Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, there it's Jen, and welcome to this week's podcast. So this week we're going to be talking a bit about protein. I think that it's a bit of a timely thing. We have some big name celebrities at the moment You've probably heard saying that they've switched from a vegan diet because of protein and added protein into their diet. So today I really want to talk about some of the myths about protein, specifically around amino acids and complete proteins. So that's what we're going to be talking about today.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Now, before I start, I just wanted to let you know that I have this really cool vegan kids nutrition video series that I'm doing next week, so that's starting the 28th of October. It'll be going for the full five days, it's totally free to join and it's basically I'm going to be teaching you pretty much how to get your kids to eat better. I know that there's a lot of parents who sort of really love the really healthy side of plant-based diets and everything and all the benefits and everything, but it can be really hard to actually make it work for your kids and for your family and stuff and especially if you have neurodiverse kids like me or just plain fussy eaters, it can be really hard to get them to eat a better diet. So that's what I'm going to be talking about next week. It's called Vegan Super Kids Five Days to Maximize Nutrition and End Picky Eating. So yeah, as I said, that's what we're going to be focusing on. It's all about why your kids are picky eaters or fussy and what you can do about it, and then we're going to be talking about nutrition as well, because that's a really important part about getting your kids to eat better is actually knowing what nutrition they need and the best way of how to do it as well. So I will put the sign up form down below this podcast and make sure you join. As I said, it's completely free. It's going to have a Facebook group. We're sharing recipes and tips. It's going to be lots and lots of fun, so I would love to have you in there. So, as I said, it starts on the 28th of October. It's going to be going for a week, so, even if it's a little bit after that date, you can still come and join anyway. So, yeah, make sure you come along to that. All right, so let's talk about vegan protein Now.

Speaker 1: 2:44

As I said, there's been some videos, some reels and stuff that I've seen on Instagram that have gone around recently where a particular famous singer has said that she has stopped being vegan and she's added protein to her diet. Now this is really really misleading, because the thing is, she hasn't added protein to her diet. She's added meat to her diet. Protein is not meat. Meat does contain protein, but so do basically all other foods as well, so sitting there and saying that she needed to add in meat in order to get protein is actually incorrect.

Speaker 1: 3:31

Now, there could be many factors about why her vegan diet wasn't working for her. If you're not eating a well-planned diet, then, yeah, you're not going to be getting the nutrition that you need, and so she, yeah. I mean, I don't know why exactly her vegan diet wasn't working for her, but definitely, if you're not planning it properly and if you're not eating the right foods and things, then, yes, it is true that you won't feel very good on your vegan diet. Then, yes, it is true that you won't feel very good on your vegan diet, and then adding meat in might actually be giving you some of the nutrients that you need, but it's actually very difficult to not get enough protein on a vegan diet as long as you're actually eating enough food, and so it certainly wouldn't have been protein that she needed, I would imagine. Obviously, I don't know exactly what she's eating, so yeah, I mean it could have been if she really really wasn't eating a lot of food or was on a very, very strict diet. But yeah, I'm yeah, so anyway. So basically, what I'm just wanting to say there is that you don't need meat for protein. There are plenty of vegan protein sources.

Speaker 1: 4:51

Now, if you to that, talk about protein specifically and how to make sure your kids are getting enough protein, so I won't really talk about that. What I do want to talk about today specifically is the complete protein myth that we need to either combine different foods in order to get complete proteins, or that vegan food, just plant-based food, just can't give you all the protein that you need. So this is a myth, but it's a very prolific one, because even at uni, they did talk about it a bit as well. So it's definitely one that's out there and I'm sure you've heard it, but it is a myth. So what is all of this talking about?

Speaker 1: 5:57

So this is all basically talking about amino acids. So proteins are made up of amino acids, different amino acids and different amino acids. So proteins are made up of amino acids, different amino acids and different amino acids. They're kind of like building blocks and so they combine in different ways in order to make the different sort of proteins that we need in our body. So there are 20 different amino acids and there are nine which are called essential amino acids. Now, these are essential because our body can actually make the other 11 that it needs, whereas these we need to actually get them from the food that we're eating. So that's when they're talking about essential amino acids, they're the ones that we're talking about. The other ones, our body can just make them as it needs itself, so they're not as important. We just need enough protein in general for those ones. But yeah, we do need to be making sure we're getting all of the nine essential ones. But yeah, we do need to be making sure we're getting all of the nine essential ones.

Speaker 1: 7:05

So what the myth basically says is that plant-based foods don't contain all of the nine essential amino acids. So this has actually been debunked and found to be untrue. All plant-based foods do contain all of the nine essential amino acids. They just contain them in different amounts, so one amino acid will be higher in one food whereas it'll be low in another food, and so that's kind of where the whole protein combining thing came about. And so that's kind of where the whole protein combining thing came about, where they pretty much said that, yeah, that you need to be having different foods together in order to make sure you're getting all of the amino acids.

Speaker 1: 7:56

So two things with this. First up, they found that you don't actually have to combine them in the same meal. As long as you're eating a varied diet in general, then you're fine. So that's as long as you're having kind of legumes and rice or grains and vegetables and nuts and seeds and stuff, so basically sort of everything in the general requirements recommendations a healthy, vegan diet then you'll get it fine. Now the other side of this is there's actually been studies that were done. There's. One was in 1973 in MIT where they actually took single plant-based foods. So just one food and as long as you're getting enough, and as long as you're eating enough of that food in order to get enough calories, so yeah, as long as you're eating enough of it for your daily calorie needs, you actually will be able to get enough of all of the amino acids. So this really shows you that plant-based foods do have enough of all of the essential amino acids, even lysine, which is the one that does get talked about a lot because grains don't have a lot of lysine, but these studies have found that as long as you're getting enough calories, so you're eating enough food of these foods, then you will be getting enough protein.

