WHY PROTEIN
Whether you eat meat or follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, you need to consume the right type and balance of protein.
In this blog, you’ll discover which protein foods promote better health and what to avoid.
PLUS – I’ve included a free healthy protein foods guide you can download and print to use as a handy reference.
But before we explore these foods, it’s important to understand why we need to eat protein.
Protein is a fundamental macronutrient (needed in large amounts) required by the cells of your body to grow, repair, and function properly.
Protein is made up of thousands of different chains of amino acids (organic compounds).
These long complex chains of amino acids are the building blocks of our muscles, tissues, organs, bones, cartilage, skin, nails, and hair.
Amino acids are also involved in making hormones (endocrine system), enzymes (metabolic energy and oxygenation), and antibodies (immune system).
There are 20 amino acids that join together in different combinations to form seven different types of proteins in your body:
• structural proteins (provide support, shape, and strength to your cells, tissues, and organs).
• contractile (muscle contraction and movement).
• enzymes (digestion and metabolism – energy production).
• hormonal proteins (chemical messengers that coordinate body functions).
• antibodies (defend against invading pathogens like viruses and bacteria).
• transport proteins (deliver oxygen and nutrients to your cells).
• storage proteins (store amino acids for future metabolic processes).
The 20 amino acids are categorised into two types – essential and non-essential.
There are nine essential amino acids – histidine • isoleucine • leucine • lysine • methionine • phenylalanine • threonine • tryptophan • and valine.
They are termed essential because our bodies cannot make them, which is the reason why we need to eat protein foods.
The other eleven amino acids are considered non-essential because our bodies can make them.
PROTEIN SOURCES
Protein foods that contain all 9 essential amino acids are called a Complete Protein.
It’s important that our daily diet includes all 9 essential amino acids.
AND – the dietary sources of the protein we eat is just as important.
Many people think of protein as eating meat, which is not true.
This misunderstanding of protein has led to a high intake of the wrong type and balance of protein foods.
The over consumption of red meat and processed meat products has contributed to widespread metabolic dysfunction – which means a disruption in the way we digest (break down food), absorb and regulate nutrients, and produce and use energy.
If it’s not resolved, metabolic dysfunction triggers disorders like insulin resistance, high blood sugar (hyperglycaemia), chronic inflammation, type 2 diabetes, abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, kidney, bowel, and cardiovascular disease, and certain cancers.
Lifestyle diseases develop because we misunderstand what we need to eat to be healthy.
HEALTHIEST PROTEINS
Recently, a global study investigated the nutrition of 101 countries from 1961 – 2018 and found that countries that eat more plant-based protein live longer.
Numerous studies have also found that plant-based protein consumption is strongly associated with lower mortality from all causes, reduced cardiovascular disease, reduced chronic diseases and increased longevity.
And studies in older adults indicate that plant protein is closely linked to better physical function and mental health as we age.
These studies all find that plant-based proteins promote better health, including healthier ageing.
In terms of healthier nutrition, protein derived from plant-based foods are also rich in:
• Fibre, which is essential for maintaining a healthy digestive system, preventing constipation, and regulating bowel movements, lowering blood cholesterol, and stabilizing glucose levels.
• Polyunsaturated fatty acids (omegas) that we need for building cell membranes, brain function, heart health, and regulating inflammation.
• Oligosaccharides which are a type of prebiotic fibre that feeds friendly gut bacteria.
• Carbohydrates which are the body’s primary and preferred energy source that fuels brain power, metabolic functions, and daily activities.
These essential nutrients are linked with a reduction in cardiovascular diseases, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, obesity, and type II diabetes mellitus.
Ultimately, plant-based protein foods can help us prevent and recover from lifestyle diseases, and live a longer, healthier life as we age.
The question that remains is how much protein do we need to eat?
HOW MUCH PROTEIN
Generally, it’s recommended that most adults require around 0.80 grams of protein per kilo of body weight per day.
You calculate your weight times .8 to work out how much protein you need.
For example, if you weigh 70kg – calculate 70 x .8 = 56 grams of total protein daily.
Also, it’s been found that spreading your protein intake across meals is more effective than consuming it all at once.
