Warning! I’m going to be playful in this post. If you’re feeling sensitive, go read another washed up athlete’s blog.
From Norah Jones:
It’s him or me that’s what he said,
But I can’t choose between a vegan and a pot head,
So I chose you because you’re sweet,
And you give me lots of lovin’ and you eat meat,
And that’s how you became my only man of the hour
I’ve been pretty adamant in this blog that I’m a carnivore. I believe that our teeth are in place, in part, to tear flesh. I’m sensitive (clearly), however, to the folks out there choose to eat only a plant based diet.
While I think it’s more difficult for athletes and human beings in general to derive sufficient nutritional benefit without eating animal products, I don’t think it’s impossible. If you’ve got the determination and wherewithal, I want you on my team, so let’s do this.
To construct a meal to make meat consumers eat their words instead, we need to examine the health benefits of devouring animals so we can replace that value. From Medical Daily:
…benefits such as the repair and building of body tissues as well as the production of antibodies that will protect the body from infections, thus strengthening the immune system as well. Most importantly, since meat contains all the essential amino acids, it definitely ranks as one of the best sources of protein.
Sounds easy enough. If this is all about replacing protein, we’ve got this. We’re going to have to eat a bunch of them, but almonds and walnuts are both in my weekly rotation, and 50 almonds will net about 12 grams of protein. Boom, we’re over ¼ of the way to competing with a serving of salmon, which contains roughly 40 grams of protein.
Let’s add some quinoa, shall we? After all, I try to add it to almost every huge salad that I make. My salads also contain steak and cheese, but you get the point. From whfoods.com:
One of the shortcomings overcome by quinoa involves its protein content. Most grains are considered to be inadequate as total protein sources because they lack adequate amounts of the amino acids lysine and isoleucine…By contrast, quinoa has significantly greater amounts of both lysine and isoleucine (especially lysine), and these greater amounts of lysine and isoleucine allow the protein in quinoa to serve as a complete protein source.
With 24 grams of protein per serving, we’ve nearly matched the salmon.
All we need to do is add in a little over a serving of broccoli at 4.2 grams, and we are over the top.
Merely equaling the protein content isn’t enough, however. We absorb goodness besides protein when we eat meat. From Medical Daily:
Of the many nutrients that meat contains, it is rich in iron, zinc and selenium. While iron helps in forming hemoglobin that transports oxygen to different parts of your body, zinc helps in tissue formation and metabolism as well as selenium breaks down the fat and chemicals in the body.
Spinach is rich in iron, as are lentils. Beans, mushrooms, almonds and walnuts are all quality sources of zinc. We can bake this info into our recipe.
Our final meal? Perhaps our representation is a spinach-based salad, topped with plenty of chopped almonds and walnuts, quinoa, broccoli, lentils, kidney beans, olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
I can’t help it; I wish I had a couple of chicken thighs to go with it, but if this satisfies your flavor desires, you’ve reached your protein and nutrient quota for the meal. Big congratulations. Now you can figure out how to not eat this three times a day. I kid, I kid.
Kap
Justin says
Wondering what your take on heart health/cholesterol and red meat would be. Hope I haven’t missed a previous post addressing this topic. Definitely a carnivore myself as well, but I see so much red meat in your nutrition posts.
Gabe Kapler says
Justin,
Thanks for the question. I’m confident that I’ve addressed this topic in various posts. Why don’t we both go back and look and see what we can find?
Kap
Jordan says
While you’ve addressed heart health and cholesterol in regards to eating red meat and other foods, could you share your “internal measurements” as such so we can see how some/all of your food choices have affected numbers other than your weight and weightlifting measurements?
Chris says
Unlike in baseball, the numbers don’t really mean anything. http://chriskresser.com/cholesterol-doesnt-cause-heart-disease
Susan Altman says
Here is my playful (for the most part) response to you my friend: The beauty of nutrition is that it is highly individual, as you have previously stated. While I agree that there are many health benefits in animal protein that you cannot get by following a vegan diet, you have to remember that for some people, animal protein goes against their belief system(s). Maybe they follow a particular religion that doesn’t allow animal protein, or the individual(s) are highly enviornmentally sound and worry about the ramifications of raising and slaughtering an animal. (This is an extremely costly, both financially AND environmentally, system). Also, for any of my clients who just received a cancer diagnosis (or suffering from any other disease), I would recommend staying away from animal protein and eating vegan asap, in order to reduce inflammation in the body. That may be a temporary way of eating, as the he or she may need to build strength prior to surgery….I digress. Continuing, I always value and highly respect your opinion. In fact, you are one of my most favorite people (but you know that already). I appreciate that animal protein has helped you become the man and athlete you are today. But don’t forget: just because it works for you, doesn’t mean it is the answer for all…
Love you!
P.S. I have tried to eat vegan many times, because Ilike the idea of it. But it never, ever works. Sigh…
Gabe Kapler says
Ahhh, my dear Susan. Thank you. I’m so grateful for your feedback. That said, if you reread the post, you’ll most certainly see that I didn’t, nor would I ever say that my way is the only way. In fact, the entire thing was devoted to an alternative to my eating style. Just one of those minor details that change context completely.
Silly Susan.
Kap
Susan altman says
Ok…ok, I’ll be sure to go and re-read it. A few times 😉