The Proteins We Should Eat: A list of High Protein Foods

The Proteins We Should Eat: A list of High Protein Foods

Most health problems we have today can be traced back to the foods we eat and choose not to eat. Honestly, most of those problems are linked to not balancing blood sugar.  When I tell patients they need to clean up their diet and stop eating bread, pasta, cakes, cookies, candy, rice, potatoes, soda, brownies and doughnuts, they respond with one of two choices:  They cry, or, say there's nothing left to eat. It really isn't the end of the world!  There is, in fact, plenty to eat. If it grew out of the ground or used to walk on the ground, fly in the sky or swim in the sea, you are pretty safe eating it. Most people are still overwhelmed by this, so here's a list of high protein foods you should be eating.

Mammals 

Most of our American diet comes from this group.  Personally, I'm a huge fan of beef, bacon, and lamb.  We still have to be somewhat careful with what we choose to eat off this list.  Concentrate on eathing these things in their most natural form.   For beef and bison that would be grass-fed. For goat and lamb you are looking for the most natural farming techniques.  Icelandic Lamb is amazing and completely pastured and grass-fed.  In the deer family (elk, moose, antelope, and venison) farming is on the increase so we may have to start looking for good feeding techniques.  I recently had an 'ah-ha moment' (yes, I watch Oprah) while in Wisconsin visiting Erin's family.  They live on a good-sized farm where they grow field corn and have beef cattle.  As with most places that are away from the city, they have a ton of white-tailed deer that forage in the corn fields. So, even if you are a hunter and eat the venison that you hunt, it will probably be "corn-fed" which is one of the things my Paleo friends will rail against as sacrilege.  We have to let go of some of our dogma and just do the best we can when it comes to our food choices.

Birds 

Most of the things on this list will be farm raised.  You have to be careful though because chickens are usually the least responsibly farmed.  We eat 180 times more chicken than we did 100 years ago, and it is not anywhere close to the form of what it was 100 years ago.  Instead, now it is eaten off the bone driving down the road after being pulled out of the deep frier.  The major problem that I see with how chicken is typically raised is that, for the most part, it never sees the light of day.  It's also fed a hormone and sugar cocktail that turns them into the chicken equivalent of morbidly obese people that have to be cut out of their houses.  If that wasn't enough, they are fed hormones that eventually effect our hormonal status.  This has an impact on women who preferentially choose chicken because its "lean".  Little do they know this may be part of the reason for their intense physical pain when they have their monthly cycle and it may be what is affecting other parts of their endocrine health.  Okay so I'll get off of my soapbox, but we really should eat the other things on this list rather than the massively overproduced poultry products listed, (chicken and turkey).

Fish

Its simple.  Eat more!  I don't care how you do it.  I don't give a damn about the mercury (I would limit the larger fish like shark, tuna, marlin, and swordfish) eat.  I can go on and on about the benefits of wild caught fish but I think Ill save that for another post.

Other Creatures 

In here, have fun!  While they may not be Kosher they sure are tasty!

Organ Meats

Ha!  I dare you!  The "ick factor" is tremendous here but the health benefits are tremendous!  In the Animal Kingdom the organs are the first thing that are eaten.  This is where all of the vitamins, minerals and co-enzymes are.  So, again, I dare you.  You may actually like them!

Hope this helps you make some different and interesting protein choices over the next few weeks and answers a lot of the "but what is there left to eat?" questions.