Legumes: soybeans, split peas, lima beans, dried beans, peanuts, nut butters
• Grains: corn, steel cut oats, wheat, brown rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and wild rice
It used to be thought that legumes and grains were not complete proteins in themselves—that is, they did not contain all the essential amino acids. Contemporary research indicates that whole grains do indeed comprise a complete protein. You get a very hearty, complete vegetable protein when you mix a legume with a whole grain. This combination is sometimes referred to as a light protein, distinguishing it from a heavy protein, a flesh- or visceral-based type, which requires many more stomach acids to digest. Light proteins are nutritious and much needed for carbohydrate-dominant types when they are trying to build muscle mass or to bolster their immune system (which should be ongoing maintenance).
This legume and whole grain combination is a dietary staple for many impoverished regions of the globe that cannot afford the luxury of growing animals for food. Eating a vegetable-based diet to fulfill your protein requirements is a logical choice for lowering your cholesterol levels and taking care of your circulatory system, especially if you are a slow oxidizer or a sympathetic-dominant metabolic type. The right lifestyle choices such as exercising, quitting smoking, and managing stress will also create a similar effect. Put the two together—light proteins and healthful lifestyle choices—and you have a well-known winner.
Proteins occur in nature often with fats, which is why a protein and fat food combination works well, especially for fast oxidizers and para-sympathetic-dominant metabolic types.
Fats
Fats have received a bad reputation in the popular press. Some health educators have suggested that this is a purposeful ploy to hoodwink you into buying fat substitutes, thinking they are a more healthful choice. In most cases the faux-fat is worse for you than the real thing. It is recommended that you just eat the real thing, but in modest quantities.
What is so great about fats?
1. Fats carry the flavor of foods, and your body registers the message “I’m full” with digestion of these valuable nutrients. There are special receptors in the tongue, stomach, and small intestine that send signals to your brain that you are satiated. If you eat fat, you feel full faster with a smaller amount of ingested materials. Because of this, a little quality fat goes a long way. It is much easier to overeat when you are consuming foods made with fat substitutes or artificially engineered to be non-fat.1 Your body does not register full as fast, and your spoon just keeps on scooping. Eat fat. It is good for you, and your body needs it. Consult the list of quality fats below for the best nutritional choices.
2. Fats are a very rich source of energy, more than double that of proteins and carbohydrates. They are absorbed more slowly than the other two nutrients, staying with you longer. If you have a short time to eat, like a short break at work, it is best to have some good quality fat; it will sustain you for a longer time than empty carbohydrates, and you will likely not eat as much when your next meal opportunity arises. Of course, you always have the free will to override your body’s natural signals, which causes problems in the long term. If you are not very hungry, eat only a little. If you are not hungry at all, do not eat just to be social. If you have a short time to eat and need sustaining energy, include good fats.
3. Fats transport and store the fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K. Taking these vitamins as a supplement without the presence of a quality food source of fats is essentially a waste of time and money, as your body will not utilize them well.
4. All your cells are made of fat. Together with protein, they constitute the structural framework of your body, from smallest to biggest. Certain fats assist with membrane suppleness, as well as help normalize nutrient transfer into and out of cells. They act as insulators, energy conduits, and nutrient reserves for your nervous and circulatory systems. In order for your nervous, endocrine, and cardiovascular systems to function optimally, your body requires good quality fats; the emphasis here is good quality.
Types of fats
The primary building blocks of fats are fatty acids. The two essential fatty acids, linoleic acid and alpha-linoleic acid, are components of certain cell membranes and hormones.
Fats come in two major varieties: saturated and unsaturated. A saturated fat is one that has a surplus of hydrogen atoms clinging to carbon atoms within the fatty acid; the more hydrogen, the more saturated the fat is. These fats tend to be solid or semi-solid at room temperature (for example, cheese, butter, yogurt, palm oil, coconut oil). The fats that have less hydrogen atoms hanging on to their carbon neighbors are called unsaturated and are liquid at room temperature (vegetable oils).
Just when you thought we were done with the technicalities, there is more.
Unsaturated fats are classified by the relationships of carbon to hydrogen. If only one carbon-carbon bond is saturated with hydrogen, it is called monounsaturated. Olive and canola oils are examples of monounsaturated fats. If two or more carbon-carbon bonds are replete with hydrogen, this is known as a polyunsaturated fat. All the other vegetable oils besides olive and canola are polyunsaturated fats (for example, safflower, soybean, sesame).
A really unsaturated fat is fish oil, which is composed of omega-3 fatty acids, having six carbon-carbon bonds. (I know. We now have more bonds than an Ian Fleming film festival.) Fish that have their zip code in cold waters retain the highest amounts of omega-3 fatty acids; the six sites of saturation function as a type of antifreeze, keeping the mackerel from becoming a mackerel-sicle. Research has shown that eating cold-water fish, with its inherent omega-3 fats, can impart protection against stroke, heart attack, and heart disease. Many native North American tribes who have traditionally depended upon salmon consider it a sacred food because of the health-promoting quality of these fish fats and proteins.
This does not work the same with fish oil capsules, which have shown in some cases to be counterproductive, even dangerous. This is likely because it is easy to overdo capsules and take them without the ancillary nutrients to properly process the intensely rich oils.
The double-edged sword here is that even though cold-water fish is healthy for you, it has become challenging to locate fish supplies not contaminated with mercury and other reckless by-products of seaside or seafaring industries.2
Good Sources of Fat:
• Cold-water fish (mackerel, herring, Atlantic and sockeye salmon, tuna, sturgeon, and other)
• Olive oil and canola oil
• Organic butter (yes, it is superior to margarine)
• Cheese (soft and hard varieties, including cottage cheese and cream cheese)
• Free-range organic eggs (more fat in the white, more protein in the yolk)
• Nuts and nut butters (almond butter is one of the best choices)
• Meats (the more unprocessed and affected by commercial additives, the better)
When Fats Turn Ugly
Hydrogenation is a chemical process in which unsaturated fats are transformed into saturated fats by injecting the former with copious amounts of hydrogen.
