From: Al Villalobos (al.villalobos@qm.com)
Date: Tue May 14 2002 - 11:10:16 MDT
Also remember that vegetable protein is not as efficiently converted to
animal protein. The general rule of thumb is only about 70% conversion. So
it would take 130g of soy protein to have the same effect as 100g of egg or
beef protein(actually egg is the reference standard for human protein
absorption)
AL
-----Original Message-----
From: Mike Lorrey [mailto:mlorrey@datamann.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2002 6:46 AM
To: extropians@extropy.org
Subject: Re: Frontier House - A Luddite Show?
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
>
> On Monday, May 13, 2002, at 05:19 pm, Samantha Atkins wrote:
> > You are mistaken. The Far East traditionally is very largely
> > vegetarian. Most cultures wer not that strict about it but most of the
> > diet is vegetarian with occassional fish and other meats
>
> The concept of eating meat every day is largely a modern Americanism.
> Most cultures did not eat meat as much as we imagine. They used rice,
> bread, potatoes and beans as their primary meals with a little meat
> added occasionally. This usually wasn't choice, but was a natural
> result of availability.
Yes, this was the traditional diet for the serf classes. Then again,
they also averaged around 5 feet high and had an average life expectancy
of 35 as well. I don't suppose you want to emulate that, do you?
>
> > Veggies are full of carbs. Some of them are 100% fat (avocado for
> > instance, nuts for another are quite high in fat for their weight.
> > Some veggies (legumes primarily) have *more* proteien than beef does.
> > So what is your gripe?
>
> Chicken and lean pork is 30% protein. Beef is 20-30% protein. Fish is
> around 20%. Your ground meats like hamburgers or hotdogs are just over
> 10% protein.
>
> There are many veggie sources of protein that are more protein dense
> than meat. Soy protein isolate(82%), soy protein concentrate(64%),
> spirulina seaweed(58%), peanut flower(53%), soybean flour(51%), soy
> meal(49%), freeze-dried tofu(48%), wheat gluten(41%), almond meal(40%),
> soybean nuts(40%), yeast(39%), soybean flour(38%), roasted pumpkin or
> squash seeds(34%), etc.
I notice that you are listing all processed goods, not the raw goods
they came from. I am sure that chicken and beef can both be processed to
extract pure protein.
Now, since this discussion is dealing with living in the 1880's, how
many of those you've listed above were commonly available on the
frontier in the 1880s? I'd say likely only the pumpkin and squash seeds.
>
> If you compare these numbers to meat, you see that many veggie sources
> have many times the concentration of protein than meat does. A handful
> of pumpkin seeds has more protein than a quarter-pounder hamburger. A
> health-food store nut or soy flour hot-dog bun can contain more protein
> than the hot-dog. A fake steak made out of wheat gluten can contain
> twice as much protein as the equivalent sized beef steak. Even
> low-protein foods can add up if you eat them as whole meals rather than
> small side-dishes. A pound of cooked brown rice has more protein than a
> quarter-pounder. So does a pound of corn chips, or potatoes, or pasta.
>
> It is not as hard to find veggie protein sources as people might imagine.
Not in the 21st century, but then we were talking of the 1880's.
Furthermore, not all protien is equal. People with certain blood types
cannot follow a vegan lifestyle specifically because of the difficulty
in digesting plant protiens, among other problems like iron digestion.
Finally, it's rather clear that the modern US problem with obesity is
not because of meat eating, it is specifically because of too much sugar
and starch in the diet with no exercise to burn them off.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sat Nov 02 2002 - 09:14:04 MST