A man needs meat! Veganism — where to get protein?

One of the most common beliefs in society is that a man — a "predator and getter" - is in vital need of meat food. Supposedly, some male power is found in the meat. After all, men often work hard physically, or simply because of their physiological data, they need more of some kind of "strength" than women. And this power is taken, of course, from proteins, and it is important that it is from animals!

The same myth is true of children — you probably heard: "a growing body needs protein!". What is it about the miraculous protein in meat that men and children so desperately need? Let's get this straight.

The article is aimed at novice vegetarians or convinced / doubting meat eaters. Vegans are already fed up with this topic, as am I, but there is nowhere to go: as long as the meat eaters continue to spread this nonsense, we need to destroy it!

How are our beliefs born?

At the very beginning, I would like everyone who believes in the postulate "meat = strength" to ask themselves when and where exactly they first heard it. Most likely, this is what parents, grandparents, doctors, people in advertising, acquaintances said.

Doctors, TV and advertising are objects interested in the development of animal husbandry, their earnings depend on it, because it is profitable for them to make you think that meat and milk are our building material and a necessary source of energy, because by switching to a plant-based diet, you will stop buying products and pharmaceuticals that TV advertises and visiting doctors (I personally forgot what a cold is).

Relatives, friends, acquaintances simply grow up in this environment and repeat what they are told, or what their parents and environment do. However, the chance that someone from all our friends, being a vegetarian/vegan since childhood, felt weak and, having started eating meat, personally felt a surge of strength thanks to this product (in the long term, of course), thus making their own personal conclusion — tends to zero. Well, none of us ever did, I bet.

They say ," I won't survive on the grass/I'll get weak/I'll get thin — the meat fills me up." But" on the grass " in fact, none of them ever lived to draw conclusions. And, as you know, only practice is the criterion of truth.

People like to repeat that humans need animal proteins or that humans are omnivores, but few of them also have deep knowledge in the field of biochemistry, anthropology or genetics. We simply hear these postulates from everywhere, memorize them and spread them in society, without even thinking about going a little further and finding out why everything is so and whether what we hear is true.

No less popular is the stereotype of a man-a predator or hunter, a getter (in the case of men) - allegedly throughout history, people received power by killing animals — this is natural and necessary. But we do not know anything about the past, in which we were not present ourselves — we only have books written by a person with an unknown benefit, this is the first. Second — even if everything was really like that once upon a time, times are changing, we are changing and our environment, way of life and opportunities are changing — it is stupid to hold on to the outdated standards of past centuries — it is against survival. So here, too, people do not go far into thinking about the question.

Therefore, having determined that all our beliefs are formed mainly at an early age from the beliefs of people who have no idea what they are talking about, we can safely put them in a far corner and do our own research, and better practice, in order to discover our personal truth.

Who needs proteins the most?

I must say at once that I do not think that men (the male sex in general) need any special powers, more than women, children, the elderly and anyone else. We are all humans-a single species, and our body's nutritional needs differ little.

The quantity is another matter. Depending on lifestyle, age, physique and other factors, different people need different AMOUNTS of food. That is why a bodybuilder does not need to increase the percentage of protein products in his diet in order to gain weight — it is enough to increase the total amount of food consumed and at the same time — the amount and method of training.

A man working in an office, for example, needs a much smaller amount of nutrients. But the substances themselves — he needs the SAME as women, etc.

This idea is discussed in more detail at the end of the book "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Douglas Graham, you can read it, I recommend it.

I also want to add at once — attention-a plant-based diet is suitable for a person of any age, any gender, any lifestyle.

Therefore, the myth that men or children somehow especially need protein or anything else-I consider dispelled and in the future I will talk about" meat — power " mainly in the context of any person, not just men. Although we will also talk about them later.

What proteins do people need?

Ask this question to yourself or to someone who tells you about proteins, and you are unlikely to get a coherent, literate answer. Because at the moment "a person needs protein", the recording on the hard disk is interrupted. We don't remember anything from the school biology course, except for another expression — "essential amino acids". I even tried to have a conversation with a chemist, a nutritionist, and a surgeon, and none of them could answer the basic questions, but they kept repeating: "proteins, essential amino acids, proteins, essential, proteins…»

Below I will share the knowledge gathered over the past few years of studying nutrition issues from various sources, much of it is the usual reference information that you will find in almost any biochemical reference book.

