What is that ‘Something’s Missing’ Feeling Really Telling You?
The subject of ‘getting enough protein’ is probably the most over-rated piece of misinformation put out by the meat & dairy industries. Many health foodists, vegetarians & omnivores alike, have mistakenly attributed that ‘low energy feeling’ to a low protein sign.
The typical response is to reach for nuts, soy products, protein shakes, meat, cheese, and the like. The subsequent digestive disturbances, fuzzy brain, and even lower energy over the next 1-3 days (signs of excessive protein, pathogen overgrowth, or a food combining compromise) is not always associated to yesterday’s ‘high protein’ intake.
If low protein is not the real cause of low energy (as will become obvious later in this article), then what is it really telling us, and how do we regain our energy in ways that do not compromise our health?
After growing up on a prairie farm where meat was always the main course, I slowly lost interest in the consumption of meat. This was about sixteen years ago. Consuming more sea vegetables, clay minerals, and my superfood herbal blends seemed to satisfy the craving for meat in general.
Looking back I now realize that this loss of interest in the flesh of animals was probably due more to improvements in my hormonal system and the daily detoxification that came from the clays, superfoods and regenerative herbal formulas. Dietary preferences do change as the body gets cleaner and healthier.
My interest in a plant based lifestyle felt like my inner intuition at work after dealing with chronic illness. It was not forced for philosophical reasons, or any other reasons. I have taken my diet and lifestyle changes over time gradually, and recommend that everyone else do the same (unless you have much more willpower than I in the dietary realm!).
I do not feel it necessary for everyone to give up meat. There is a time and a place for everything. Certain denser food diets are essential stepping stones to lighter food diets. (I recall reading about a medical doctor with numerous health problems who took about 12 years to transition from the typical meat & potato diet plus junk food, to vegetarian, to fruitarian, to breatharian, where her health was at its peak, able to walk 40 miles in a day up and down the alps, breathing the air and consuming the snow.)
How Much Protein Do We Really Need?
An excellent article by Raw Food Explained provides the history of how AMA protein requirements were first determined (by observing highly active men on a heavy diet and the eating habits of dogs), then compares that excessively high estimate (120 grams, or 1.5 lbs. of meat), to cultures that live healthily on very little protein (less than 5% of their diet).
Here is the conclusion of their analysis:
“Although Natural Hygiene and Life Science do not endorse gram-counting, calorie-counting or a preoccupation with minimal daily requirements, it seems that a reasonable estimate of the protein needs of an adult is probably in the 25 to 30 grams daily range — or about 1 gram per five pounds of body weight.
If a person eats a varied diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and sprouts, he is assured that he will meet this protein requirement, along with all the other nutrient needs.”
Numerous other studies have indicated that the human body’s true protein requirement for good health is less than 5% of the diet.
In fact one study discovered that for every 50 grams of animal protein consumed daily the risk of Type II diabetes increased by 8%. A single chicken breast is about 172 grams of protein, thus raising the risk of diabetes by 23% with daily intake.
Raw Food Explained goes on to say,
“During the last sixty years, several researchers (Rose, Boyd, Berg, et al) all independently proved that between 3.7% and 4.65% of the total food intake was all the protein necessary to maintain good health. These percentages are equivalent to about 24 to 30 grams of protein.”
This protein estimate is further validated by the Tarahumara indigenous people of Northwestern Mexico renown for their amazing ability to run 200 miles in two days at elevations of 4-8,000 feet. Their diet consists mostly of maize, beans, greens, and squash, while animal proteins are rarely consumed, comprising only 5% of the diet.
Consuming more protein than this small amount can lead to excess protein related health problems (considered more debilitating than protein deficiency) which may include:
1. Excessive nitrogen buildup in the muscles resulting in chronic fatigue;
2. Protein poisoning resulting in headaches, general achiness, and allergy-type symptoms such as a burning of the mouth, lips and throat, rashes, etc. Many allergy symptoms may well be the result of protein poisoning.
