***A Closer Look at Protein

All proteins are not created equal. For instance, animal protein provides more health benefits than plant protein.

To make the imbalance larger, a lot of plant protein comes from soy. Besides not having the oomph of animal protein, soy is really hard on the body. It beats up your thyroid, absorbs needed minerals from your body, causes kidney stones, throws your hormones out of whack with bogus estrogen, and on, and on.

And most soy is genetically-modified. While we won’t know the results of this medical experiment for years, ominous signs about damaging our DNA are everywhere.

Without waiting for final results, we already know GMO foods include insecticides. Insecticides kill animals. Oh, my! That includes us! Yikes! Who though eating insecticides was a good idea?

No soy for you!

But not all animal protein is fabulous, either.

Animals raised on factory farms, the meat sold at grocery store meat counters, give us Frankenstein meat that’s laced with antibiotics and hormones.

The antibiotics sets candida, a fungus that lives in each of us, on a wild rampage, swamping various body parts and leading to food sensitivities, if not disease. Candida on the war path is never good.

And antibiotics also lead to antibiotic resistance and also damage to the immune system as they go.

Artificial hormones, given to speed animal growth, whack our endocrine system. These phony-baloney hormones push us into estrogen dominance–a modern plague that few people seem to know about. But it causes, among other things, breast and prostate cancer.

Also, factory farms feed a grain diet (soy and corn) to their animals, who can’t digest it. Bad enough the animals don’t do well (one reason they need antibiotics), but a grain diet changes their body chemistry.

Beef, for instance, is an outstanding source of omega3 fats–unless it comes from grain-fed cows. A grain diet alters the meat’s natural ratio of omega3 and omega6 fats, giving a big edge to omega6–a 20 to 1 edge, to be exact, instead of 7 to 1 going the other way.

This is not good. While omega3 is a blessing, omega6 causes inflammation, the beginning of most diseases.

So, what’s a body to do?

Well, we need protein. A lot more than most poobahs say we need. And even more as we get older. If your muscles are losing their spunk or racing to flab, it probably means you need more protein.

I discovered if I’m dragging, it’s because I skipped the protein I need. A meal with little or no protein volunteers me for that run-down feeling.

But we need to get the protein that does a body good. Such as grass-fed, grass-finished beef, pasture-raised chickens, wild-caught fish. Etc.

And then there’s the saturated fat we need. Sigh. So much to know, so little time.

Let’s talk about fat next time.

God is good,

Bette Dowdell