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Do You Have to Combine Plant Proteins to be Complete? NO!

No need to combine plant proteins to make a “complete” protein – the only truly incomplete plant protein is gelatin.

Here’s an excerpt from NutritionFacts.org and Dr. Greger : “It is true that some plant proteins are relatively low in certain essential amino acids. So, about 40 years ago, the myth of “protein combining” came into vogue—literally, in the February ’75 issue of Vogue magazine, as I discuss in my video The Protein Combining Myth. The concept was that we needed to eat so-called complementary proteins together (for example, rice and beans) to make up for their relative shortfalls. However, this fallacy was refuted decades ago. The myths that plant proteins are incomplete, aren’t as good as animal proteins, or need to be combined with other proteins at meals have all been dismissed by the nutrition community decades ago, but many in medicine evidently didn’t get the memo. Dr. John McDougall called out the American Heart Association for a 2001 publication that questioned the completeness of plant proteins. Thankfully, they’ve changed and now that “[p]lant proteins can provide enough of the essential and non-essential amino acids” and that we “don’t need to consciously combine…complementary proteins…” CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE WITH CITATIONS

Updates!

We’ve had a busy week & are getting ready for a yummy Thanksgiving! We were guests on a podcast & are busy prepping for our Q & A (see below) in Lexington on 11.29. A few thoughts shared in the video above.

*Note -We do avoid highly processed foods like Impossible Burgers, Beyond Meat, Oreos, sodas and other packaged foods that have a long list of chemical ingredients that we can’t pronounce & our bodies don’t recognize as coming from Mother Nature. Olive oil is somewhat processed (as Dr. Tallio said, there’s an olive tree, but not an olive oil tree). We occasionally use olive oil & don’t avoid it just because there’s some processing involved (ex: we use nut butters, which have a degree of processing, too). We choose to be careful with olive oil – as Dr. Tallio says in the video above, it has 120 calories per TB – if we use a few TB to saute, a few in salad dressing & a few for roasting, it would be easy to have 600-700 calories in one day just from oil. If weight loss is a goal, that’s a large chunk of your daily calories. Check out this graphic on food density from Plantstrong.com and join us on 11/29 at the Co-op. We’re always happy to answer questions!

Be sure to come & see us for this free event in Lexington at Good Foods Co-op on November 29th. (see below)

We’re also hosting a Whole New You program for women from 6-8pm on January 10, 17, 24, and 31 at Dr. Tallio’s Mindful Medicine office to help support you in your journey to feel your best & get healthy! More information on that to come, or feel free to reach out to me via email at goalfitmethod@gmail.com If you’re already subscribed to my email list, I’ll be sending updates as soon as we have all the details ironed out!

*This is not medical advice – always speak to your healthcare provider before making changes to your diet or exercise program.*

Dr. Esselstyn &Heart Disease

We are never going to get rid of this epidemic with the present drugs, stents & bypasses. The cardiology tools we have today utterly fail. Why? Because they don’t address the cause of the illness.

The seismic revolution in health is never going to come about with the invention of another pill, another drug, another stent, another bypass, but truly the revolution that’s going to come about when we in the profession have the will, the grit, and the determination to share with the public and the patients precisely what is the lifestyle and most specifically what is the nutritional literacy that is going to empower them as the locus of control to absolutely annihilate chronic illness.

Don’t let the title of this episode deter you- this conversation is jam packed with information on how we can prevent, treat and reverse chronic disease. You can listen to the podcast version on the go via your favorite podcast platform as well. Just search Plant Strong Podcast.

If you’re unfamiliar with Dr. Esselstyn, he is a physician and currently leads the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Reversal Program at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute. Read more about “Essy” here: http://www.dresselstyn.com/site/about/about-dr-esselstyn/

Essy’s awesome wife, Anne, is in her late 80s as well and routinely runs while dragging a tire up & down her street including hills. Her most recent cookbook – Be a Plant Based Woman Warrior was written with her daughter, Jane.

One last quote from this episode: “Truth be told, cardiovascular disease is nothing more than a toothless paper tiger that need never ever exist, and if it does exist, it need never ever progress. Why? This is a completely benign food borne illness & it’s really almost embarassing for the medical profession when you think that of the fact we have known for over 100 years, there are multiple cultures then & now where cardiovascular disease is really almost virtually non-existent. Why is that? Because they thrive on whole food plant based nutrition without oil. And, it’s interesting that knowing that information, why haven’t we brought that information to this country where we have an absolute epidemic, where cardiovascular disease is the leading killer of women & men in western civilization.

Plant Protein to Prevent Frailty

Check out THIS ARTICLE in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle that followed 85,000 women from 1980-2010 and found that:

Women with a higher intake of plant protein had a lower risk of developing frailty after adjustment for all relevant confounders [relative risks across quintiles of consumption: 1.00, 0.94, 0.89, 0.86, and 0.86; P-trend < 0.001]. In contrast, those with a higher intake of animal protein intake had a higher risk of frailty [relative risks across quintiles of consumption: 1.00, 0.98, 0.99, 1.00, and 1.07; P-trend 0.04]. The intake of total and dairy protein showed no significant association with frailty in the full model. Substituting 5% of energy from plant protein intake at the expense of animal protein, dairy protein, or non-dairy animal protein was associated with 38% (29%, 47%), 32% (21%, 42%), and 42% (33%, 50%) reduced risk of frailty.”

As Dr. Garth Davis stated, there are countless online gurus and even many doctors claiming that animal protein is superior to plant protein based on the fact that rodent studies have demonstrated higher absorption of amino acids like leucine which they claim may help grow muscle & prevent sarcopenia with aging; however, is that always a good thing? Studies are showing that an aging pathway – mTOR – is activated by leucine…food for thought, for sure! And make sure to include resistance training with weights to benefit muscle preservation as you age as well!

*I’m not a physician & this isn’t medical advice*