Plant Protein Source
an article from Green Smoothie Girl

Myth #1: “People need 20% protein—and animal protein is best.”

The idea that beef, chicken, fish and other animal products are the “best” source of protein is ingrained in the American psyche because of very successful work on the part of the multibillion-dollar cattle and dairy industries. They have immeasurable help from the fact that bodybuilders can show impressive bulk as a result of eating “quality” animal proteins. The plant protein source is, in fact, superior.
People are surprised to learn that vegetables have plenty of protein. To believe that, you have to let go of the idea of 20 percent protein being good and necessary—Colin Campbell’s animal studies in The China Study, and then his largest human nutrition study ever conducted, documented that a 20 percent animal protein diet leads to all the modern degenerative diseases. Campbell noted that rats fed 20 percent casein (cow-milk protein) developed cancerous tumors and died early, while those fed 5 percent casein were lean and vigorous beyond their life expectancy. When the diets of the two groups were switched, Campbell and other researchers around the world repeatedly got consistent results. Formerly lean animals developed tumors and died on a high-protein diet. And the tumors of overweight, cancer-ridden animals disappeared and life expectancy increased when they were switched to low-protein feed.
I used to lease a Pharmanex Biophotonic Scanner, and in the course of a year scanned 10,000 people nationwide for the carotenoid antioxidant levels in their skin, which is the nutritional endpoint of the body. The average American scans at 20,000. I scan at 70,000, which is above the 99th percentile and off the top end of the chart (as you would expect, virtually all raw foodists I measured scan at 50,000 or above). I scanned cancer patients who were below 10,000 (and we therefore could not get a reading). And despite doing a lot of work in gyms, I never once scanned a bodybuilder even as high as the national average! They were, on average, not much higher than the cancer patients. Their animal-protein diets may create a bulked-up appearance, but I’m more concerned about their long-term health.
Vegetables tend to have 9-10 percent protein. (Broccoli and spinach, however, have more than 40 percent protein, and my Best Whole Food Green Drink has the best green sources of protein on the planet, spirulina and chlorella algaes, with 58-60 percent protein.)
People often say they know sickly vegans to justify daily meat eating as a good lifestyle choice. But of course, not all vegans eat good nutrition: they don’t eat meat, but they might eat cotton candy for breakfast! Have you ever seen a sickly gorilla? He looks for nothing but a plant protein source every day.
Stephen Arlin, author of Raw Power!, is a 17-yr. vegan raw-foodist, as well as a rocked-up, 6’2”, 225-lb. bodybuilder. Bill Pearl is a vegetarian who won four Mr. Universe bodybuilder titles. Arnold Schwarzenegger said, “Bill Pearl never talked me into becoming a vegetarian, but he did convince me that a vegetarian could become a champion body builder.”
A “quality” protein (animal flesh that matches human flesh closely) isn’t the same thing as “good” protein, as Campbell discusses extensively in The China Study. Your body can assemble all the amino acids from a plant protein source to create more quality muscle mass that does not break down quickly like that in heavy-meat-eating athletes.
I inadvertently put Stephen Arlin’s theory and observation that plant-based muscle mass is more enduring to the test recently. I peeled a tendon off my shoulder kickboxing and was forced to take a nine-month break from all weight training while rehabilitating. When I returned (having eaten my long-time, vegetable-intensive and animal-products-minimal diet), I was able to lift my original weight within two weeks and had lost no visible muscle definition. Fact: Animal flesh and animal products may lead to quick muscle mass, but eating lots of animal flesh is a Faustian bargain: short-term gain for a steep long-term price. Protein powders and bars are a fad designed to increase protein intake beyond healthy ratios. A plant protein source is best and leads to long-lasting, slower-to-build but slower-to-degenerate muscle mass. A typical American 20 percent animal protein diet is linked to cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, and many more risks.