sign up for our 10-Day Raw Mom Mini-Course click here.

What do you think?

What is your favorite raw food recipe with cruciferous veggies? Any plant-based protein recipes you’d like to share? Please share them below in the comments section!

Tera’s formal studies were in anthropology, English and primate studies. After years of dabbling in the study of herbs, nutrition, fitness, aromatherapy and natural health she stumbled upon the “the raw food diet” and has been actively living the lifestyle since 2003.  She gets her protein from plants.

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