Protein Is Not a Food

I know the server at the restaurant asks you if you want to add “protein” to your salad — but do you know (a) that “protein” is already in your salad, (b) that “protein” as a food, or an item, is not even a real thing, and (c) how we got in this boat, of thinking that “protein” is a food? 

Here’s the gist: First of all, protein is one of the three macronutrients: proteins, fats, and carbs. And, all foods contain more than just one macronutrient — except things like table sugar and alcohol (pure carbohydrate), oil and butter (pure fat), and protein powders (pure protein).

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Our Nutrition Experts Are Bought

The nutrition and dietetics degrees at accredited colleges hijacked the minds of faculty and students alike, with the processed food industries and meat/dairy industries funding their studies, writing their curriculum, and investing in their journals.

Those dietitians go out and create the menus in hospitals and schools. (You may have noticed that the “food” they serve in those places — the cake, the Jell-O, the dinner roll with a pat of margarine, the processed meat and canned vegetables — would probably be more nutritious if they DIDN’T have a dietitian involved.) 

Occasionally, some career-suiciding dietitian hurdles the fence of taboos, and shows us that McDonalds, Frito Lay, Heinz, and PepsiCo fund their whole industry. 

Here’s the cover image of a 2013 report (see Resources), which exposes the extent to which big food companies both sponsor and “educate” the nation’s nutrition experts(!) Shockingly, meat, dairy, and fast-food companies even host booths at the annual conference of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

So, once they hypnotize all the nutrition “experts” to be obsessed with calories, and macro ratios (protein to fat to carb), they can keep them very busy and very scientific-sounding, focusing on red-herring nutritional principles, which distract our attention from the important issues.

Most dietitians and nutritionists will have you track the grams of protein and carbs you eat, as well as portion size and calories. That will keep you busy so you don’t pay attention to what REALLY matters. (I’ll get to that. What really matters.) 

A Calorie Is NOT a Calorie

“A calorie is a calorie is a calorie,” they were taught. I even had two different pediatricians tell me that. One told me it didn’t matter whether I gave my son Sprite or applesauce, because “they’re both carbs.”

(That was during my short but intense career as a mom of sick kids — till I figured some things out, and started running my program a lot differently, including not looking to those guys as my gurus, any more. I went on to have twice as many kids, who were half the work, since they weren’t constantly sick and I wasn’t a hypochondriac any longer.) 

It’s really not true, whatsoever, that all calories are the same. 

If the food you ate came from a tree, or from the Earth, it’s highly likely it’ll nourish you toward better health. If it’s an animal, or from an animal, it’s manmade (requiring industrial equipment or processed to the point that it’s sold in a box, can, or package and has an ingredient list with more than one item), it’s highly likely it’ll hurt your health —  both short and long term. 

The Meat Industry’s Fingerprints Are All Over This

The industry that brought us cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys, and fish, plus hundreds of products derived from them, and thousands more to cook with them — also likely fueled our hyperfocus on protein.

Entire books have been devoted to how our obsession with protein is unwarranted, and that a low-protein diet actually most leads to longevity and low disease risk. I’ve read several, including:

Ari Whitten’s The Low-Carb Myth 

Dr. Michael Greger’s Carbophobia 

Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition

Each has hundreds of scientific references, and debunks the idea, popularized by, well, hundreds of authors (just search Amazon and you’ll see an ocean of books teaching you to eat “low carb”), that carbohydrates are to be feared.

On Bagels and Bananas

Here’s the thing: a bagel and a banana are both called “carbs” by people who want to label foods by which macronutrient predominates in that food. 

But I think we can all agree that they have very little in common. 

The bagel is sprayed with Roundup, highly processed, with the bran (fiber) and germ (nutrients) removed, and hybridized hundreds of times — there’s not really anything good, to say about a bagel. It’s basically glue.

The banana is chock-full of dozens of minerals and phytonutrients, and lots of soluble fiber. Nobody ever got diabetes from their banana diet — zero gorillas, zero humans. 

In fact, bananas are one of nature’s most perfect foods. And in throwing out bagels, somehow the diet doctors have also thrown out the bananas. (Baby, bathwater, anyone?) Because both are “carbs.”

And, while a food may consist primarily of fat (like an avocado) or protein (like beef) or primarily carbohydrate (like wheat) — all three of those have OTHER macronutrients in their nutritional profile. 

Beef contains fat, for instance, and the wheat and avocado (like most whole fruits and vegetables) contain all three “macros” (carbohydrate, protein, and fat). 

