CHAPTER 5
Protein: Expanding the Possibilities
The word protein comes from ancient Greek, and it means “being first.” What that refers to is not a contest or a race; rather, it’s about survival. Protein is the essential component of human cellular activity, playing a role in virtually every process of our body’s functioning. We need protein to grow, to repair our cells, to keep our muscles and bones strong, to carry cell signals and prompt our immune responses, to execute all the biochemical reactions of metabolism.
Bottom line: we have to take in protein—or else.
For those trying to lose weight and prevent or manage diabetes, the best way to take in proteins is to focus on three food groups in particular, the three that form the protein rung of the Beat Diabetes Pyramid: legumes (beans, peas and lentils in all their variety), fish and soy foods.
Except for fish, those are probably not the foods that first leap to mind when you hear the word protein. Instead, you probably think of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy products. Certainly those are all protein foods. But where weight loss and diabetes are concerned, they are or should be a distant second choice as sources of protein, for along with the protein they undoubtedly deliver come a number of adverse effects that can undermine your attempts to lose weight and to prevent or manage the killer disease.
We’ll go even further than that. The fact is that there are components in these sources of protein that may actually raise the risk of diabetes and its complications.
PROTEIN FOODS THAT DON’T BEAT DIABETES
What are the potential costs of these kinds of protein? They’re high—and that’s an assessment based on evidence that is both compelling and overwhelming.
Let’s start with meat. Red meat such as steak, ribs and burgers has long been a staple of the American diet, and researchers have long been telling us it’s a staple that can harm our health. The legendary Harvard study on nurses’ health found, for example, that for every serving of red meat you consume per day, you increase your risk of developing diabetes by 26 percent.
The news is even worse for a serving of processed meat, which raises your risk of diabetes 38 percent, while a single serving of bacon increases the risk by a whopping 73 percent!
If you are already diabetic, the Harvard study found, red meat constitutes an additional health risk. That is, diabetics are already at least twice as likely as nondiabetics to suffer heart attack or stroke; a high intake of red meat exacerbates that unhappy equation. The Harvard nurses’ study found that consumption of red meat among diabetic women raised the risk of coronary heart disease by 50 percent over women who ate little or no red meat.
Another staple of the American diet is eggs—the more or less standard breakfast in the local diner or coffee shop. For diabetics, however, eggs on a daily basis can exacerbate that already existing risk of heart disease. And studies are now showing that an egg every day increases the risk—even the likelihood—of becoming diabetic; specifically, the risk is increased by 58 percent in men and 77 percent in women.
That’s not all eggs can do. In one study of more than 21,000 American physicians, those who ate one or more eggs daily were 25 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those who ate one or fewer eggs weekly.
As for dairy products, we can’t avoid addressing the powerful evidence about the correlation between dairy consumption and diabetes. Study after study has suggested that cow’s milk may trigger the production of antibodies that destroy insulin-producing cells. The correlation too often leads to type 1 diabetes in children. In a study of children with diabetes, 100 percent of them had high levels of one such antibody triggered by cow’s milk protein.
But it isn’t just children who may suffer. A British study on women and heart health found, among other conclusions, that milk-drinking women had lower insulin sensitivity and were more likely to have type 2 diabetes or metabolic syndrome.
Studies like these serve as a wake-up call for all of us concerned about the rise in the incidence of diabetes. They present what is by now a universally acknowledged truth: that a diet high in red and processed meats, eggs and dairy products can increase every individual’s risk of developing diabetes.
Does that mean you should give up hamburgers forever and never again order eggs over easy at the diner downtown? Absolutely not. As we’ve said before, on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, no food is forbidden. But we hope that with the increased awareness you’ll gain in the pages of this chapter, you’ll find yourself choosing more and more to avoid the costs of these kinds of protein in favor of the extraordinary gains from the three protein sources that constitute this rung of the Pyramid.
In short, for weight loss and preventing or managing diabetes, there are better ways to get your protein.
LOVELY LEGUMES
The first of the three is legumes—healthful, easy and a creative chef’s delight. The names trip off the tongue like poetry: lima beans, navy beans, pinto beans, garbanzos, cannellini, black-eyed peas, fava beans, lentils. Legumes have been cultivated and eaten worldwide since the beginning of civilization. They embrace culinary possibilities that run from a plate of baked beans wolfed down at the barbecue to an elaborate French lentil soup flavored with tarragon and thyme and served with a vintage Bordeaux.
