Brendan Braizer author of Thrive and creator of the Vega line has done wonders for the vegan community and plant based protein but are plant based proteins just as good as animal proteins or even superior to?
This has been an ongoing debate for years. Ok, we all know that plant based proteins are incomplete, meaning they don't have all of the essential amino acids necessary to make it a complete protein. If you read "How to buy protein powder part 1!", you would understand this.
Now, in order to make plant based proteins "complete" you would need to get the right combinations of plant base sources. In comparison to a single source like whey or egg protein.
Now, some people automatically assume that if you don't eat meat and become a vegetarian you'll be instantly healthier and this same thinking leads to the superiority of a plant based lifestyle.
Yet, I've met countless vegetarians that don't know what they're doing and are not getting enough protein.
Ignorance aside, is plant protein better than animal protein?
That's a really good question.
Let's think for a minute, if you've taken a biology course you would know that on the first trophic level of energy flow we have producers (plant based foods) animals which are on the second trophic level eat plant based foods to get their protein and then we humans eat the herbivores like cow's and chicken to get our protein. In some cases we even eat carnivores on the third trophic level to get our protein.
So, why not just cut out the middle man? Another good question.
Perhaps there could be some metabolic advantages seeing as how plant based foods offer life, but that's another topic.
Ok, I'll answer my own question above.
Animal based protein sources more closely resemble our amino acid profile and are more absorbable by us humans for the simple fact that we more closely resemble animals than plants.
I was also listening to an expert debate on the best protein sources from some of the world's leading sports nutritionist, researches and experts, John Parrillo, Dr. Michael Colgan, and Biochemist Anthony Almada, they agreed that animal protein is superior especially when it comes to nitrogen rettention.
So, plant based protein is not bad, in all fairness, I would say it could be just as good but definitely not better!
I do, however like some of the vega products by Brendan Braizer. I like the philosophy surrounding his products.
The main problem with animal protein when not having it in the powdered form, is pollution. The meat is polluted that's why organic meats should be your first choice.
Tomorrow we'll try to wrap it up with some of the products I recommend and we'll even cover some of the manufacturing processes of protein powders and what to look for on the packaging.
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