If you are pregnant, elderly, an athlete, highly active, or you suffer from kidney disease, your protein needs will differ – so make sure you seek professional advice.
PAIRING PLANT PROTEINS
Once you work out how much protein you need daily, the next step is understanding how to pair plant proteins to make sure the food you eat every day provides all nine essential amino acids.
The biggest argument for eating meat is that meat is a complete protein and plants are not, which has been proven to be incorrect.
Certain plants do provide complete protein in that they contain all nine essential amino acids just as meat does.
Complete plant proteins include soy (tofu, tempeh, edamame), Bonsoy soy milk, quinoa, hemp seeds, chia seeds, buckwheat, amaranth, spirulina, nutritional yeast, and sprouted grain Ezekiel bread.
However, it is true that many plant-based protein foods are lacking in one or more essential amino acids.
You can overcome that by eating a wide variety of plant-based foods, and pair different high-protein plant foods together to create complete protein.
I have included a list of high protein plant foods you can pair together in your meals.
As a general rule, if you combine legumes with grains, nuts, or seeds in your recipes—you provide all nine essential amino acids.
And you don’t have to worry about eating complete protein in one meal.
Just combine plant foods throughout the day to cover all nine essential amino acids.
PAIRING EXAMPLES
• Dahl with rice.
• Brown or white rice with beans.
• Corn tortillas and beans.
• Lentil curry served on organic brown rice.
• Lentils & quinoa combined in salads and soups.
• Lentil bolognaise sauce served with organic wholegrain pasta.
• Bean soup with spinach and kale.
• Mixed bean chilli served on rice.
• Vegetable stir fry with mushrooms and chickpeas.
• Add nutritional yeast to enhance flavour in all your recipes.
• Peas added to organic wholegrain pasta recipes.
• Hummus and salad wrapped in organic flat bread.
• Pumpkin seed paste on Ezekiel bread.
• Peanut butter on Ezekiel bread.
• Oat porridge with Bonsoy soy milk and a sprinkle of chopped nuts and seeds.
• Soy milk smoothie with added spirulina and hemp gold protein powder.
• Chia and linseed puddings for breakfast or dessert.
• Breakfast buddha bowls with added hemp gold protein powder, berries, nuts and seeds.
• Snack trail mix made up of raw or activated nuts and seeds.
DAILY PORTIONS
Now you have plant protein pairing sorted, you need to make sure you also cover your daily food portions.
Daily food portions are the different food groups we should eat every day to meet our nutritional requirements for our bodies to maintain optimum health.
The challenge for most of my clients is they live busy lives.
They don’t have time to measure and calculate their nutritional requirements.
To help my clients meet their nutritional needs, I created a food group percentages chart to help simplify meals.
FOOD GROUP PERCENTAGES
Imagine a big round dinner plate that represents all of the food groups you eat in a day.
Then divide the food you eat into percentages:
50% – half your plate (your daily food intake) is vegetables – salad or cooked vegetables and fruit.
25% – a quarter of the food you eat every day is healthy protein.
25% – the final quarter is made up of wholegrain carbohydrates.
If you take those food group percentages, and add in some healthy fats, probiotics, herbs and spices, and fluid for hydration you start seeing what you should be eating on a daily basis to provide optimum nutrition.
Following is a general guide I use to help busy clients cover their plant-based food intake.
EVERY DAY AIM TO EAT
• 3 cups of vegetables over lunch and evening meals (salad or cooked).
• 2 serves of fruit.
• ¼ cup of legumes (or mushrooms if you don’t tolerate legumes).
• ¼ cup of whole grains.
• 1 handful of raw, organic walnuts.
• 30ml healthy fats in dressings or smoothies (see our Healthy Fats blog).
• 2 serves of probiotic foods – or a probiotic supplement (download our Probiotic Foods List).
• 2 litres of pure water – including herbal tea.
These daily portions are a general guide.
You can eat more legumes and grains and vegetables than I’ve listed.
You can also eat raw nuts and seeds and make your own trail mix snack food.
I recommend eating raw walnuts on a daily basis.
