The human body is physiologically ill-equipped to handle a diet high in refined
foods, animal products, fats, and proteins, without ill effects. Just as heart
disease and cancers arc strongly related to a high consumption of animal foods,
the same can be said of autoimmune illnesses and osteoporosis. Multiple
studies have linked osteoporosis not to low calcium intakes, but to diets high in
protein, salt, refined sugar, caffeine, and phosphorous contained in soft drinks,
all of which cause an excessive loss of calcium in the urine.
In fact,populations that consume the highest levels of calcium usually have the highest
rates of osteoporosis-related hip fractures.Therefore, osteoporosis should be
seen as just another one of the diseases that is linked to our rich, highly
refined, high-protein, high-fat, modern diet.
The United States Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for protein is 44
grams for a young woman. This includes a twofold safety factor, which doubles
the minimum requirements as determined by nitrogen balance studies. We do
not need to eat any animal foods to meet these protein requirements. Strict
vegetarians who eat no animal products get more than enough protein, and
they do not need, selectively or scientifically, to mix and match foods to do so.
It is a mistaken notion that we need to cat protein-concentrated foods in
order to obtain the eight essential amino acids. A thorough review of the
literature on human protein requirements and population studies shows that
children and adults grow healthy and strong on vegetable- and complexcarbohydrate-based
diets.Vegetables that do not contain significant amounts of all eight essential amino acids tend to complement each other even
if the amino acids are consumed in separate meals in the same day or as much
as 16 hours apart.
The average American woman consumes more than 100 grams of protein per
day, which is more than twice the level of our already high RDA. The extra
protein that we do not need merely adds stress to the system by increasing the
acid tide in our bloodstream after a high-protein meal and forcing the body to
deal with excess nitrogenous waste. The stress from excess protein results in
premature aging of the kidney and loss of excessive calcium when urinating.
This inevitably weakens the bones as we age.
A negative calcium balance means more calcium is excreted in the urine
than is absorbed via digestion. A positive balance means more calcium is
absorbed than is excreted. Studies have shown that when subjects consume
more than 75 grams of protein per day, even with a daily calcium intake as high
as 1,400 mg, negative calcium balance can result.The continual depletion of
our calcium reserves over time from excessive calcium excretion in the urine is
the primary cause of osteoporosis. It is the inevitable consequence of
consuming the American diet, which is much too high in protein.
Plant foods contain plenty of essential proteins, and you do not have to be a
food scientist or dietician to get enough. Any mixture of wholesome plant-based
foods consumed in a 24-hour period will supply the body with sufficient
amounts. For example, whole wheat bread is 16 percent protein; peanuts, 18
percent; beans, 28 percent; broccoli, 17 percent; and even fresh fruit such as
an orange is 5 percent protein. Stop being brainwashed by the false notion that
only animal foods contain adequate protein.
Sufficient amounts of protein are obtained when caloric requirements are met
from wholesome natural vegetable foods. Plant products contain an abundance
of protein, without being excessive. How else could the gorilla get to be 800
pounds of muscle, eating solely fruit and leaves? The main point is that we
should be concerned about too much rather than too little protein. It is ironic
that the chief argument used to promote the use of animal products—the idea
that they are rich in protein—is a great reason to avoid them.
Increased urinary calcium loss from the conventional high-protein diet also
leads to an increased risk of kidney stones and nephrocalcinosis (calcification of
kidney tubules). Numerous studies have shown that the formation of kidney
stones is directly proportional to the amount of animal protein in the diet.
The calcium supplements and increased milk consumption recommended to today's
women will further accelerate kidney stone formation and nephrocalcinosis,
since more calcium will be filtered through the kidney.
Plant foods are a preferable source of protein also because they do not
contain antibiotics, cholesterol, and man-made chemicals that concentrate in
animal tissues. Unfortunately, animal foods such as milk, fish, and meat are
contaminated with man-made poisons and can contain high levels of pesticides
such as PCBs and DDTs. As animals eat the treated feeds and contaminated
grains and grasses, they retain the added toxins in their tissues. Animal
products contain much higher levels of pesticides than do plant foods.
Animals are fed antibiotics, other drugs, and growth agents. For example,
some of the most common drugs used on the farm include sulfamethazine,
which can cause cancer in laboratory animals and is believed to cause thyroid
tumors in humans. As a result of the process of biologic concentration (animals
retaining and accumulating poisonous chemicals for a lifetime in their tissues),
these chemicals are transmitted to humans when animal products are eaten.
PCBs and DDTs have also been linked to cancer. Women who have breast
cancer have a higher concentration of these chemicals in their breast tissues
than women who do not have cancer.Fish and dairy products are the
largest contributors of these toxic products in our diet. Though the highest
levels of PCBs are found in fish, they also occur in chicken and red meat. The
insecticides DDT and DDE are found mostly in dairy products.
Researchers at the National Cancer Research Center in Tokyo have confirmed
other reports that at least ten cancer-causing compounds are known to be
released when meat is grilled or fried. Many of the same compounds can be
found in cigarette smoke. When these compounds enter breast tissue they can
spur cancerous mutations.These compounds, mostly heterocyclic amines,
cause cancer by damaging human DNA. The same effect is seen with fish and
fowl.
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