Nutrition: What Really Matters

Finally, what the processed food and meat and dairy industries don’t want you to think about, because their products will always look bad in all these categories, are the real nutritional benefits in foods. 

That’s right: What matters isn’t how many grams of protein, fat, and carbohydrate you ate today, but the quality of the foods you ate (even if they’re a bit higher in carbs today, and a bit higher in protein tomorrow.) 

The nourishment we get from foods comes primarily from:

1. Fiber content

2. Micronutrient content 

(By micronutrients, by the way, I’m talking about 90+ minerals and trace minerals, vitamins, antioxidants and phytochemicals found in greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, and nuts and seeds.) 

So, there, I said it: You’d be a lot better off ignoring how many grams of proteins, fats, and carbs — or calories, actually! — your lunch contains, and instead just prioritize FIBER and MICRONUTRIENTS.

By doing so, you’d end up eliminating all the packaged and processed food. 

Most people actually avoid all the categories of foods with the most fiber, and the most micronutrients! And what’s new, in the last 10 years, is that the millionaire diet doctors scare people away from the high-fiber, nutrient-dense foods!

Two types of fiber are found in whole plants (no animal-derived food contains any fiber at all):. There’s soluble fiber (think of it like a sponge, absorbing toxins), and there’s insoluble fiber (think of it like a broom, sweeping toxins out); your grandma may have called it “roughage.”

Fad Diets and “Macros”

I take a lot of slings and arrows for my dislike of the fad diets — especially the diet of the decade, the Keto Diet. But if you “went Keto” with avocados and nuts, it’s almost an entirely different diet than the version where bacon and butter are the staples!

With the vegan version of the diet, you’d potentially get the same number of fat grams, but, you’d have plenty of fiber, and lots of micronutrients, in your meals! Whereas the version centered around bacon and butter can contain zero fiber (unless you eat a few berries) and precious few micronutrients! 

By the way, I’m not advocating for “vegan Keto” — I actually think overeating fats is entirely contrary to the limitations of the human liver and gallbladder. I’m just pointing out how radically different your diet would be, on the same number of fat, carb, and protein grams, if you ate whole, fiber- and micronutrient-rich plants, versus animal foods.

Nor do I think the next fad diet, which is likely to promote all “science” in favor of carbohydrates (since we just cycled through fats for 10 years, and protein, the 10 years before that) is the answer. 

(Yes, I’m predicting a pendulum swing back to a pro-carb diet being in vogue. The diet industry needs a new gimmick, and new exulted macronutrient, once a decade.)

The diet industry might just skip carbohydrates, for now, as vilified as they’ve been for the last two diet fads.

They might just go back to protein obsession, or maybe a variation of a previous Paleo-like diet, but with a new name and a couple of tweaks, for the sake of the marketing buzz.

After one decade hypnotizes America to be afraid of protein deficiency, the public eventually forgets the fad diet — but doesn’t forget the “need” for protein, protein, protein. 

When the next decade promises people a state of “Ketosis” if they overeat fats, the public eventually moves on from the diet fad — but not from the perceived need for fats, fats, fats. 

(Whatever their own Keto cult embraced — be it the avocados and nuts diet or the bacon and butter diet.)

The truth is, you get plenty of protein and fat from almost any flavor of plant-based diet.  Don’t believe me? Dr. Garth Davis’s book Proteinaholic sets the record straight:

Potatoes Never Were the Problem

Even all potatoes — those dreaded “carbs” (but in whole-food form, not a fried or butter-&-bacon-drenched form) — caused this guy to feel great  and lose 117 pounds. 

Amazingly, Spud Fit author Andrew Taylor spent all of 2016 eating nothing but potatoes and sweet potatoes, and he came out the other side not only lighter but physically and mentally healthier. (And the ~2,700 calories of potatoes he ate yielded him around 60 to 70 grams of daily protein).

Turns out just about anything plant based is better than the Standard American Diet that the dietitians are serving up in our schools and hospitals and countless other facilities — and in most American homes … Not everything you’ve been told by the food cults is true! 

When I worked at McDonald’s at age 16, we “filtered” the oil twice a year, but otherwise, the same boiling oil was used all day and night, every day, for a year, to produce rancid oil-cooked potato strips with more than a dozen chemicals added to them! 

My point? The potatoes aren’t the problem.

More Plants Are in Your Future … 

Of course, the discussion about “Keto” is going to be a pointless academic exercise, if bacon and butter decrease in availability as their prices continue to rise meteorically. Even mainstream media is documenting the escalating scarcity of meat and dairy products, and their exorbitant prices. 

Some grocery stores are locking their meat and cheese behind locked doors, much like a jewelry counter.. 