Walnuts are rich in essential omega-3 fatty acids, which increase the abundance of beneficial gut microorganisms such as Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Akkermansia (also used for weight loss).
Omega-3 fats also support heart health, brain function, and offer anti-inflammatory benefits too.
I eat organic West Australian walnuts for my morning snack on work days, when my brain needs the fuel the most.
But anytime is a good time to eat raw walnuts. You can also chop them up and add them to your morning porridge, fruit and yoghurt bowls, and salads.
Whenever possible, only eat organic or biodynamic food so you can avoid the harmful effects of synthetic chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically modified (GM, GMO) techniques used in agriculture. Or grow your own organic vegetables.
AND always make sure you stay well hydrated too when you increase fibre in your diet.
Visit our Healing Health With Fibre blog for healthy hydration tips.
PROTEIN GUIDE
Now we put everything together that I’ve covered so far.
Your first step is to calculate how much protein your body requires daily for optimum health using the formula – your weight x .8 = grams of protein you need to eat daily.
Once you know how much protein you need, source the bulk of your protein intake from high-fibre-high-protein plant foods.
Pair plant foods together, and plan them into your daily meals – breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
Sourcing protein from plants will also help you cover your other daily nutrient requirements, especially dietary fibre.
However, if you have irritable bowel or inflamed gut issues, work with a naturopath or nutritionist to tailor your protein and fibre intake and help you heal your gut dysbiosis first.
If you eat meat or animal dairy products, I recommend switching your diet to wild caught fish (preferably salmon), organic Greek ‘live-cultured’ yoghurt, and occasional organic chicken and eggs.
Use the following food guides to help you.
FOOD GUIDES
Click on the following link to save and print out our Protein Foods Guide, where I share a list of healthy high protein plant foods.
You can also download our High Fibre Whole Foods Guide and use the two guides together.
They are handy references but not complete in terms of covering all cultures and foods.
However, you can find free to use food databases online that can help you explore foods I haven’t included.
FOOD DATABASES
Food Standards Australia New Zealand Australian offer an online Food Composition Database that you can check the nutritional values of many foods.
Just type the name of the food you want to search in the filter field/box.
Another free-to-use nutrition database is CheckYourFood.com, which has over 2000 ingredients you can search, and recipes too.
You’d be surprised how much protein there is in everyday plant foods, so it’s worth exploring these databases.
Once you learn the nutritional content of healthy foods available where you live, you can easily plan and prep meals that fit your daily routine and nutrient requirements.
Also make sure your healthy eating plan includes ditching foods none of us should be eating if we want to create and maintain optimum health.
PROTEIN FOODS TO AVOID
There are certain protein foods that I don’t recommend my clients eat.
I don’t recommend red meat as a healthy source of protein due to the increased risks of bowel cancer, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and stroke.
In fact, I usually ask my clients to remove red meat from their diets altogether (unless they are severely anaemic).
Also avoid eating all processed meats – most commercially processed meats contain synthetic chemical ingredients including preservatives, colours, flavours, and texturisers that undermine health.
Processed meat is now that bad for health that it’s been classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, meaning there is sufficient evidence it causes cancer, particularly colorectal cancer.
The worst processed meats you could eat include – bacon, sausages, salami, luncheon meats (cold cuts), deli meats, ham, hot dogs, frankfurters, saveloy sausages, cocktail sausages, chicken nuggets, bacon, canned meat, and commercially cured meats.
Always check ingredient labels – including plant-based and cultivated (lab grown) meat products.
To investigate harmful food ingredients, you can freely use the Environmental Working Group Food Scores Database.
Avoid growth hormones too, which are banned in animal farming in Australia, but it is worth checking if you live in other regions of the world.
If you eat animal protein, I recommend that you buy only organic meat, chicken, and wild caught fish to avoid antibiotics, steroids, and synthetic chemicals used in conventional livestock farming and manufacturing processes.
For the health of your endocrine (hormone) system, it’s best to avoid all foods containing growth hormone factors, including animal milk products.
Mothers’ milk (dairy foods) contains Insulin-like Growth Factor hormones (IGFs) that signal the rapid growth of their new-borns.