3. A disturbance of the delicate natural balance of the human hormonal system due to the abnormal amounts of hormones (for the human) existing in the animal parts eaten;
4. Additional strain on the liver, kidneys and adrenals while attempting to eliminate the toxins created by the excessive protein, uric acids, and foreign hormones;
5. Excessive body acidity resulting in joint pains, bone deterioration, and arthritic symptoms;
6. Digestive complaints due to the inefficient digestion of the meat, which is impossible to fully digest (particularly once antibiotics have been administered at any point in life, but especially if more recently);
7. Abnormal immune responses triggered by meat proteins from animals fed GMO grains due to foreign (GMO) protein presences in the digestive tract and bloodstream;
8. Fuzzy brain, and in cases of extreme protein toxicity from liver failure, delirium, caused by undigested proteins in the blood passing through the brain;
9. The proliferation throughout the body of parasites, bacteria, mold, and scavenger viruses, whose primary purpose is to decompose the dead carcass (now traveling slowly through the digestive tract at 98.6ºF) and convert it back into soil;
10. The longer transition time for food to pass through 22 feet of human intestines (compared to the shorter length of a dog’s intestinal tract), coupled with the constipating nature of meat, results in a longer period of time for parasites and scavenger pathogens to multiply as they digest the animal parts traveling through the gut.
These pathogens then have ample opportunity to enter the blood, brain, joints, and organs promoting a variety of health challenges.
11. A temporary boost of energy due to the abnormal hormone infusion, followed by lower energy overall due to general body congestion caused by slow digestion, pathogen overgrowth, and excessive proteins/lactic & uric acids.
Eight Additional Concerns in Reference to Animal Products as a Primary Protein Source
1. Consuming animal products is a form of hormone replacement which can result in the atrophy of the human hormone producing glands.
2. The body does not break down the actual meat tissue. Digestion of meat consists primarily of extracting the juices and chemicals in the meat while the fibrous protein muscle and organ tissues slowly pass through the digestive system and out of the body.
3. Meat tissue, as well as animal products like cheese, yoghurt, butter, ghee, cream, milk, and eggs cause constipation due to their difficult to digest aspects (raw milk whey is one exception to this characteristic).
4. Not all proteins are alike. Meat proteins must be broken apart into amino acids then reformed into the kinds of proteins the human body can actually use. This process uses up more energy than it provides the body due to the tough fibrous nature of meat tissue, most of which is never fully digested.
5. Fruit and vegetable proteins, especially when consumed raw, are more easily broken down into amino acids than animal meats and animal byproducts. Fruit and vegetable proteins are also readily recycled for use over and over.
Cooked meat, on the other hand, is more limited in this respect due to the denaturing that takes place during cooking, and the more rapid decomposition of life force in the meat upon the death of the animal.
6. Microbes (yeast, fungus, mold, bacteria, viruses, mycoplasma, and archaea) are used by nature to break down hard to digest matter. Consuming an excess of protein, especially when it is an animal product, results in a great proliferation of microbes (based on the quantity of the favorite food sources of these microbes remaining in the body).
7. One of the more virulent sets of pathogens affecting the human populace today that is being fed by the consumption of animal products (and other common foods) are the Epstein-Bar, shingles, and herpes strains of viruses, all of which are in the same overall family of viruses, herpesviridea, and all of which feed on:
a) meat fats
b) liquid oils (especially when combined with a starch or sugar)
c) sugar excesses (commonly consumed with meat, i.e. dessert)
d) cholesterol based steroidal hormones (in the meat and in the human naturally)
e) chemicals, radiation, heavy metal toxins, and indigestible food.
The same holds true for the vegetarians, revealing why we have such a crises today in the area of pathogen overgrowth.
8. Because an animal product immediately converts to a degenerative state upon death, it becomes a prime target for scavenger pathogens, adding additional strains on the immune system. The longer the meat source remains in the store, refrigerator, freezer, or your gut, the greater the pathogen development inside the meat.
The same is true for vegetables, yet they generally retain their life force longer after harvest, as evidenced by continued ripening while on the counter.
Clearly, consuming freshly picked produce from our own gardens is preferable, though understandably not possible for most, given our congested city living habits. So, getting the freshest produce possible is second best, and consuming them when at their peak point of ripeness is ideal.
Additional Potential Side Effects of Animal Protein Consumption
Many other symptoms associated to animal proteins in the diet are also possible based on:
1) the origin of the protein, i.e. how the animals were cared for (antibiotics, hormones, etc. vs. clays and natural remedies),
2) what they were fed (genetically modified grains or grass fed),
3) the quality of their life (grass fed, free range, or constrained to a small area),
4) and the conditions surrounding their death prior to and during slaughter (often triggering fear-based adrenaline flowing in the meat, later consumed by the human).
