With this spring's revival of the Office of Sustainability comes the revival of the Sustainable Hidden Menu! You can once again expect weekly blog posts to help you make creative, healthy, and sustainable food choices on Ursinus' campus. The purpose of this first post is to tackle an especially popular misconception about healthy eating and food for fitness: your protein needs.
This campus is swarming with athletes, and as an athlete myself, I understand how important proper nutrition is for our performance. Currently, the sports nutrition and drink industry in the United States is worth $16 billion dollars, 70% of which is made up by protein powder (1). Numerous profit-driven corporations benefit from consumers believing that more protein is better for weight loss, muscle gain, and health. This belief is the marketing goal of these companies, and so their advertising and influence hugely affects the demand for protein in America. The truth, however, is that Americans consume nearly twice the daily recommended amount of protein for optimal health, and this extra protein is not necessarily good (2).
It is probably hard for a lot of you readers to hear and believe these facts because it goes against the information surrounding you and what many of you might practice. Perhaps knowing how our bodies handle protein will help you to understand. The extra protein you consume over the recommended amount is not needed to build or rebuild muscle, so instead it is processed and used for energy, or stored as fat, just like the other macro nutrients that you eat (carbohydrates and fats). So, unfortunately, more protein does not translate directly into more muscle, and it could even mean more fat. In addition, since protein is made up of amino acids, excess protein intake makes our bodies become acidic. Calcium is used by our bodies to neutralize acidity (think Tums), which becomes an issue because this is taken from our bones (3). Therefore, in the attempt to strengthen our muscles by consuming excess protein, we might be weakening our bones, which is a red flag especially for athletes.
Another issue with eating more protein than recommended is that it is too often consumed in the form of animal products, which also comes with high levels of saturated fat. You can thank the dairy and meat industries, and their strong influence on the government, for this one! The good news is that you can easily meet all your protein needs from plant-based products, which come without the fat and with added benefits, such as fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Did you know that 100 calories of broccoli has 8.5 grams protein (4)? In addition, plant-based choices are not only better for your body but better for the environment as well. Plant-based foods, like vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains, require much less resources and energy to produce and distribute than animal products and highly processed and packaged foods (junk food).
One plant-based protein that is readily available in Wismer is quinoa. It has been available consistently at the salad bar next to the fruit this semester. Quinoa is a whole grain that is packed with protein. One cup of quinoa has 8 grams of protein and additional benefits, including more fiber than brown rice and corn and numerous vitamins and minerals. Quinoa makes a great substitute for rice or pasta on your plate, but it is also a great way to add substance to your salad. Today's Wismer hidden menu item is a delicious and plant-based Mediterranean style salad, featuring quinoa and a unique dressing.
Please feel free to provide feedback or your thoughts by commenting on this post or contact realfoodgreenfellows@gmail,com. Thank you!