Hormones such as prolactin, oestrogen, androgens, progesterone, prostaglandin and corticoids are also found in animal milk.
Studies confirm a link between animal milk consumption and excess weight, early onset menarche (menstruation), acne, type 2 diabetes, prostate and breast cancer, lymphoma, and neurodegenerative diseases.
You can find live-linked studies in our references so you can make an informed decision about your consumption of animal dairy foods.
Try to avoid consuming animal milk products and replace them with organic, plant-based milks that are activated (pre-soaked).
If you make your own nut milk (especially almond milk), make sure you soak the nuts in pure water for 12 hours in the fridge.
Soaking nuts for twelve hours before making plant-based milk helps counteract nutrient inhibitors (anti-nutrients) that block digestive enzymes and mineral absorption.
Some studies have raised concerns about anti-nutrients in nuts, seeds, and vegetables that block the digestion and absorption of other nutrients.
What has also emerged through research is that high levels of beneficial intestinal flora in your gut helps your body adjust to nutrient inhibitors – particularly the probiotic lactobacilli.
Studies also reveal that boosting beneficial gut bacteria, eating sprouted grains and seeds, adding fermented probiotic foods to your meals, as well as soaking and cooking ‘anti-nutrient’ foods all counteract nutrient inhibitors.
And if you need further proof about the healthiest foods you can eat, investigate the diets of those who live the longest, healthiest lives.
I’ve left links to longevity studies for you in our references.
HEMP PROTEIN BOOSTING
Before I sign off, I wanted to share an excellent plant-based protein powder you can use to boost nutrition.
Hemp Gold Protein made by Hemp Foods Australia contains 60% protein and it’s certified organic.
In comparison, most cooked meats contain approximately 20% to 30% protein by weight.
Hemp protein is a highly nourishing, health-promoting food for brain, bowel, immune and heart health, digestion and gut health, hair, nails and skin health, muscle recovery and resilience.
Unlike whey protein, Hemp Gold protein provides omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids in the ideal ratio, dietary fibre, and is more nutrient dense – with higher levels of magnesium, iron, and zinc.
The taste is neutral – and the texture is smooth and deliciously creamy.
In terms of gut sensitivities, hemp protein is well tolerated, highly digestible (91-98%), and it’s a complete protein – containing all nine essential amino acids.
Hemp Gold protein powder provides approximately 7 grams of protein per metric tablespoon, making it an easy way to boost your daily protein intake.
And because it’s not chalky or gritty, you can easily add it to organic coconut yoghurt or kefir, organic cultured Greek yoghurt, smoothies, porridge, baked goods like muffins and cakes, raw balls, and chia puddings.
So far, Hemp Gold protein powder has become a favourite in my linseed-coconut-oats overnight breakfast puddings that I soak overnight and dress with organic coconut yoghurt and fresh berries before eating.
We share this recipe in our blog High Protein-Fibre Breakfast Recipes.
I’m yet to make some muffins but please leave a comment and let me know your verdict on Hemp Gold protein powder in baked goods and your recipes.
We can inspire each other.
Much Love,
Lisa Rieniets ND.
RELATED BLOGS
High Protein-Fibre Breakfast Recipes
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/high-protein-fibre-breakfast-recipes/
Healing With Fibre
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/healing-health-with-fibre/
Nutrition Therapy – Healthy Fats
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/nutrition-therapy-healthy-fats/
Free E-book: Nutrition Therapy – Vegetables
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/free-e-books-health-healing/
Spices That Heal
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/spices-that-heal/
Quit Sugar With Monk Fruit
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/quit-sugar-with-pure-monk-fruit/
Your Gut Microbiome & Why Prebiotics Are Essential
https://www.renerhealthclinics.com.au/gut-microbiome-prebiotics/
RESOURCES
Blue Zones provides evidence-based solutions to help people live better, longer.
https://www.bluezones.com/about/history/
REFERENCES
Your body is designed to be healthy – especially when you know what it needs to function at its best.
And you do it!
We include live-linked references in our blogs so you can explore studies about human health and nutrition.
The more you learn, the more empowered you become.
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