Food for Thought: Protein + the Case of the Gorilla

Photo by Philip Kromer, via Wikimedia Commons

Nowadays protein is one of the most talked about topics when it comes to nutrition. But really, when it comes down to it, this over-emphasis on protein has been more about making money for the food industry than about promoting actual health. As the book Whole: Rethinking the Science of Nutrition elucidates, it’s a detriment to ourselves to put so much emphasis on one single macronutrient as being more important than others. Because that’s not how the human body works. We don’t process one nutrient at a time. Healthy digestion is all about the interplay between all the macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals we consume simultaneously. Focusing so much on protein, and protein sources, leads us to ignore the whole picture as it applies to our health.

But of course, because our cultural emphasis on protein is so intense right now, two of the biggest misconceptions out there about plant-based eating are that:

You can’t get enough protein from a plant-based diet. [FALSE]
You need to supplement a plant-based diet in order to be healthy. [FALSE]

In actuality a well-rounded whole food, plant-based diet will give you plenty of protein while at the same time providing you with ample amounts of the other vitamins and nutrients we need, without the bad stuff like synthetic hormones, high cholesterol and antibiotics that are found in animal products. For instance, did you know that broccoli has two times as much protein per calorie as steak does? And did you know that 26% of the calories from lentils are protein, 33% of the calories from chickpeas are protein, 30% of the calories from green peas are protein, 22% of the calories from kale are protein…the list goes on and on (read more, here).

The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of protein is 0.8g protein/kg of body weight per day, which is 8-10% of total calories per day. And this number covers 98% of the population’s protein needs. (If you are interested in the science behind these numbers, check out the World Health Organization’s Technical Report Series 935.) Today we have this skewed perception that the RDA is a minimum requirement and we should eat much more protein than the amount suggested, but that simply isn’t true. As you can see from above, a whole food, plant-based diet easily provides the 8-10% calories from protein needed each day. So clearly, protein is not an issue when it comes to a whole food, plant-based diet.

So, where does the gorilla come into all of this??? Even when I first started looking into a plant-based diet “protein, protein, protein” was still ingrained in my mind. But then, I was reminded of the gorilla…one of our closest animal relatives whose massive bodies of sheer, solid, strong muscles are built from an overwhelmingly, almost 100% plant-based diet. (They do get some bugs and snails in there eating all those plants, but those bugs only make up a tiny portion of their diet.)

And then I was reminded of the elephant and the ox as well. Both massive animals that thrive on diets made up of all plant foods. Clearly, they aren’t suffering from protein deficiencies either. We try to eat meat to become big and strong, much like these animals, when in reality they become big and strong from eating plants.

Makes you think, doesn’t it? If our primate cousins, and other animals, can grow such massive muscle on completely plant-based diets without supplements….can’t we?

Just some Food for Thought. 🙂 Happy Saturday!