I often find myself talking to people about nutrition and hearing things that I didn’t think people actually believed.
Last night I was talking about healthy ways of eating, and a woman said, “Yeah, and don’t eat too much protein, because it is hard to digest.”
I have heard a lot of new-agy people say this. Does anyone know the scientific rationale behind this? I mean, what is this belief based on? Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought this was a myth. I don’t like telling people “that’s not true” unless I can clearly explain why from the scientific perspective and unless I’m absolutely sure that there’s no truth to it.
(Believe me, I’m not going to stop eating meat anytime soon).
Some chefs use ‘protein’ and ‘meat’ interchangeably so maybe that’s what she was doing. The hard to digest part would be understandable if she was talking about beef or other red meats
That’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard people say? Holy shit you need to get out more. The sheer amount of stupid nutrition advice I hear in my office alone in any given week is enough to even make Richard Simmons cringe.
It’s probably based on vegetarian propaganda. They love to push the studies where a high protein diet was found to cause kidney damage, ignoring the fact that the subjects already had kidney problems. Yeah, protein takes more energy to digest than the other macronutrients, but proteins are needed by every cell in our body.
Also, remember that most people don’t have the tools to determine the truth for themselves e.g. analyze a scientific article or an election ad. (Or self-diagnose a mental problem - hehe, sorry about the cheap shot man!)
[quote]CLewis wrote:
I often find myself talking to people about nutrition and hearing things that I didn’t think people actually believed.
Last night I was talking about healthy ways of eating, and a woman said, “Yeah, and don’t eat too much protein, because it is hard to digest.”
I have heard a lot of new-agy people say this. Does anyone know the scientific rationale behind this? I mean, what is this belief based on? Maybe I’m wrong, but I thought this was a myth. I don’t like telling people “that’s not true” unless I can clearly explain why from the scientific perspective and unless I’m absolutely sure that there’s no truth to it.
(Believe me, I’m not going to stop eating meat anytime soon).[/quote]
Well, I think it’s definitely misleading, but I don’t necessarily think it’s not true.
Isn’t that sort of the point of TEF (thermic effect of feeding), that your body really does have to work harder to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fats? Now what I would disagree with is saying this is a bad thing. For many of us this is an advantage.
Important disclaimer - my knowledge about nutrition mostly comes from what I’ve read in non-scientific sources, so, if I’m way wrong on this, feel free to correct.
[quote]marza wrote:
Well, I think it’s definitely misleading, but I don’t necessarily think it’s not true.
Isn’t that sort of the point of TEF (thermic effect of feeding), that your body really does have to work harder to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fats? Now what I would disagree with is saying this is a bad thing. For many of us this is an advantage.
Important disclaimer - my knowledge about nutrition mostly comes from what I’ve read in non-scientific sources, so, if I’m way wrong on this, feel free to correct. [/quote]
I believe you’re right. According to “The Book of Muscle” (by Ian King and Lou Schuler) p.44 :
“If you’re young, lean, and trying to gain weight, a lot of extra protein–more than 2 grams per pound of bodyweight–may not help. Protein […] is metabolically expensive for your body to process. Your body burns about 20 percent of each protein calorie just digesting that protein. (It burns about 8 percent of carbohydrate and 2 percent of fat during digestion. This phenomenon is called the thermic effect of feeding, and it accounts for about 10 percent of the calories you burn each day.)”
So one could arguably say that protein is hard to digest. But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing, does it ?
[quote]marza wrote:
Well, I think it’s definitely misleading, but I don’t necessarily think it’s not true.
Isn’t that sort of the point of TEF (thermic effect of feeding), that your body really does have to work harder to digest protein than it does to digest carbs or fats? Now what I would disagree with is saying this is a bad thing. For many of us this is an advantage.
Important disclaimer - my knowledge about nutrition mostly comes from what I’ve read in non-scientific sources, so, if I’m way wrong on this, feel free to correct. [/quote]
[quote]eengrms76 wrote:
That’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard people say? Holy shit you need to get out more. The sheer amount of stupid nutrition advice I hear in my office alone in any given week is enough to even make Richard Simmons cringe.[/quote]
LOL! Oh how true. It always seems to be the human medicine balls and the walking sticks that propound the most idiotic theories with highest level of dogmatism too. At least in the Ford buildings I work in. The best part is that I never see these unlikely experts follwing any of their own dimwitted advice.