I also want to note that I do not want to question the need for proteins for the human body at this time: they really perform a lot of vital functions, no one disputes. Here the question is different — what is power in general, where does it come from in humans and is it related to animal proteins; can a person (including a man) get the necessary proteins from other products besides meat/milk?

If you turn to dictionaries, you will find that "strength" can have 2 definitions — energy and physical ability associated with musculature. The first, I want to note, is practically not related to proteins, since everyone knows that we get energy, since we are talking about nutrition, more with the help of carbohydrates than proteins, and there can be no doubt about the strength of a plant-based diet. The second, we are used to associate only with the intake of protein in the body from food, but this is also not quite true, I will explain below.

A little history

Just so you understand, protein, as a separate organic substance, was only discovered in the 18th century! And it was obtained for the first time — a surprise-from wheat flour. Not meat, friends. So people for 18 centuries lived, worked, built muscle mass without even thinking about the amount and quality of protein consumed. Moreover, the same gladiators and just the working class either did not consume animal products at all, or these were exceptional cases (if we are not deceived by the books).

I am not saying that we should eat based on past centuries, or that we know the history reliably. This information is here solely to show how the familiar picture begins to wobble when there is the slightest interest in the problem and its study.

What is protein made of?

We all know that a protein is, roughly speaking, a combination of amino acids. And here's the first important point is that every living being is building ITS UNIQUE structure of a PROTEIN from amino acids. That is, those very notorious "bricks" are exactly amino acids, not proteins.

The human body, which consumes protein food, first disassembles someone else's protein structure into amino acids-bricks, and only then adds up the structure that is already necessary for itself. This means that someone's dead muscle tissue — for example, from a chicken fillet, is not built into our muscles in the form in which its proteins entered the body. We are not chickens — the structure of chicken protein does not suit us — we need the structure of human protein, and in each case it is different.

That is, we have determined that it is illiterate to say that a person needs protein from food — a person needs amino acids from food! Which ones — that's the next question.

We know that there are substitutable and" essential " amino acids. The first are synthesized by our body, the second-must come from the outside with food.

How do most people perceive the phrase "essential amino acids"? We were taught, trained, I would say that these substances are only found in animal products, and therefore so called — that they can not be replaced, they say, with vegetable ones. This, of course, is a lie and a provocation))

With food, we can get both interchangeable and essential amino acids, but if, for example, we eat a product in which there are no interchangeable amino acids, the body will not suffer — because it will be able to replace the amino acid that did not come with food, synthesizing it independently. Essential amino acids our body can not synthesize (except the body of advanced raw foodists, but this is not accurate) and therefore can not replace. Do you understand? No talking about animal or plant amino acids — there is no difference for a person. These definitions refer strictly to the processes that take place inside the human body and do not relate to any category of food.

How everything happens. A chicken / cow eats grains/grass that contain amino acids, then its body takes these amino acids and builds protein from them. A person eats chicken/beef/drinks milk-gets a set of proteins from someone else's body, disassembles them, allocates amino acids and builds the necessary protein formula. That is, with animal food, we get the same amino acids from grass, only collected in a certain structure.

Can we simplify the scheme? Of course! Consume amino acids directly (from plant products), and not through an intermediary (animal).

I can guess the question: "But how — because plant products do not contain essential amino acids??". There is nothing easier than to find out which plant products contain which amino acids. Do not trust the pages of the Internet-get into the scientific literature, reference books — this is not a problem today.

Please note that the first in the list are exactly vegetable products!

Similarly, you can check the content of all essential amino acids in plant products using a calculator Cronometr.com — this is not a vegan or even a vegetarian site, so there is no point in cheating. You can add even beef, even carrots - the site will calculate the amount of all the nutrients contained in the product and you will be able to see the truth for yourself)

Why is there a popular opinion that plant products are worse in terms of protein than animals?

"There is no protein in plant foods»

In fact, there is. And in many products, even more than enough: for example, in legumes, nuts, cereals. The notorious "grass" even contains a lot of amino acids, but few people know about it — when you start to be purposefully interested, you discover this fact for yourself. Moreover, all plant products contain protein, only its percentage differs.

