"protein" news and stories

Protons are the first crunchy tofu soy snacks on the market. They are high in protein and calcium, have soy iso-flavones, iron, and fiber. They're also low in carbs and sodium and have no cholesterol and zero trans fats. Their also natural, organic, vegan, dairy free, gluten free, non GMO, and have no preservatives. WOW! Can you put any more healthy tag words in one paragraph? I'm feeling great just typing this.

They come in six tasty flavors, three sweet and three savory: Backyard Bar-B-Q, Tomato Herb Garden, Chili Lime Fiesta, Lemon Meringue Pie, Maple Syrup Waffle, and Cinnamon Toast. You can eat them plain for a snack, use the savory ones like croutons on soups or salads, and some folks even eat the sweet ones like cereal, in a bowl with milk or soy milk. Mmmm... Mmmm. Sounds mighty tasty to me. Just don't accidentally mix the sweet and savory or you'll be having tomato soup with lemon meringue pie croutons for lunch, and Backyard Bar-B-Q cereal for breakfast. Oh, I'm sooo confused. Just pass me some protons.

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Every time we turn around it seems that there is some expert or some study telling us that another food is "bad" for us. And given a little more time, there will be another person saying that the food is, in fact, "good." Red meat -- a category that includes beef, pork and lamb -- has been subject to this time and again and it is getting difficult to keep track of all the things that it can -- and cannot -- do. Fortunately, an Independent columnist neatly summarized the benefits and risks of eating red meat.

Benefits

• High in zinc, which is important for a healthy immune system.
• Contains more iron than most foods, and it is more easily used by the body than iron from other sources
• Also a good source of other vitamins and minerals, including phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, selenium and b vitamins.
• Excellent source of complete proteins
• A high-protein diet based on lean red meat has been shown to help weight loss

Risks

• An increased risk of bowel cancer was found for people who ate more than two servings of red meat per week.
• The Mediterranean diet, which is low in red meat, has been shown to decrease the risk of Alzheimer's disease
• Excessive amounts of red meat can lead to a higher risk of osteoporosis due to an acid byproduct from digesting very large amounts of protein.
• Eating red meat every day can double the risk of Arthritis
• Red meat is high in saturated fat and cholesterol
• A recent study found that rating more than one serving of red meat per day can double the risk of breast cancer, especially in young women.

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Athletes, regular hard-working folks, and vegetarians who eat dairy can best benefit from the protein in whey as opposed to other forms of protein. Whey protein's amino acid makeup, branched chain amino acids (BCCAs), are metabolized directly into muscle tissue and are the first ones used when a muscle cell is taxed in exercise. These "lean muscle tissues" rely on BCCAs to begin the rapid replenishing and rebuilding of the cells.

Whey protein is also easily digested and gets into the bloodstream much more rapidly than proteins found in meats and even tofu. Tofu is great, mind you, but you'd have to eat several blocks a day to get the equivalent benefit from whey protein. This also assumes you are looking to build lean muscle mass and lose fat on especially arduous exercise program. Otherwise, any experienced vegetarian knows how to get all the protein they need. Carnivores too.

Lastly, in defense of whey, it is the abundance of the amino acid leucine in whey that makes it a no brainer addition to your program. Leucine promotes muscle protein synthesis and growth. Glutathione is also found in whey at high levels and is an anti-oxidant that plays an important role in the immune system: heavy exercise can deplete the body of Glutathione.
There is plenty of information to be found on the benefits of whey in your routine, though there are also detractors. I have found it to be very useful in strength training and weight management.

The picture shows my favorite brand, though there are plenty. You can buy it in bulk at some Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottages, etc.

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The interesting thing about LightFull Smoothies is that they're designed to be filling, while other smoothie drinks are usually designed to deliver a few servings of fruit, or a richer alternative to juice - not to fill you up. As a result, you can drink an ordinary smoothie, still be hungry, and oftentimes, worse off than before because of all the sugar. This is not likely to happen with LightFull. All of the smoothies are made with natural ingredients. They are sweetened with fruit purees and a tiny amount of sugar, as well as other natural sweeteners like erythritol, which is naturally found in grapes, pears, melons. Each smoothie has 6 grams of protein and 5 or 6 grams of fiber, which is at least 20% of your recommended daily intake. They also only have 90-100 calories each, and almost no fat (0-1g, depending on flavor), so you can indulge in each delicious flavor without any guilt - just the fact that you're doing something good for your body that happens to taste better than you expected.

Cafe Latte - Two thumbs up!

• Nicole: This was my favorite flavor. It had a very smooth, creamy coffee taste that was slightly sweet and had none of the bitterness that coffee-flavored drinks often have. I had to drink it slowly, though, because it was much more filling than any blended coffee drink I can remember.
• Sarah: Of the four flavors, I liked this one the most as well, but that might also be a personal bias toward all things coffee.

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The Solae Company has been working on a top-secret project for the past several years, a project to create a more realistic fake meat. SoleCina was released on Monday at the Institute of Food Technologists convention in Florida. SoleCina is a product that blends a combination of meat and vegetable proteins and, apparently, results in food that "almost perfectly mimics the taste and appearance of beef strips, chunks, patties or steak but with considerably fewer calories, less fat and less cholesterol." The company says that this protein blend is of "equal quality" to the proteins in meat and eggs and easily digestible.

The company does not mention whether or not this is a vegetarian product, as most fake meats do, though they actually recommend "[combining it] a modest amount of meat" to make a healthier burger. The burger pictured is made with the protein and contains "half the fat and saturated fat, one-third fewer calories and less cholesterol than a traditional ground beef hamburger."

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