Too Much Protein Essay

The Results of Too Much Protein

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I. Story-I am sitting in elementary school. The teacher has brought out a colored chart and is telling us kids how important it is to eat meat, drink our milk, and get lots of protein, I am listening to her and looking at the chart, which makes it all seem so simple. I believe my teacher, because I sense that she believes what she is saying. She is sincere. She is a grown-up. It must be true. Protein, I hear-that’s what’s important. And you can only get good quality protein from meats, eggs, and dairy products. That is why they make up two of the four basic food groups on the chart.
II. How was she to know that the pretty little chart was the outcome of extensive political lobbying by the meat and dairy

There is no question that meat and dairy products and eggs are high in protein. But the average American consumes 90 to 120 grams of protein per day while the ideal intake for a human being is 20 to 40 grams per day. We are worried about “getting enough protein” but in fact we are eating more than necessary and far more than is healthy.
V. Human mother’s milk provides 5 percent of its calories as protein. Nature seems to be telling us that little babies, whose bodies are growing the fastest they will ever grow in their entire lives, and whose protein needs are maximum, are best served when 5 percent of their food calories come from

In April of 1991 The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine sponsored the new four food groups, which was designed to incorporate the enormous advances in understanding about diet and health in the recent years. The president of the committee Dr. Neal Banard said this about a healthy body and healthy life: Research is now clear and sufficient that the basic dietary guidelines taught to us as schoolchildren are wrong. Based on the knowledge we have today, we cannot go on recommending a diet based on the old four food groups. Evidence has shown that most people who eat according to the old four food groups die earlier and have a greater risk of serious illness than many of those who eat differently.
IX. The new four food groups proposed by the committee consist of, whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruits. Now you may be thinking that there is no meat represented in the new guidelines, but they are not forbidden they are just considered optional, because medical studies clearly show they are not needed for human health and in fact often contribute to disease. The new four groups reflect massive amount of research telling us that the higher the consumption of meat and dairy products in any nation, the more its people suffer from