| The number one question most vegetarians are | | | | nutrition --- and essential to life. The importance of |
| asked is "How do you get enough protein?", and the | | | | eating enough protein, primarily from animal sources, |
| first question from people considering a vegetarian | | | | is drilled into us daily from childhood. |
| diet is "How will I get enough protein?" | | | | It's been estimated that the average person in this |
| The Myth of Protein is so widely accepted as fact | | | | country eats two - six times more protein, usually |
| that even vegetarians believe it! It goes like this: | | | | from animals, than is needed for good nutrition. At it's |
| Protein is the most important nutrient in our diet, and | | | | most extreme, our protein fixation has led to the |
| protein from meat, fish, poultry, milk and eggs is | | | | popularity of high-protein low-carb weight loss diets, |
| superior to the incomplete protein from plant sources. | | | | condemned by doctors and nutritionists from coast |
| | | | to coast. |
| Meat is the best protein source, and grains have little | | | | The development of factory farms and modern |
| or no protein. | | | | meat processing plants, aided by refrigeration, along |
| A vegetarian diet doesn't have enough protein, and is | | | | with economic rail and truck shipping, made meat and |
| therefore unhealthy. | | | | dairy products widely available and affordable. The |
| Vegetarian Protein Reality | | | | results, for our health, the environment, and world |
| Over the last few decades, wide spread practical | | | | hunger, have been disastrous. Before the late 1800's |
| experience of vegetarian diet, knowledge of | | | | most of the world didn't eat a lot of meat, or dairy, |
| traditional cultures, and hundreds of health/diet | | | | as there just wasn't that much available for ordinary |
| studies, all tell a different story. | | | | people. |
| Too much protein is as harmful as too little, and is | | | | Except in myths of the Wild West, the average |
| linked with shorter life expectancy, increased cancer | | | | person didn't have a horse and gun to run around |
| and heart disease risk, widespread obesity and | | | | shooting things to eat, or a herd of cows to kill. |
| diabetes, osteoporosis, kidney stress, and bad | | | | Mostly they worked pretty hard, for not much |
| digestion | | | | money, and didn't have that much time. |
| High protein-diets bring about temporary weight-loss, | | | | Since the early 20th century, a meat and dairy |
| at the expense of overall health, and people quickly | | | | centered diet has been heavily promoted as the |
| regain weight once they return to a normal diet | | | | answer to dietary deficiencies, the flawed logic being |
| A varied vegetarian diet with a balance of protein, | | | | that since we're mammals, and our bodies are made |
| fats & carbohydrates, and adequate calorie intake | | | | with protein, then we need to eat mammals in order |
| provides more than enough protein | | | | to get enough protein and maintain our bodies. That |
| Complete animal protein is not superior to complete | | | | cannibalistic logic doesn't hold up under the most |
| protein from more than one plant source | | | | casual examination. |
| – they give the same result in different | | | | Unfortunately most of recent human history is based |
| ways | | | | on flawed logic. And we tend to rewrite history |
| Protein from plant sources doesn't include excess | | | | about every fifty years to harmonize with the |
| calories from fat, toxic residues, or an | | | | current world view. |
| overabundance of protein, which stresses the | | | | The world would be a much kinder, healthier place |
| kidneys | | | | today if people had gone with greens, grains and |
| The Gospel According to Industrial Agriculture | | | | beans instead of milk and meat as the solution to |
| Nothing in our modern human diet has been as | | | | dietary deficiencies. A few people did – |
| misunderstood, and as misrepresented, as protein. It's | | | | they adopted a vegetarian diet, and their dietary |
| considered by most people as the foundation of | | | | protein comes mainly from plants. |