This is a pretty good explanation of protein. What it is, what it does and why we need it.

http://durangoherald.com/sections/Features/Food/2009/05/27/Protein_makes_the_body_go/

In my experience most people don’t understand HOW critical this information is.  Just so you know the lean mass in our bodies (muscle and other stuff) breaks down roughly like this. 70% water, 9% minerals, 21% protein. The number that jumps out the most is the protein number. 10%! That is a big number. There is magic in that number.

The explanation of the whole process of protein would be VERY complicated (at med school text book levels) and of course we humans still have so much to learn about what goes on in energy exchanges of food, BUT there are some things we do know.

Food proteins have different biological values. ( rating given to foods based on their protein availability) Plant proteins (as mentioned in the article) are not only incomplete proteins but the biological value and absorption of the protein is lower in these foods. You know stuff like—beans, nuts, grains, seeds, soy etc. This is very important to know because if you decide to avoid class 1 proteins (meat, chicken, fish, eggs etc) and want to get it it all from plant sources you are selling yourself way short. Even if you combine the foods (as the article suggested) —it doesn’t matter. You are not getting what you need to live the good life. UNLESS—-

Here is the cool part. Unless, you do resistance exercise. No, not jogging or elliptical or stairmaster. These are “cardiovascular” and, certainly have their place, but they do not provide much in the way of resistance or strength exercise. No it has to be resistance exercises. You have already seen a few on our episodes. Push ups, squats, walk outs, are good body weight strength exercises, but weight training, kettlebells, pull ups are great too. There are many, many exercises and systems and future episodes will definitely show as many as possible. Back to protein…..

Why is this? Because resistance exercise forces your body to “need” the proteins and do what it has to to get at them. Convert them. Utilize them. If the need is not there why should your body bother? Answer? It won’t bother at all unless you tell it to. That is what exercise is all about. It’s about your body adapting to a positive stress you place on it. This makes for altered chemical and energy exchanges.

Here is one example. Let’s say you don’t exercise. That’s strike one. Your body will already be in the hole. Then you decide to cut calories in order to “lose weight.” Once you do this blood sugar levels drop. That’s strike two. Your brain and your nervous system need sugar every minute for fuel. They both eat it up like candy. If blood sugar is low your body changes course.  Instead of the usual sugar sources it goes elsewhere to find them.  It converts proteins to sugar. One of the very first proteins it will go after is a dehydrogenase fat burning hormone. Suddenly you have even less capacity to rid yourself of fat. Less fat burning hormones! Once that is used up your body will then go after lean mass ( muscle) and convert that to sugar. That’s strike three. You’re out!

Not a good scenario to play at. The more you do this the more efficient your body gets at breaking down proteins. The less protein available, the less fat “burning.” The less lean mass available (muscle is the engine where fat is “burned”) then even less fat “burning.”  Afthat it may be other proteins that are used up for fuel. Antibodies are one and the less anitbodies the more illness. Etc. The downward spiral goes down and down, and over a number of years the results are not fun and even deadly. That is how important protein is in our lives, and how critical different forms of exercise are to making stuff like protein do it’s job. It’s all in the Fusion baby!

Best,

Robert