As most of you know, I am a HUGE animal lover! My two dogs, Dusty and Sienna, are my life!
Anyone that knows me knows that everything I do revolves around them...and I wouldn't have it any other way!
What is interesting is that so many people I come across assume that I am vegan or vegetarian because I love animals so much...
But that couldn't be further from the truth!
I am a massive advocate of consuming animal protein - and here's why.
It is the best way to support mental health from a diet perspective - and you know this is a topic near and dear to my heart because of my dad's mental health issues, addiction and subsequent suicide.
There are four main mood neurotransmitters: serotonin, the catecholamines, GABA and the endorphins.
In order to make each of these, and keep our levels of each there they should be, there are specific amino acids required for each neurotransmitter.
Guess what animal protein is made up of? Amino acids!
It is not to say that vegetarian sources of protein, like legumes, don't have some amino acids - they do. However, they are not complete proteins.
What this means is that vegetarian proteins have some amino acids, but not all of the amino acids, like animal protein does.
When it comes to mental health, this is a big deal as you need to ensure you are consuming the correct amino acids to build all four of the mood neurotransmitters.
Serotonin, the catecholamines and GABA are fairly easy to make as they generally only require one amino acid.
The endorphins are tricky because they require 14-19 amino acids to make....and you will be hard pressed to find any vegetarian source of protein that has all the required amino acids.
This is why I prefer to eat animal protein. I know I am getting every single amino acid that I need to support my mental health.
I pair my meat with a ton of vegetables so that I get the necessary vitamins and minerals, like B6 and zinc, to allow the amino acids to do their thing.
The other benefit of animal protein is that it has higher levels of each amino acid, which means you have to consume less than a vegetarian protein to get the same effect.
I never want to go down the path my dad did...and I have spent over two decades doing everything I can to be as happy and healthy as I possibly can be.
Which means that I will never be vegan or vegetarian.
Of course, the option is yours.
If you want to stay plant based, then you need to look at your protein sources and combine the necessary foods - in the right amounts - to ensure you consume all of the amino acids every single day.
I know that this is something that I wouldn't have the discipline to do.
The other thing, for me, is that I need to eat a low-carb diet for my hormone health. I wouldn't be able to stay in the necessary parameters if I were to eat only vegetarian sources of protein as they are 2/3 carbohydrates and 1/3 protein.
One last thing to leave you with.
Do you remember Steve Irwin? You know, the crocodile hunter?
In an interview with The Scientific America he said "Let's say this represents one cow, which will keep me in food for, let's say, a month. Now that cow needs this much land and food. Well, you can imagine, that cow needs x by x amount of land, and you can grow trees in it. Around that cow, you can have goannas, kangaroos, wallabies. You can have every other single Australian animal in and around that cow," Steve told The Scientific American. "If I was a vegetarian, to feed me for that month, I need this much land, and nothing else can grow there. Herein lies our problem. If we level that much land to grow rice and whatever, then no other animal could live there except for some insect pest species. Which is very unfortunate."
Read More: https://www.thelist.com/369971/this-steve-irwin-comment-explains-why-his-family-is-not-vegetarian/?utm_campaign=clip
Read More: https://www.thelist.com/369971/this-steve-irwin-comment-explains-why-his-family-is-not-vegetarian/?utm_campaign=clip
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