In six months, I predict nobody will be talking about “Keto” whatsoever. You’ll have to spend a whole day  chasing the foods you want to eat, and pay triple or quadruple the “normal” (subsidized) price. Keto will quietly go the way of the dodo.

Another upside to getting more of your proteins, fats, and carbohydrates from plants is that you can grow the plants, but you probably can’t grow the cow or pig. 

And, these whole plant-based foods are cheaper and easier to store, in their whole form, especially if you’re willing to eat nuts and seeds, legumes, and grains. (And buy a few buckets, to store them in.)

In short, there’s no vegetable and fruit lobbying industry to promote the most nutritious foods to the nutrition and dietetics disciplines at our universities. 

Why? There’s just not a lot of money in it, like there is in a new blockbuster gimmick diet people read about, with “[Diet]-Approved” labels on all the new processed food “products” 

Frito Lay is a wildly profitable company; American Cucumber Growers, though — well, you’re probably not investing in their stock.

GreenSmoothieGirl Superfood Protein vs. Ultraprocessed Powders

And while people seem to be well aware of the evils of processed carbohydrates, they seem totally oblivious to the fact that bagged processed protein is just as bad for them!

GreenSmoothieGirl doesn’t produce our superfood proteins from whole foods because we think it takes effort to get “enough protein.” 

Rather, we formulate much cleaner organic proteins from sources that are more “whole,” to give those of you who prefer a higher-protein diet far healthier options.  (Currently Buy 2 Get 1, in our annual Group Buy deal.) 

Our proteins are also much easier to store than beef and chicken, which are projected to triple in price over the next year.

Industry-Backed “Science” Derails Health Seekers

If you examine the “science” put forth by dietary fad “gurus,” like Steven Gundry (anti-lectin diet), or Paul Saladino (carnivore diet), et al., you will quickly find the evidence to be cherry picked to avoid what we know about the diets of the world’s healthiest cultures, where people are virtually disease-proof and commonly live to age 100 or more.

(Hint: it’s NOT an all-beef diet, and it’s NOT a diet that avoids lectins and takes a lectin-blocker supplement.)

At first it’s hard to imagine that our universities and scientific labs make all their decisions based on anything but public altruism, studying first and foremost the critically important topics of our day. 

But as more and more industries try to corral “science,” to promote their own products, the consumer of “the science” has to ask better questions, about what is being studied in the first place.

You don’t have to eat their fake burgers. You don’t have to eat anything they put in packaged foods. 

I think those products become less trustworthy by the day. (But when was the last time you could trust packaged and processed foods to promote health, anyway?)

Here’s What to Stock Up on, for Health:

The upside: the following list of food categories can serve as your primer, your reminder of storable and growable foods that have gone out of vogue in the mainstream (due to a lot of disinformation from the diet doctors) but that lead to a high-energy, disease-preventative life.

These categories offer endless variety and delicious options, in combination with herbs, seasonings, and sauces. Stock up on these, and you almost can’t go wrong. 

You can grow foods from many of these categories, and most of them will last for years in a bucket with a tight-fitting lid.

At worst, you can store them freeze-dried, which isn’t cheap but lasts a long time:

1. Greens (we like Thrive Life).

2. Vegetables (Thrive Life).

3. Starchy vegetables (rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes). Great in a cold cellar, and you can literally grow both kinds of potatoes in a grocery bag with a bit of dirt!

4. Fruits (Thrive Life).

5. Legumes (beans, split peas, lentils — we like Azure Standard).

6. Whole grains (we like Azure Standard, organic). A grain mill is handy, so you can make infinite numbers of foods from your grains, This is the one I bought.

7. Nuts and seeds (We like Azure Standard).

8. Flavor brighteners— herbs, sauces, seasonings, unrefined salt, olives and fermented foods, olive oil and coconut oil. (This is a catch-all list of items you can also stock up on, to give all the foods above endless variety and flavor.) 

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Resources:

And Now a Word From Our Sponsors: Are America’s Nutrition Professionals in the Pocket of Big Food?
An exposé of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

The Low Carb Myth
Ari Whitten

Carbophobia
Michael Greger, MD 

Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition
T. Colin Campbell, PhD

What You Should Know About the Potato Diet
Men’s Health magazine on Spud Fit’s Andrew Taylor 

Proteinaholic: How Our Obsession with Meat Is Killing Us and What We Can Do About It
Garth David, MD

The 19 actual ingredients in McDonald’s french fries are not 19 actual reasons to eat them

Aldi shoppers shocked as meat items locked up in 'security boxes'