Achieving Total Wellness Now

Protein is one of our three food groups.  It is probably the last thing most people think about in planning their meals and is often lacking in our diets unless we are big meat eaters.  We need protein for so many things; but look at it this way.  If you want to keep “meat on your bones” you need protein.

Protein should be about 20% of your daily diet.  If you eat a 2,000 calorie diet, protein should be 400 calories; which translates to 100 grams at 4 calories per gram.

Words to the wise- try to get as little of this protein as possible from red meats and high-fat dairy products.  Here is a list of some of our most popular sources of protein and the cost per gram.

• 1 cup of chicken- 43 grams- 1.8 cents per gram
• 5 oz. Salmon- 42 grams- 5.8 cents per gram
• 1 cup turkey- 41 grams- 1.5 cents per gram
• 1 cup soybeans, canned- 29 grams- 3.1 cents per gram
• 3 oz. Roast beef- 26 grams- 2.7 cents per gram
• 1 cup non-fat cottage cheese- 25 grams- 3.1 cents per gram
• 3 oz. Ground beef- 22 grams- 2.3 cents per gram
• 3 oz. Ham- 18 grams- 2.1 cents per gram
• 1 cup lentils- 18 grams- 3.3 cents per gram
• 1 cup beans, canned- 15 grams- 2.9 cents per gram
• 1 cup low-fat yogurt- 12 grams- 5.0 cents per gram
• 1 cup milk- 8 grams- 2.5 cents per gram
• 8 oz. Peas, canned- 8 grams- 5.2 cents per gram
• ¼ block firm tofu- 7 grams- 6.9 cents per gram
• 1 oz. Cheddar cheese- 7 grams- 3.6 cents per gram
• 1 oz. Nuts- 7 grams- 7 grams- 5.2 cents per gram
• 1 large egg- 6 grams- 5.7 cents per gram
• 1 tbsp. Peanut butter- 4 grams- 1.8 cents per gram
• ½ cup ice cream- 3 grams- 5.3 cents per gram

The information in this blog is taken from an article by Robert A. Weinberg, PH.D; and Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. that appeared in the June 23, 2008 edition of Newsweek Magazine. 

“We’ve known for some time that a high-fat diet, obesity and lack of exercise can increase the risk of developing heart disease and Type II diabetes, two conditions that affect millions of Americans.  What we are finding out now is that those same lifestyle factors also play an important role in cancer.  That’s the bad news.  The good news is that you can do something about your lifestyle.   If we grew thinner, exercised regularly, avoided diets rich in red meat (substituting poultry, fish or vegetable sources of protein) and ate diets rich in fruits and vegetables, and stopped using tobacco, we would prevent 70 per cent of all cancers.”

“The strongest evidence of the importance of lifestyle in cancer is that most common cancers arise at dramatically different rates in different parts of the globe.  Several cancers that are extremely common in the United States—colon, prostate and breast cancer—are relatively rare in other parts of the world, occurring 1/10^th or 1/20^th as often.  Equally striking, when people migrate from other parts of the world to the United States, their cancer rates approach those of us whose families have lived in this country for a long time.   Even  if people in other parts of the world stay put, but adopt a U.S. lifestyle, their cancer rises; as Japanese have embraced Western habits, their rates of colon, breast and prostate cancer have skyrocketed.”

“What is it about our lifestyle that raises the risk of many types of cancer?  The main culprits seem to be the Western diet, obesity and physical inactivity.  While we’ve known about the importance of tobacco and cancer for more than 50 years, we are just beginning to understand how diet, a healthy body weight and regular exercise can protect us against cancer.”

As you can see, the interrelatedness of our bodily systems seems to point out more and more that what is good for one part of our system is good for the entire system; and the inverse of that is also true.  What is bad for one part is bad for all parts.

We will refer to this article and go into further detail in future blogs.  I think that we can all respect the fact that a high-fat diet, obesity and lack of exercise are all major risk factors in many forms of disease and the evidence is mounting for this line of thinking on a daily basis.