For our main focus—beating diabetes—legumes are something of a perfect weapon: they are packed with fiber, loaded with phytonutrients that battle a range of health dangers, have no fat and no cholesterol and contain carbohydrates that are very slowly absorbed into the bloodstream and thus not an issue as far as blood sugar control is concerned. And, of course, they deliver the goods—protein for all the body’s functions.
They also offer a real plus when it comes to weight loss, which is so crucial to preventing or managing diabetes. That plus is the texture of these foods—their sheer density, which offers the same kind of satisfied feeling you get from eating starches, but, of course, without the starch. And since starch has its drawbacks when it comes to weight loss, as we’ll explain in greater detail in the next chapter, legumes make an excellent substitute. Bottom line: they replace a food group that is not great for weight loss with one that is good for weight loss, while also offering the protein you need and the fiber and phytonutrients so important for overall health. It’s a very, very good deal.
Texture is also the reason both professional and amateur chefs love legumes. Although beans, peas and lentils certainly offer a range of taste sensations, their utility as a culinary tool is their ability to take on the flavor of whatever they’re cooked with. They can thus embody the collective experience of a combination of ingredients, serving as special vehicles of culinary creativity. So to all those weekend-warrior chefs and/or cooks hesitant to experiment, here’s your chance. Create your own chilies, minestrone soups, lentil casseroles, three- or four- or eight-bean salads, falafel, hummus, refried beans, bean dips. Experiment with ingredients, accompaniments, condiments. Seize the legume opportunity and do yourself a favor constructing your own soups, salads and side dishes. You’ll also be doing yourself—and your family—the favor of embracing a supremely healthful way to get the protein you all need.
FISH ISSUES
Fish is, of course, a great source of protein and a favorite culinary arena for chefs. From sushi to smoked salmon, from trout to tilapia, the variety of tastes, textures and cooking styles makes fish one of the core food groups.
Where fighting diabetes is concerned, the main benefit of fish is that it is low in saturated fat—versus meat, poultry or dairy—and can be an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids.
Omega-3s deliver a range of health benefits and are powerful tools for controlling diabetes and its complications. Specifically, they help lower two key components of metabolic syndrome and major risk factors for the disease of diabetes: a high triglyceride count and high blood pressure. Indirectly, the omega-3s also affect weight loss; studies show that these fats actually help reduce insulin resistance, a major cause and/or complication of excess weight or obesity. If you’re insulin-resistant, you’re not regulating your blood sugar properly; this throws your carbohydrate and fat metabolic processes out of kilter, which in turn results in more weight gain—and can lead to or exacerbate diabetes. For several reasons, therefore, the omega-3s found in such richness in so many fish are great weapons for beating diabetes and maintaining a healthy weight—and thus constitute a good source of protein on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid.
But fish has issues. For one thing, it contains cholesterol. The cholesterol in fish, however, is not as much of a problem as the cholesterol in other animal foods because the latter—meat, poultry, dairy and eggs—contain saturated fat, and fish does not.
Another fish issue is in our ever-dirtier waterways—how pollution may be affecting fish. One certain effect has been an increase in the amount of mercury that fish absorb. As industrial mercury accumulates in water, it turns into methylmercury, which is a toxin that is particularly harmful to infants and young children. That is why the U.S. government has warned pregnant women about their intake of fish, asking them to limit their fish consumption to twice a week only and to meals of fish lower in mercury, such as shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. That’s a pretty potent advisory.
So are the advisories in more than thirty-five states about (PCBs), toxic and carcinogenic chemical compounds banned in 1979 but still accumulating in our waters. We don’t take those concerns lightly.
But within the parameters of such concerns, we recommend fish as a protein source. With its high content of omega-3s and its relative lack of saturated fat, fish is a valuable alternative protein source, and it is certainly a preferable alternative to meat and chicken.
If you choose not to eat fish, you can get your omega-3s from flaxseeds or flax oil, from walnuts or in supplements made from flax and now from algae, which is where the fish get it.
