Potatoes not Prozac by Kathleen DesMaisons Ph. D

Author:Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph. D. [DesMaisons, Kathleen, Ph. D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

ADEQUATE PROTEIN AT EACH MEAL

We’ll look at the parts of this step one at a time. Let’s start with getting adequate protein at each meal, since it’s a goal you have a head start on thanks to your mastery of Step 1.

What’s the big deal about eating sufficient protein? Protein provides the raw materials to help your sugarsensitive brain and body heal itself. Most important for you, protein provides the tryptophan your body needs to make serotonin, which keeps you feeling calm, productive, creative, and competent.

Protein also helps to slow down your digestion. Proteins are very, very complex foods, and your body has to work hard to break them down into a simple form that can be utilized as energy. They also help to stabilize your blood sugar levels so you won’t have the steep peaks and valleys that are so disastrous for sugarsensitive people.

Before we go into which foods contain protein, let’s take a look at how protein works. Protein is made up of amino acids, which are the building blocks for thousands of cell functions. Your body needs twenty different amino acids to function properly. They are used to make digestive enzymes, to maintain the balance of fluids in your body, to make the antibodies that protect you against disease, to make hormones (such as thyroid and insulin), to build bones and teeth, and to help your eyes respond to light.

Some of these amino acids can be produced in the body. Others, called essential amino acids, must be provided by the food you eat. A food like beef, which contains all the essential amino acids, is called a complete protein. Giving your body complete proteins is important. Eating any type of protein will raise the amount of amino acids in your bloodstream. But in order for these amino acids to actually get into your cells and do their job, you must either eat complete proteins that contain all the essential amino acids or you must make sure that your diet includes “complementary” plant proteins. Let me explain this in a little more detail.

Proteins derived from animal foods (meat, fish, eggs, and dairy products) are complete, while proteins derived from plants (vegetables, beans, and grains) are generally not complete. If you are a vegetarian and choose to eat only plant proteins, it is important to combine them to make sure your body gets all the essential amino acids. For example, rice and beans individually contain incomplete proteins. But if you eat rice and beans, the combination provides all the essential amino acids your body needs. You do not need to eat these complementary proteins at the same time. The balance over the entire day is what’s important. You can find information about “food combining” in a number of cookbooks and vegetarian books. There are some long-standing myths about the inadequacy of plant proteins and about the need for eating plant proteins that complement each other at the same meal. These beliefs are no longer considered valid. Current thinking suggests

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