Vegans! Make Sure You Are Getting Enough Protein!

One of the biggest concerns of vegetarians is getting enough protein. Thankfully most foods that exist have a great deal of protein in them. Foods that do not provide protein are alcohol, sugar and fats.

Excellent sources of protein for vegans include lentils, chickpeas, peanut butter, almonds, spinach, rice, potatoes, broccoli, kale and quinoa.

The following food vegan food suggestions meet the daily recommended daily amounts for protein for a grown adult male if eaten on their own:

·      1 cup oatmeal with almond milk

·      2 tablespoons peanut butter

·      1 cup beans

·      1 cup broccoli and 1 cup brown rice

Although strict protein planning and food combining to make proteins is not necessary on a vegan diet you may want to combine foods that they have a complete amino acid profile into one meal. Amino Acids are the building blocks of protein.

The amino acids necessary to stay healthy are –

·       Histidine

·       Isoleucine

·       Leucine

·       Lysine

·       Methionine

·       Phenylalanine

·       Threonine

·       Tryptophan

·       Valine

Animal proteins contain every single one of these essential amino acids, which is why meats and eggs are considered to be whole proteins.

Plant proteins are a bit different because they can be high in some amino acids and low in others. For instance, grains and cereals are low in lysine but if you throw a few lysine rich nuts or legumes into the mix then you end up with a complete amino acid profile.

As a general rule all grains and legumes are called complementary proteins because once combined you get a full protein.  Nuts and seeds are also complementary to legumes.

You do not have to eat these nuts and grains or nuts and legumes together at every meal. You just have to consume at least all of this once a day.

However if you do choose to food combine then here are the vegan solutions –

Combining grains and legumes to get a full protein -

·      Black beans and rice

·      Pasta and peas

·      Bread and peanut butter

·      Beans soup and bread or crackers

Combining nuts and seeds to get a full protein –

·      Seeds, nuts and peanuts

·      Hummus (chickpeas and sesame seed paste a.k.a. tahini)

·      Lentils and almonds

Both soy and quinoa contain all of the amino acids and qualify as complete plant proteins.  Soy is also sold as tempeh, tofu or soymilk. However of the two sources quinoa is a bit healthier as it less likely to be contaminated with GMOs. 

For more information or to book a consultation about anti-aging, diet and weight loss programs or any health issue you may be experiencing, visit the Pinewood Natural Health Clinic website that has a list of full services and products at www.pinewood.ca or call our Toronto Office at  (416)-656- 8100.  We also have an office in Pickering, Ontario at (905)-427-0057. You can also email us at info@pinewoodhealth.ca and we would be happy to answer any question that you have about our holistic health services.

 

What is Natural Healthcare?

The human body is designed to work like a well-oiled, perfectly crafted machine. Each individual system, including the nervous, digestive endocrine systems to works with our organs in synergy to keep us in optimum health.

However, just like a machine needs maintenance and upkeep, so do our bodies. All too often, we wait until something “break” before we realize there is something wrong or take any steps to fix the problem. All too often those solutions are reactive. We take medicine, have surgery, visit multiple doctors, whatever we think will fix our issues.

However, there is a growing trend toward practicing natural, reactive medicine and taking steps to correct our diet and lifestyle that will prevent or slow down the development and medical conditions and the progression illness.  Around the world there is an increased interest in preventative medicine as well as an increased demand for Nutritional Supplements and Natural Healthcare Products.

In fact, 75% of Canadians currently use some form of non-drug therapy to manage or prevent a health condition.

What is Natural Healthcare?

So what does it mean to receive natural healthcare? Natural healthcare is holistic in nature meaning that the body and all of its systems are viewed a whole with the root causes of distressing symptoms being examined. For instance, many patients don’t simply have sore joints, weight gain and fatigue, they also have insulin resistance, a pre-diabetic condition that can be treated with diet and exercise. You can medicate the sore joints with Advil, work on the treadmill for hours and drink sugary caffeinated drinks to stay alert but in the end, you will end up treating a diseased pancreas that cannot process sugar any more with insulin.  In naturopathy, there are many interdependencies and the root cause of an issue is treated, as well as its symptoms with the intention of making the symptoms disappear altogether.

Natural Healthcare is More Popular Than Ever

To give you an example of how popular alternative health care services have become, in 2008, Americans spent $33.9 billion on complementary and alternative medicine practice and products.  According to NIH (National Institutes of Health New from information gathered from the National Center of Health Statistics this enormous amount of money was spent on herbal supplements, meditation, chiropractic services, acupuncture services and similar.[1]

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com

For more information about The Pinewood Institute for the Advancement of Natural Medicine courses including course outlines, detailed descriptions of courses and information about upcoming training sessions, please go www.pinewoodinstitute.com.  You can also send us an email using our email form at http://pinewoodinstitute.com/contact.aspx or call us at 416-656-8100. If you prefer to fax the number is 416-656-8107.

---

[1] Americans Spent 33.9 Billion Out-of-Pocket on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, NIH NEWS, February 20, 2013. Retrieved August 21, 2014. http://nccam.nih.gov/news/2009/073009.htm