MEATY MATTERS
Here are exact equivalent portions of red meat, chicken and fish. But portion size is where the equality stops. Have a look:
The differences are evident, and the bottom line is dramatic. The tuna steak comes in at almost half the calories of the beef steak. It offers one-fourth of the fat of red meat and about a third of the fat of the chicken. Just take a look at the fat visualizations—pats of butter for the steak and chicken, oil for the fish—to see the disparities. And where cholesterol is concerned, with its formidable consequences for health in general and diabetes in particular, there’s simply no comparison in this comparison: the beef has nearly triple the tuna’s cholesterol count, and the chicken has more than double.
7-ounce ribsteak
630 calories, 48 grams fat,
275 milligrams cholesterol
48 grams bad fat = 9 ½ pats butter
7-ounce chicken
(leg and thigh with skin)
506 calories, 32 grams fat,
240 milligrams cholesterol
32 grams bad fat = 6 ½ pats butter
7-ounce tuna steak
344 calories, 12 grams fat,
85 milligrams cholesterol
15 grams good fat = 2 ½ teaspoons oil
The pats of butter you’ll see in some of the food demos represent “bad fats”—the fats that are detrimental to general health, weight management and diabetes control.
The teaspoons of canola oil represent “good fats”—the fats that are essential for general health, weight management and diabetes control.
For more information on these fats and their food sources, see Chapter 7.
SINGULAR SOY
You’ve already read a good deal about soy protein in this book, and if it’s beginning to look like we’re stuck on soy, that’s not far from the truth. There are two very powerful reasons for the emphasis on soy.
First, soy is probably the single most potent weapon at your disposal for controlling diabetes and its complications and for helping you lose weight. (It also decreases the risk of many cancers and helps prevent osteoporosis—just some of its additional benefits.) To repeat what we said back in Chapter 1, soy is a peerless diabetes fighter. Think of it: just by taking in this one food group with some regularity, you will not only defend your body against this killer disease but also actually prevent complications from the disease and even reverse its effects.
The main health benefits of soy where weight loss and diabetes are concerned? One more time:
- 1. Soy helps regulate glucose and insulin levels.
- 2. Soy proactively advances weight loss by burning body fat and instilling a sense of satiety.
- 3. Soy lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease or its severity.
- 4. Soy lowers the risk and slows the progression of kidney disease, a major complication of diabetes and one to which diabetics are particularly prone.
So soy as a diabetes fighter is the first reason we focus on it as much as we do.
SOY: IT’S WHAT’S FOR BREAKFAST, LUNCH, DINNER, SNACKS, APPETIZERS, PICNICS, ETC.
Soy-based products aren’t just veggie burgers anymore. Here are just some of the myriad soy possibilities:
Breakfast: soy yogurt, soy shakes, breakfast sausage patties and links
Lunch: deli meats, veggie burgers, sloppy joes, veggie salads (chicken, turkey, egg)
Dinner: Thai- or teriyaki-flavored tofu cutlets eaten solo or for filling or toppings, pizza with veggie pepperoni, veggie Italian sausage and peppers, veggie ground beef in meat sauce or in chili or as taco filling
Snacks: roasted soybeans, edamame, soy crisps
Desserts: puddings and other soy-based desserts (see Chapters 2 and 8 for recipes)
Accompaniments: soy-based salad dressings and dips, soy “dairy” products (yogurt, cheese, sour cream), condiments like black soybeans with garlic and chilies, miso
The second reason for our emphasis on soy is that, despite its potency as a health weapon and its well-established place in some of the great cuisines of the world, most people in Western cultures are unaware of the range of soy foods available. Soy is the food industry’s “newbie,” and over the past few years, there has been a virtual explosion in the range and quality of the soy foods available. So part of our aim in this book is to raise your awareness of the many possibilities for making soy a part of your eating plan.
Basically, soy foods fall into two categories. The first is the traditional “pure” soy products known from the great cuisines of Asia: tofu, tempeh and miso. Steamed bean curd with mushroom sauce from Thailand, spicy tofu from China’s Szechuan province or from Malaysia, the miso soup with which the Japanese start their days: these are some of the haute cuisine versions of soy served in restaurants—or in the homes of adventurous cooks, maybe like you.
The second category of soy foods is what we call “soy innovations.” These are all the appetizers, snacks, breakfast or lunch or dinner foods, powders for shakes and puddings and meat alternatives you can find today on supermarket shelves everywhere. The veggie burger is the classic soy innovation, but today, the veggie burger is only the beginning. Take a look.