Speaker 1: 9:52

And also the one that says that plant-based proteins aren't sufficient and aren't good quality proteins and all of these sort of things that they like to say on social media. That's well and truly debunked and it was actually. It's quite funny because I was doing research about this, about the actual studies. It was debunked in 1973. So it's been around for a very long time, which is quite sad that even when I was studying nutrition at university, it was still the whole needing to combine proteins thing was still talked about, and that was only a couple of years ago. So it's a little bit sad how prolific the complete proteins myth is.

Speaker 1: 10:33

Now I do want to have there's a couple of caveats when we're talking about protein. So there are some times when your kids might not be getting enough protein. So it has been found in general because kids have such high energy needs. As long as they're getting enough energy, then they will be getting well and truly enough protein, because the amount of protein that kids need like around sort of 15, 20 grams a day is really small compared to actually the amount of energy that they need or the amount of calories that they need every day, because kids actually need to be eating as much as us mums, like women, if not more for teenagers and stuff. So the the focus really is on making sure that they're getting enough energy, rather than protein for kids.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Now, older adults actually have higher protein needs, but they don't have as high energy needs, so that can be a problem. But obviously we're focusing on kids here. So, yeah, but if you do have older adults, you might need to be. You do need to be a bit more conscious about protein when you're doing it. Luckily, older adults sometimes aren't as fussy as kids, so they eat better sometimes. Just thinking about my older relatives here at the moment and, yeah, yeah, I don't know who's fussy them or my kids, but yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:10

But the key thing with everything when it comes to protein is it's all about energy or calories. Now, energy is what we call it in Australia, calories in the US. So, yeah, when I'm talking about energy, I mean calories. I don't mean, like, how much running around energy your kids have. I'm talking about how much food they need to be getting in every day in order to sort of power them through the day. So all of these things are dependent on kids getting enough energy from their food and making sure that they're eating enough.

Speaker 1: 12:48

So there are some times where protein might actually be a problem. If you have fussy kids who don't eat a lot my son is definitely one of those then it is really important that you are focusing on protein as well as energy to make sure that they're getting enough. Now, if you want help with that, as I said earlier, I've got my free video series that is coming up next week that you can come and join and we can talk about that, if you need to, with your kids. The other spot is my membership. The other spot is my membership Nourish and Grow, where I'm in there and we do lots on kids nutrition in there and making sure that your kids are getting enough, and you can ask me any time in that as well. So check that one out as well if you want sort of more not one on one but, like I have Q&A sessions, um, you can ask questions anytime in the group and things like that in there too. Um, there's also heaps of recipes in there too, which are really good for fussy kids. Um, yeah, so that's the thing.

Speaker 1: 14:03

The other time it can be a problem as well, um, which this again comes with fussy kids is if your kids are fussy and they only eat sort of one, a couple of foods. This is especially true if they're eating very processed foods, because when we're talking about protein needs and amino acids and everything, we tend to focus on grains and legumes and nuts and seeds and sort of more whole foods not just whole foods, but sort of more kind of whole foods. If your kids eat a lot of really processed foods, then they're going to have lower protein as well and that might end up being a problem. So I do actually have another podcast episode in here which talks about how to get your kids, how to transition them from really processed foods. Also, again, come and join Nourish and Grow and I can help you in there as well. Now, Nourish and Grow is really can help you in there as well. Now, nourish and Grow is really flexible. It's got a monthly payment thing, so it is something that you can come in and get some help and you're not locked in. You can join up for the 12 months, but you're not locked in. So it is something you can come in and have a bit of help with and stuff and then and we cover different topics each month as well, so you can sort of come in for a topic if you're interested.

Speaker 1: 15:34

Um, yeah, so, as I said, those are the kind of the main times that it's a problem if you've got fussy eaters who aren't eating enough, or if you've got fussy eaters who eat a lot of processed foods, um, and sort of only one or two foods. Um, obviously, as I said, if they're getting enough energy with those one or two foods and they're okay. But if they're not which is really common for, for, um, fussy eaters then yeah, it's going to be something you need to watch out for as well. Um, now, the other time that I will mention, but I won't go into, is eating disorders and things like that. Obviously, you're coming back with not actually getting enough energy when you're talking about that.

Speaker 1: 16:20

Now, I am well and truly not qualified to talk about eating disorders. That's why I don't go into them. There are plenty of places where you can look at that, yeah. So that's the other spot, obviously, that you would need to watch out for. So, as I said, the protein combining myth, or the myth that you don't get high quality proteins from a vegan diet.

Speaker 1: 16:44

It has well and truly been established that all plant based foods have all of the essential amino acids and even if you just ate one of them, you would still get all of the amino acids you need as long as you're getting enough calories. So as long as you're eating enough food, yeah. And the times to watch out for when you've got picky eaters who might not actually be eating enough food or they might be eating a bit too much processed foods. So, yeah, I hope that that helps to clear up that myth for you and, as I said, make sure you come and join the video series. I am really excited about it and I'd love to have you there. Alrighty, I'll talk to you again next week.