"Plant-based foods are very low in protein»

This is also not true. For example, peanuts contain 25 g of protein per 100 g of weight, while tofu contains 24 g. For comparison, in chicken fillet-it is even less-23 g.

"Plant foods are defective — they do not contain essential amino acids»

We have already understood that the term "essential" does not apply to either animals or plant amino acids, it is about the ability of the body to synthesize certain substances independently.

However, there is a slight difference in both animal and plant foods in relation to the essential amino acids. One type of animal product contains all the essential amino acids at once, which can not be said about plant-they need to be combined to collect all the amino acids. But this is not a problem and does not require planning, if you just eat different plant foods, and not the same one all your life — but no one does, do you agree?

"Proteins from plant foods are less easily absorbed than animals»

So far, I haven't seen any objective, authoritative research supporting this. I can assume such a situation in the short term, while the human body adapts to the change of diet and has not yet learned to extract the necessary substances from new products, but it is only a matter of time.

But even if such studies are, I know well from my own experience that's not true — once and I know a lot of scientific works in opposition, pointing to the negative effects of animal protein on the human body in contrast to the plant.

The first ones have a much more complex structure and a bunch of toxic substances, which is why they hit our digestion harder, and are absorbed, respectively, worse, creating a lot of problems for the health of the body. Hence, cancer, obesity, diabetes and other diseases that can be avoided by replacing animal products vegetable.

Eating animal-derived proteins increases the risk of dying from cancer by four times. This risk factor for mortality is comparable to smoking.

Men in Russia live on average up to 65 years

William Roberts, factors in the development of heart disease

Diabetes-the number of cases of the disease in vegans is 78% lower than in those who eat meat daily. Michael Greger's book Don't Die.

Vegans live longer — Dan Buettner, author of Blue Zones»

Bottom line: there are no animal amino acids or plant amino acids — there are just amino acids, from which plants and animals build different protein structures, including humans.

In the world of plant foods, there are ALL the essential amino acids, but different foods are different. Eating a variety of plant foods, a person gets all the necessary "bricks" for the construction of their proteins — muscles — strength.

There is no disease or analysis that determines the lack of animal protein (or amino acids) in the human body. A human needs only human protein, period.

"You need to eat a lot of vegetable proteins to get enough and get the necessary amount of building materials»

Indeed, to maintain the same calorie content as on an omnivorous diet, you need to consume more plant foods, but it is not necessary to chew lettuce leaves all day. This is a lie, which they try to turn us away from plant-based nutrition or force us to consume more.

First, there are a lot of plant products with high calories and high nutritional properties, I have already given an example above. They are not necessary, even impossible, there are many.

Secondly, the amount of calories and the same nutrients depends on the lifestyle of a person and his complexion. My husband is a vegan, for example, doing heavy physical work every day, does not feel any weakness, although we do not monitor the amount of protein in the diet at all. We passed the analysis once, later there will be an article-report. The amount of protein was normal. Perhaps those who want to increase muscle mass should consume more calories, but NOT PROTEIN. I also mentioned this earlier and below we will talk about athletes.

Well, finally, the amount of protein that a person needs today is clearly exaggerated, even vegetable. In all of history, humanity has never consumed as much food as we do now. However, as we already know above, this did not prevent our ancestors from working hard and building muscle mass.

I have met information that instead of the recommended 1.5 g per kg of weight, 0.5 g is enough, because there is too much protein (even vegetable!) in the human body, it causes diseases. But I can't find the sources anymore, I think it's mentioned by Douglas Graeme.

But, man, where do you get your protein?? "Plants, bro!

While I was writing this article, I actually thought — where did the stereotype come from that only animal products (meat, milk) give us strength, while plant food is for weaklings? What is the logical chain here? Maybe this is due to the fact that predatory animals are usually strong? And when we say "herbivore", only rabbits come to mind? But the most powerful animal on the planet-the African elephant-is a herbivore! What about gorillas, oxen, rhinos? These animals are not inferior to any predator in musculature and endurance, although they eat essentially "grass". Where do they get their power from, have you thought?

The most important conclusion that I want to present in this chapter: THERE IS NO RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VEGANISM AND PROTEIN DEFICIENCY — NO!