5) The consciousness of the animal can also be transferred to the consumer, much like the consciousness, habits, and food preferences of an organ donor can be transferred to the recipient.
The Most Significant Reason I Prefer a Plant-Based Diet Over a Meat-Based Diet
The following rationale formed gradually over time and is not the original reason I lost interest in meat. Yet it serves as food for thought for any approaching the decision to adjust their own diet.
The most significant reason I feel the human being was not designed to consume the meat of an animal (other than for true survival purposes when ignorance of nourishment from sunlight, prana, herbs, or the weeds, grass & trees in your front yard, etc. is not recognized) is that, to kill an unwilling animal possessing conscious life is to bring the reflection of death back into the consumer’s experience, thus reducing the consumer’s overall lifespan.
The way we treat our animals does, in fact, give to other species, human and non-human alike, permission to treat the human in like kind. There is always a bigger bully magnetically drawn to the bullies of the smaller scale.
Harvesting fruits, vegetables, and leaves rarely kills the plant itself, and for those that have developed the ability to commune with the plant kingdom, obtaining permission first from the plant before harvesting its gifts is a common practice.
How often does an animal willingly give of its life to feed the human? Freely given eggs and milk are one thing, and is a way to live harmoniously with the animal kingdom, but taking animal life for food without permission from the animal sets up a similar pattern to be reflected back to the human in our own daily lives.
What type of life experiences has humanity brought upon itself from the choice to set up the typical slaughterhouse approach to animal husbandry? Let’s consider the bigger picture here for a moment.
Are all nations on earth at peace and working together for the common good of every soul on earth? Obviously not.
Why do we still have dictators and national/international leaders that hoard a country’s resources and share very little with the subjects they are responsible for? What kind of dynamic are we setting up for ourselves by allowing this to happen?
Have the trillions of quantitative easing dollars printed over the last few years brought us anywhere closer to global economic freedom for the most poverty stricken? Why not? And again, what kind of dynamic are we setting up for ourselves by allowing this to happen?
Why do we even have a 1% while the 99% struggle to make ends meet? It is a picture at the human level of how the human has traditionally treated their animals.
Are the 99% not being treated in the same way we treat our cattle?
Are we not intelligent enough as a human race to create a better system than the one we are suffering with?
Of course we are. We are fully capable of designing a system that cares for every human being alive, but where is the will to do so by the 1%?
Where is the insistence that we do so on the part of the 99%? Or do we have a vested interest in maintaining the status quo?
By participating in the abuse of the animal kingdom we give permission for the same type of abuse to be levied upon us by those we make responsible for our own care.
What other ways have we given permission to be treated this way? The way nations conduct business with other nations? The way we engage in family relationships? Male dominant rather than recognizing the equality of both male and female? How many other ways?
Obviously, I recognize my own complicity in the past for participating both knowingly and unknowingly in the current system, and can therefore recognize the connection between my actions/choices and their reverse effect in my life.
Fortunately this sad era of human development is soon to pass, but only to the degree the human race at large chooses to regain their personal sovereignty and be more respectful of the freewill of others, including the animal kingdom.
Would the average human lifespan be extended if animals were not consumed for food?
I believe it is partially (but not solely) due to the way humanity has treated the animal kingdom historically that very few humans of today live to be a healthy, vibrant hundred and twenty years, let alone a lifespan similar to those of an earlier era in which the human lived for several hundred years (as per the Old Testament and several other cultural traditions).
Li Ching-Yuen of China is believed to have lived 256 years by some estimates, producing over 200 descendants during his lifetime and surviving 23 wives. Wikipedia documents that:
“He began gathering herbs in the mountain ranges at the age of ten, and also began learning of longevity methods, surviving on a diet of herbs and rice wine…He worked as a herbalist, promoting the use of wild reishi, goji berry, wild ginseng, ho shou wu and gotu kola along with other Chinese herbs… At 130 years old Master Li encountered an older hermit, over 500 years old, in the mountains who taught him Baguazhang and a set of Qi Gong with breathing instructions, movements training coordinated with specific sounds, and dietary recommendations.”
Meats and dairy were nowhere in his dietary regimen. He attributed his long life mostly, however, to the practice of Qigong.