I’ve heard that too, and my mom has unfortunately bought into it. She has heard that we were never meant to eat meat. Why? Because we were made with very long digestive tracts, which gives meat time to ferment and stick to the walls of your intestines and cause all kinds of ills. OH, and it gives you kidney problems and osteoporosis. Never mind that I have shown her millions of scholarly articles showing that protein does NOT cause either of these things. I guess since those damn carnivores have short digestive tracts and we dont, they must be right…whoever it was that fed her that bull shit.
I always ask her what cavemen ate if they couldn’t eat meat…
It’s not like they had a flour mill to grind down all those oats and things and make them edible…
I would rather discuss politics than nutrition/diet most of the time I love when fat women with 50% bf debate/try to give ME advice!
How I would just love to just say “Oh how is that working out for you?”
goodluck on your sub 1000 calorie diet you try every couple months.
Yeah, I do hear a lot of stuff, but I also try to stay on top of the information out there. In other words, I usually can easily refute that kind of thing.
In this case, I don’t even know what this is based on and I can’t recall reading an article where someone goes into this idea. I have heard the “long intestine” argument before, etc. I just have never heard a health professional refute it. Most stuff you hear is easy to refute.
Why don’t you just explain to her the confusion with acid/base load? Your mom probably thinks, “better safe than sorry.”
On the other hand, I have seen a lot of ads on TV that sell stuff to balance your acid. Seriously, Berardi should have his own infomercial.
Protein is acidic. To counteract that, your body may take calcium from the bone. That’s usually where people stop explaining this idea. You just have to eat vegetables, which are alkaline, with your protein/carbs to counteract your acid intake and your bones will be fine.
[quote]PTKrissy wrote:
I’ve heard that too, and my mom has unfortunately bought into it. She has heard that we were never meant to eat meat. Why? Because we were made with very long digestive tracts, which gives meat time to ferment and stick to the walls of your intestines and cause all kinds of ills. OH, and it gives you kidney problems and osteoporosis. Never mind that I have shown her millions of scholarly articles showing that protein does NOT cause either of these things. I guess since those damn carnivores have short digestive tracts and we dont, they must be right…whoever it was that fed her that bull shit.
I always ask her what cavemen ate if they couldn’t eat meat…
It’s not like they had a flour mill to grind down all those oats and things and make them edible…[/quote]
[quote]CLewis wrote:
Yeah, I do hear a lot of stuff, but I also try to stay on top of the information out there. In other words, I usually can easily refute that kind of thing.
In this case, I don’t even know what this is based on and I can’t recall reading an article where someone goes into this idea. I have heard the “long intestine” argument before, etc. I just have never heard a health professional refute it. Most stuff you hear is easy to refute.[/quote]
Truth be told, most of the time it’s nigh impossible to disabuse people of their misguided notions in general. It’s a rare person who, when faced with even irrefutable, rock solid proof of their error responds with something like “wow, thanks a lot, I appreciate you pointing that out to me”. It also doesn’t usually matter how polite you are about it.
That’s what I told my mom- I said that’s why when you see me eat my chicken, I eat some broccoli and cauliflower with it. The alkaline foods balance out that protein from the chicken. Also, that protein helps build my muscle that I use to do weight training with, which builds strong bones. SO in the end, my bones win
You’d have to know my mom though… she’s quite hard headed. That and even though the whole subject of nutrition is my passion and what I spend my free time reading about…she just would rather listen to someone who tells her what she wanted to hear. SHe’s got a sweet tooth like nobody’s business, so she pretty much eats carbs for every meal. (not that those “experts” condone that, but at least it isnt protein! haha) oh dear
[quote]CLewis wrote:
Last night I was talking about healthy ways of eating, and a woman said, “Yeah, and don’t eat too much protein, because it is hard to digest.”[/quote]
It makes sense if you’re a hermit, sitting in a cave, meditating all day long, attempting to change the way your consciousness works. In that case, yes, even such a minor “distraction” such as the digestion may become a source of concern. And yes, reducing the amount of protein, or even the total calorie count, makes sense.
It makes no sense whatsoever for everyone else thou’. If you’re an active participant to the human society, then you need Energy to accomplish whatever your goals are. Part of that energy comes from food. Therefore, eat, exercise, get stronger.