All these scary stories about vegans with a lack of protein are just folk tales, not confirmed by real facts.

If a vegan (and the number of such people you know or your friends ' friends tends to zero) really looks physically weak or has poor tests, there is no relationship with veganism, since French fries are also plant-based food, but you wouldn't blame the whole food system for someone eating only potatoes, would you? Just as it is stupid to blame the omnivore for the health problems of a person who ate only cakes and chicken wings. It is fair to compare well-planned veganism and well-planned omnivory, as far as possible, and then compare the food systems themselves, and not the personal mistakes of individual individuals.

Although look who visits the clinics in your city — are they vegans? Not at all.

The picture becomes clear when you stop following cultural prejudices and the interests of producers imposed on the common man in the street. The average person usually does not want to understand, he eats everything that he is told, if it is beautifully served, or so do everyone around.

Male power — what is it?

Let's start with the fact that the boundaries of male-female have long been erased in our society, and many male functions are very successfully taken over by women. Nevertheless, especially conservative people are still convinced that a man is a hunter and a breadwinner. Why? Because it was so with our ancestors (and how do you know how they had it?)

As you may have noticed, a man no longer needs to run around the forest and hunt game. Many women today work even more or harder than many men, and are the breadwinners in the family. It's not bad or good, it's just a fact.

Moreover, with the technological process, the need for heavy physical work is increasingly eliminated. But even if it is present in someone's life, we have already realized that controlling the proteins that enter the body with food is completely optional, looking back in history (as far as we can trust it).

And why should a man have to be particularly strong, stronger than a woman? A man doesn't have to do anything, in today's world for sure. If he is naturally taller and larger than a woman, then fine, but it is not necessary to do something specifically for the sake of others, or to hang labels of a hunter/getter on someone-it is simply unethical and unjustified.

However, those who want to be stronger and more resilient physically, larger in appearance, can successfully achieve this on any diet, including plant-based. You will find proof of this in the following column.

And, on the contrary, a high consumption of animal products does not guarantee a strong appearance and properties, neither to a man — to anyone. We see a lot of flabby, fat men who love meat, and skinny weak guys who also consume it in large quantities, but there was no smell of strength there. A large volume of hands, in general, a large physique does not speak about the functionality of the weight and in general the composition of the mass that you have. You may be visually larger than someone, but that doesn't mean you're stronger. You can have the same amount of muscle as a lean person, only yours is hidden under a large layer of fat. Fat is not functional, fat has nothing to do with strength. Yes, it can be converted into energy, but only when burned, but it does not play a role in building muscle.

Moreover, many well-fed people have lower functional indicators than those who have less weight. It is difficult for them to walk, it is difficult to lift weights, they are less hardy and adapted to active life.

I can't help but note the fact that many people associate "male power" with male potency. And then the science is against animal testing.

Consumption of animal products is associated with blockage of the arteries, which causes inadequate functioning not only of the human heart, but also of all its vital organs. While high-fiber foods, including fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, remove plaque from the walls of the arteries and allow blood to flow to the parts of the body that a man needs most at certain times, improving his love life and bringing satisfaction to each of the partners.

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that men combine regular exercise with a fruit-rich diet, which will reduce the risk of erectile dysfunction by as much as 20 %.

So vegans are probably even better lovers than meat eaters:)

Strength of character/masculinity

Usually here we mean the firmness of character, the skills of the "hunter" in relationships, rigidity, coolness. But is this true?

Again, in an ethical society, we have no moral right to demand any of these things from men more than from women. This breaks the psyche of people and their destinies, because not all men are born as such, or it happens that women have such qualities and feel somehow defective.

Today, people can have whatever qualities they want, and be in demand from the opposite sex.

Nevertheless, the need to be masculine is still imposed on men from the outside, and, of course, the use of meat here plays an important role. This is rooted in all the same in the myths about squirrels, hunting mammoths, etc., which, as we have already found out, does not stand up to any criticism.

But I still want to mention one important point — in my opinion, strength and masculinity is not in the way a person does not care about animals, about his body, not in the way he is led to propaganda or goes with the flow with others.