According to the Anastasia materials (www.RingingCedars.com), mankind did not begin consuming animals until they left their utopian, well stocked, garden lifestyle to roam the earth.
Not having access to a daily supply of self-grown produce from a garden designed to reseed and grow on its own without the need for machinery or fertilizers, these tribal groups roaming the earth began the barbaric tradition of eating meat for sustenance.
Prior to this, among the more advanced cultures on earth, it was unthinkable to kill their animal friends for food, as there was more than a sufficient amount of food in their own homestead gardens.
The animals then took great delight in caring for the human being, supplying the human with nuts, dried mushrooms, honey, and tubers from their own homestead forests.
The animals also watched over the children, leaving the parents free at times to occupy themselves with the more important tasks of contemplation of the true nature of Life, desirable creative pursuits, and preparing the world to be a better place for their children to grow up in.
Love was at the center of such a lifestyle. No one enjoying such a lifestyle would ever think of killing the very animals that served the family with such fervor, and with an obvious pleasure in doing so.
Breatharians
There are a few in contemporary times, like Ray Maor, who have reduced their diet down to mostly water, or juices, sunlight (through sun gazing), or prana, and, in some instances, a small amount of seaweed, or occasional other mild food or drink.
Their health remains superior to that provided by other diets even after many years of a near breatharian lifestyle, proving that the body is able to sustain itself quite well (with gradual adaption over time and training) on very low levels of food/protein.
Such examples prove that the body’s capacity to build an adequate protein/nutrient supply on demand is much greater than the medical establishment would have you believe.
How Does the Body Create Its Own Proteins?
Proteins are constructed of amino acids in the body, so a diet high in amino acids will allow the body to construct all of the many types of proteins that it needs.
Avocados contain 18 of 20 essential amino acids. Bee Pollen contains them all. Fruits and vegetables contain a variety of amino acids naturally.
Sea Vegetables also contain a complete array of amino acids. Cerna M of the Czech Republic Department of Food Technology and Microbiology, Tomas Bata University documents in her study that seaweeds contain 5-47% protein based on species and environmental conditions. Quoting from her abstract, Seaweed proteins and amino acids as nutraceuticals:
“Seaweed protein is a source of all amino acids, especially glycine, alanine, arginine, proline, glutamic, and aspartic acids. In algae, essential amino acids (EAAs) represent almost a half of total amino acids and their protein profile is close to the profile of egg protein. In case of non-EAAs, all three groups (green, brown, and red seaweeds) contain the similar amount. Red seaweed seems to be a good source of protein because its value reaches 47%.”
By this estimate, one level tablespoon (15 ml) of Gigartina Sprinkles (a red seaweed) provides 20% of one’s daily protein requirements along with a full spectrum of minerals, amino acids, and numerous other nutrients essential for optimal maintenance of health. The remaining requirements can easily be obtained from beans, potatoes, rice, mushrooms (15% protein), and other vegetables.
Are Protein Supplements Any Better?
To again quote the Raw Food Explained.com article:
“protein supplements are made from fragmented foods such as soy powder, dried egg whites, powdered milk, etc. When foods are eaten in a processed and fragmented state, they tend to oversupply the body with some nutrients while creating a deficiency of other nutrients. Consequently, protein supplements, besides supplying an excessive and harmful amount of protein, also disrupt the body’s nutritional balance.”
Clearly, sufficient proteins can be obtained from a plant-based diet resulting in far greater health than that provided by an animal-based diet or protein supplements.
So, what is the real reason we might experience that low energy feeling that we interpret to mean that we need protein?
The truth is, it is not protein we are craving (even if some nuts or meat temporarily satisfy the craving). Low energy or spaciness are common signs of adrenal burnout and spleen weaknesses (often caused by consuming sweets and stimulants). There are a few other causes as well. Here is a summary:
What is the ‘something’s missing’ feeling really telling you?
1. Dehydration is one of the most common causes of low energy (before consuming protein, try a glass of water).
2. Pathogen overgrowth is probably the second most common cause of low energy. When the diet is off, viruses, mold, bacteria, fungus, mycoplasma, and parasites multiply in an effort to correct the excesses of sugars, fats, undigested food, and toxins in the body.
A strained immune system will naturally cause the body to slow down so as to conserve its energy for recovery.
