What I learned this week - The main point this week is that our body really needs protein.  It serves our muscles, tendons, organs, hair and nails and so much more.  Protein is good and will help us all get stronger.  

“It’s important to grasp that we don’t eat for protein, per se, but for AAs.”  “High quality proteins are sources of protein that provide all nine-essential AAs in quantities sufficient to stimulate and support protein synthesis.” (117)

Here are the list of amino acids that we need for our body: 

We need three different types of AAs to maintain overall health. 

• Nonessential amino acids.  Your body has the ability to synthesize these on its own.

• Conditionally essential amino acids.  In times of injury of illness, your body cannot make enough of these and relies on dietary sources.

• Essential amino acids.  These come directly from your diet.  Although they’re called essential, even the aminos in this category are not equally essential.  That’s because it’s harder to attain adequate amounts of certain AAs - such as leucine, methionine, and lysine – without consuming animal foods. (118-119)

List of the 11 non essential amino acids

1. Alanine

2. Arginine

3. Asparagine

4. Aspartic acid

5. Cysteine

6. Glutamic acid

7. Glutamine

8. Glycine

9. Proline

10. Serine

11. Tyrosine

Essential Amino Acids: PVT TIM HALL

• Phenylalanine

• Valine

• Threonine

• Tryptophan

• Isoleucine

• Methionine

• Histidine

• Lysine

• Leucine

Then also to understand that it is good to have protein at certain amounts throughout your day or at each meal.  Dr. Lyons recommends having 30 grams of protein at least per meal.  Which then can produce the MPS or the Muscle Protein synthesis. 

MPS - Muscle protein Synthesis - you want to consume enough protein to have this critical response.  Protein complex discovered in the 1990s called mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)  - Simply put, the dose of protein you eat in a single meal is either sufficient to trigger MPS or it isn’t.  Any diet that fails to meet this threshold is missing a key component toward the optimization of muscle and metabolic health.” (122)

The other things that Dr. Lyons points out in the book is that animal protein will give you all of the essential amino acids that you needs.  She calls is a quality protien.  Plant protein does not have the same amino acid profile and is missing some key proteins. 

Also that as we age our need for protein grows.  As our hormones decrease we need more protein to help out body.  

Then she also talked about the nutritionals science.  The two men from the mid-1800s that were influential in the vegetarian movement.  The presbysterian minister, Sylvester Graham, who called for a more wholesome diet meaning no meat, no flour, no condiments, no spirits and lots of fruits and vegetables.  A wholesome diet equals a wholesome life. 

Then one of his followers, John Harvey Kellogg, created the first "granola cereal" in 1878.  Those men ideas are still influential today. 

Then also she wants us to watch what type of scienctific information that we take in.  Be wary of professional opinion that is lacking in evidence and studies.  She also says the next lowest type of information is form observational studies.  These studies observe people or groups of people over time and then come to conclusions.  These are a problem because they don't isolate for variables and can conclude correlation that may or may not have anything to do with each other.  Lastly she says the best type of study to look at are the  is a RCT of randomzied controlled trial. 

"The gold standard of evidence comes from the RCT.  (randomized controlled trials) Scientists use hypotheses generated from observational data and create an experimental setting where they can control for outside (confounding) variables.  While observational studies cannot provide these benefits, RCT allows for isolating the hypothesis to connect cause with effect.”

Understand the difference between sound science and hype.  (91)

"Government funded nutritional guidelines - set forth minimum intake values was intended to prevent deficiencies" (87)

So instead of guidlines for optimal long term health - many of the health guidelines are for short-term health and to prevent deficiencies. 

The last thing was that the way that commodoties and food brands are regulated.  Commodoties are regulated by the USDA and cannot say that they are better than another things - even if what they are saying is true. 

The food brands - like Quaker, or Kellogg are regulated by the FTC, and have way fewer regulations and can claim and refute different things with their advertisements.   Which makes it hard for us to really determine what is best for our family.  

So take time to look at any of the hype and evaluate it as she suggests.  Remember these 3 episodes are just a quick overview of the book.  For more information and many more chapters abuot being Forever Strong get the book.