This came from 'the body fat guide website'. Which I ran across in researching animal protein and butter.
The French Paradox
Looking first at the role of animal fat in producing disease, one comes across a contradiction to the conventional wisdom: the French Paradox. If eating animal fat produces heart disease, why do the French, who eat plenty of saturated animal fat, have lower rates of heart disease?
The explanation that is consistent with the research on animal protein is that the French consume animal fat largely in the form of butter and cream, which is very low in animal protein. When considering the overall diet of the French, one sees that it is much lower in total animal protein then the Western diet, even though it is higher in animal fat.
Similar to aspirin, red wine is reported to make blood platelets less sticky and thus less likely to form blood clots that cause arterial obstruction leading to strokes and heart attacks. Even so, wine has not been reported to directly reduce arteriosclerosis and cholesterol levels. However, since wine contains no animal protein, while milk does, wine may indirectly lower cholesterol levels because significantly less animal protein is included in one's diet when one drinks wine at meals instead of milk, as do the French.
This does not mean we should start drinking wine; rather, it implies we might be better off drinking less milk! But, before striking out animal-protein foods altogether, such as milk, meat and eggs, it is best to analyze how much animal protein these foods contribute to one's diet. One can then decide how much of these foods, if any, to eat.
| Food | % of Calories from Protein |
| Beef, Regular Ground | 21.42 |
| Beef, Lean Ground | 26.84 |
| Beef, Extra Lean Ground | 31.84 |
| Butter | 0.49 |
| Cream, 25% Fat | 4.04 |
| Sour Cream | 5.92 |
| Cheddar Cheese | 20.00 |
| Cottage Cheese, Lowfat | 62.22 |
| Chicken, Skinless Breast | 73.60 |
| Egg, Whole | 33.60 |
| Egg White | 82.35 |
| Fish, Flat | 82.30 |
| Milk, Whole | 21.19 |
| Milk, Skim | 39.06 |
| Tuna, Solid White, Water | 85.71 |
| Turkey, White Meat | 76.17 |
The more I research, the more I find that the choice to consume under 10-20% animal products seems a sound guideline. The processes required to digest animal protein tend to leech our bodies of vitamins and minerals and makes it hard for us to keep up!
See related post: Calcium Without The Cow.
3 comments:
So, I heard that animal proteins actually deplete the lining from our stomachs, enhancing the chance of ulcers. ?
Question: You said you are wanting to consume less than 10-20% of animal products. Is that percentage daily or weekly? Also, how do you figure in that percentage into your diet? In other words, how do you know that you ate 20% animal products that day for instance.
Obviously I can't calculate exactly (well I could but we all know I'm far too lazy for that), but I have a general amount to stay under and I just aim low. There are roughly 21 meals a week not including snacks. So our family eats meat as a small part of a meal once or twice a week (usually on weekends, mostly fish or poultry), we only have small amounts of mozzarella cheese probably one or two meals a week as well, and a small amount of butter on our toast in the morning (every once in a while I cook with it). All other dairy, we've found we don't really miss and is only an occasional thing.
I try to keep my daily amount of animal product to a real minimum so that when that creamy dessert pops up or I have a sushi or steak craving, I don't have to sweat it. A big thing with the animal proteins is the free-radicals released in the digestion process (especially with red meat), and when I know I am getting plenty of antioxidant rich foods (berries, grape juice, fresh dark greens, etc), I know the little meat that I have is counteracted and taken care of. I give my body a well stocked arsenal to handle the hard work.
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