3. Poor food combining practices is a prime promoter of pathogens and sluggish digestion, especially the most common mistake made by both vegetarians and meat eaters alike: combining a quantity of proteins or fats with starches or sugars in the same meal.
When fats congest the interior of the cells they block the assimilation and use of sugar for glucose. This leads to the experience of high sugar levels and ultimately diabetes.
High sugar levels feed the pathogens in the body and cause them to proliferate.
4. Mineral deficiencies can result in chemical imbalances, hormone deficiencies, cellular waste retention, and deficient ATP (the energy molecule) functioning, all of which could lead to disrupted energy levels. Minerals are essential building blocks for hundreds of metabolic processes. For example chromium and vanadium are integral components in the body’s regulation of sugar levels by the adrenals and pancreas, both of which are critical for good energy levels. Magnesium is required for over 300 metabolic functions.
5. Adrenal and spleen weaknesses can result in chronic fatigue and a constant craving for “proteins”. Excessive sugars (which can even be from too much fruit for some), all forms of alcohol (including kombucha & jun), all forms of caffeinated stimulants (including green tea), all forms of toxins, mold, along with the various causes of pathogen overgrowth (above), can lead to adrenal and spleen weaknesses, thus chronic fatigue.
6. Excessive sulfur intake (from an excess of the brassica-mustard family of plants, or from more concentrated sulfur sources, like Black Salt) coupled with insufficient iron intake (best derived from whole earthen sources like Clays rather than iron supplements), can result in temporary anemia.
Sulfur and iron counter each other in the body and need to be maintained in a balance for optimal energy levels. Both are required by the body, yet the proper balance must be maintained, so avoid excesses on either side of the sulfur/iron equation. Stick to whole earthen sources to obtain them (plants, herbs, clays, etc.)
Are Nuts a Good Source of Protein? The Shocking Truth!
By the way, nuts and nut butters are NOT recommended as an ideal source of protein due to the observed fact that they feed the herpes/shingles viruses more prolifically than most other food sources. Peas and pea protein are in the same category.
Shingles and herpes outbreaks happen frequently from consuming nuts and seeds in excessive amounts due to the presence of arginine in them (a viral proliferator).
Herpes, shingles, and EBV can also be triggered by peas, meat, and/or sugar, especially when compounded by caffeinated stimulants like coffee, green tea, mate´, and life stress that raise cortisol levels artificially.
These viral proliferations fed by hard to digest foods, especially nuts, meat, and dairy (difficult to digest oily foods) are also partially responsible for much of the chronic fatigue & fuzzy brain experienced by so many today.
This does not mean that these foods have no value. Of course they do. It is the excesses that need to be avoided. Everything in moderation.
This insight is just a word to the wise, based on speaking to hundreds of people that can now trace their chronic conditions back to these basic foods, especially in combination with life stress.
OK, so what are some good sources of protein?
To begin with, most plant-based foods are high in amino acids, minerals, and phytonutrients. These are the ultimate building blocks of the protein required by your body.
The body is capable of manufacturing its protein needs when provided with a sufficient amount of the raw materials. Some of the best raw materials for protein are listed below followed by some of our products that contain them:
1. Bee pollen (a near total nutrition source),
2. Avocado and other foods rich in amino acids (which form proteins) and provide substance to a meal
3. Sea vegetables (good source of proteins, minerals and amino acids), supernatural binder + prebiotic + probiotic beauty boost
4. Clay and non-clay mineral sources (minerals are the building blocks of amino acids which form proteins), supernatural binder + prebiotic + probiotic beauty boost
5. Mushrooms (dried or cooked, but not raw). Mushrooms are approximately 15% protein and provide substance to any meal,
6. Common fruits and vegetables, all of which contain amino acids and proteins to some degree or another,
7. Nutrient dense herbs (nettle, alfalfa, etc.), supernatural binder + prebiotic + probiotic beauty boost, and most herbal formulas,
8. Sunlight provides over 900,000 frequencies of light, each of which have (mostly undiscovered) benefits for human physiology. Physical matter (nutrition, for example) is merely condensed light.
9. Prana as a food source is the science of drawing into the body the basic electromagnetic forces of life which form the foundation of all physical matter and light. Prana is everpresent in extreme abundance and can be increased in the body by simply recognizing its existence, opening the palms, and breathing it in through the hands and heart.