The real power, the one that I admire in men (and in general in people) is the mind, the ability to think soberly and competently, not falling for the hooks of manipulations of marketers and society, if necessary-to go against the current, pursuing your specific goal. This is respect for yourself and someone else's right to life. This is compassion, kindness, sincerity. This is taking responsibility for all your actions.

Boiled / fried dead muscle tissue from a slaughtered mammal or ungulate secretions intended for animals of another species will not give you that real strength. Forget all these stories about borscht, chicken fillet, cottage cheese, etc. - on the contrary, they will take away your energy, although you will think that you are satiated — this feeling of a belly full of warm, fatty food gives an imaginary peace of mind, security, but not strength and definitely not health. Fresh raw vegetables and fruits, greens fill us with strength and energy. Legumes, nuts, and grains, after all.

I love my husband very much, he switched to veganism with me, and I can say that I did not notice any loss of "masculinity" in all of the above parameters.

During the transition, he began to lose weight and was a little afraid that he would lose power functions. However, as a result, I found that the strength remained the same, but the endurance increased. Partly due to the fact that the excess weight is gone + nutrition has become less energy - consuming for digestion and purification.

So that you understand, I will add that the weight goes away during the change of nutrition (only at the beginning) not because the body lacks something, but because it frees up the strength to start cleansing. You do not lose muscle, but fat, water, slags, dead cells, toxic deposits, etc. All the garbage that has been stuffed into itself for many years of traditional food. Over time, it will stabilize at one point. Weight loss can be compensated by gaining muscle mass through strength training.

Plant-based diet and sports

What, if not sports achievements, embody the power in the minds of modern people? My favorite point, I will destroy the myths that athletes can not be vegans. Yes, they can, even raw foodists can!)

Uhh, well, there is a lot of information here, starting with the fact that the film "The Game Changers" is coming out soon, in which world sports stars will talk about the benefits of their vegan lifestyle for sports training and competitions.

The film features some of the strongest, fastest and most resilient athletes on the planet, in an updated version, including Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton, top tennis player Novak Djokovic and nine-time NBA All-Star Chris Paul + Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan, and they are all VEGANS!

Next, of course, my favorites: Roman Milovanov (not a bodybuilder, but actively engaged in sports on a vegan raw food diet), Alexander Moiseenko (a vegan raw food eater), VancheZzVeganPower (a vegan raw food eater). I still liked Arsen Markaryan-a competent, cheerful guy, but I can't find a link to his profile, and I don't know if he is still a vegan raw food eater. However, these bloggers are certainly not the only vegans involved in sports — there are a lot of them on youtube, if you dig around, especially in the English-speaking space.

Here, for example.

You'll say it's steroids and hormones. And what do you think-in meat and milk, which is consumed by people who train on an omnivore, they are not present?? Very naive, if so. There's also a top-down finish) However, I can not know this, you can only make sure in practice (but competently planned). And this is so that you understand that the world is diverse and perhaps more than you think.

How to deal with the pressure of society?

One of the disadvantages of a plant-based diet is the constant comments from relatives, friends,acquaintances, and even strangers. Everyone tries to enlighten you about the essential substances that you don't get enough of. If you are doing well now, then it will definitely be worse in 5 years, we even have one friend who has been repeating this for 15 years))

With men, it is especially difficult: "How is it that you don't eat meat? And where will the power come from?", "Do you underfeed your husband, he works, he needs meat!", etc.

How to respond to such comments? Or nod silently if it's Grandma (it's still useless to explain to her). Or drown with counter-questions: what is it about meat? what is the force? what are proteins? what are the amino acids? what of this is not present in plant products? And most importantly — do you have any experience? 90% of people will go into the sunset after questions about amino acids.

You should not be angry or offended, you were also such a fool once, because you were not interested in the question. You can advise a person on literature or some articles, if he is really interested in finding the truth. Better yet, invite him to try and make his own conclusion.

Conclusion

A man and any other person does not need meat or dairy products. This is a delusion imposed by culture and the media. Plant-based food covers any human need, and moreover, contributes to a longer, healthier and more efficient life.

TIP OF THE DAY: if you want to live your life-think with your own head, understand yourself in any matter, and do not rush to draw any conclusions without confirming the information received from personal experience. Practice is the criterion of truth!