With these and many other soy innovations—we couldn’t fit everything into a single photo!—the possible permutations for getting your soy are virtually endless. With pure soy, the beauty part for cooks is that the tofu or tempeh absorbs the flavors of whatever you’re cooking it with. With soy innovations, all the taste mingling has already been done for you; all you have to do is serve. That doesn’t mean, however, that soy innovations leave nothing to the creative culinary imagination; as you’ll see in some of the recipes in this book, you can use soy innovations to devise a range of meals and snacks.
Try this ginger fruit yogurt for breakfast—and get not only protein but the added benefits of phytonutrients and fiber:
GINGER FRUIT YOGURT
1 6-ounce container plain soy yogurt
½ cup diced fruit (apples, bananas, peaches, strawberries, etc.) 2-3 packets Splenda
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon ground ginger
Stir ingredients together in a mixing bowl till well blended. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving.
Yield: one 180-calorie serving.
NO BALONEY
Want deli for lunch? Here are a few choices:
3 ounces beef-and-pork bologna
|
270 |
calories | |
|
25 |
grams fat | |
|
14 |
milligrams cholesterol |
3 ounces turkey bologna
|
180 |
calories | |
|
15 |
grams fat | |
|
120 |
milligrams cholesterol |
The traditional beef-and-pork bologna costs you 270 calories and burdens your body with substantial saturated fat and cholesterol. The turkey bologna slices off some numbers but still leaves you with substantial amounts of calories, fat and cholesterol.
3 ounces “veggie” bologna
|
105 |
calories | |
|
0 |
grams fat | |
|
0 |
milligrams cholesterol |
Behold now the veggie or soy-based bologna: a mere 105 calories—and no fat or cholesterol whatsoever.
Same portion sizes, same tastes, wildly different health impacts—and that’s no baloney. This crescendo of possibilities for taking in soy makes it downright easy to get the extraordinary benefits this food offers for weight loss and fighting diabetes, as well as for so many other health issues. As a protein source, it not only lacks the negatives of meat, poultry, eggs and dairy, but it can actually counteract those negatives and add positive advantages.
For example, there’s no more deadly complication of diabetes than cardiovascular disease; it is, as we know, the number one killer disease of our time. Yet there are components in meat, poultry, eggs and dairy foods that can actually increase the risk of heart disease and stroke. Eat a hamburger, and its content of saturated fat and cholesterol raises your risk of cardiovascular problems and ups the chances that the problems will be severe.
A soy-based veggie burger, by contrast, not only counteracts those effects, but it also proactively strengthens your cardiovascular system. Here’s what the tiny soybean does for your heart health: it strengthens your blood vessels, improves the composition of your blood by lowering the amount of total and LDL cholesterol, prevents the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, lowers your triglyceride count, regulates your blood sugar and helps you lose weight. That’s a lot of bang for the buck, and with soy innovations, you can enjoy those benefits easily and in varied ways.
A BETTER BURGER
For further evidence that soy-based foods are the preferable protein alternative to meat or poultry, here it is by the numbers.
5-ounce beef burger
308 calories, 26 grams fat,
130 milligrams cholesterol, 0 grams fiber
26 grams bad fat = 6 pats butter
5-ounce turkey burger
230 calories, 14 grams fat,
116 milligrams cholesterol, 0 grams fiber
14 grams bad fat = 3 ½ pats butter
5-ounce veggie burgers
180 calories, 4 grams fat,
0 milligrams cholesterol, 8 grams fiber
4 grams good fat = 1 teaspoon oil
Again, we’re not asking you to exclude or limit other protein sources. But it’s important for you to know why meat, poultry, eggs and dairy are not on the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, and it’s equally important for you to be aware of the rich and tasty protein possibilities the Pyramid offers.
HOW MUCH?
So how much legumes, fish and soy should you take in to get the protein your body absolutely requires and fight diabetes at the same time?
As we have throughout this book, we offer no specific measure of “correctness” our mantra, as always, is to eat when hungry and stop eating when satisfied.
But for the three food groups on the protein rung of the Beat Diabetes Pyramid, we’re happy to suggest that “satisfied” should be interpreted as generously as possible. In other words, if you think you’d like one more veggie meatball or yet another handful of roasted soy nuts, don’t hesitate. Where these sources of protein are concerned, there’s no problem making sure your appetite and taste buds are as satisfied as possible.