Eating Red Meat Everyday

mmm said:

I agree with the above ideas. I don't think that the vegetable sources of protein are great as stand alone sources, but they're terrific as a part of a diverse diet. Red meat, white meat, fish, eggs, legumes and though they are often slammed, tofu and the like can be eaten in combination to create a really great diverse diet. It goes without saying that these should be eaten with a ton of veggies.

 

While I don't agree with your parents about whey protein, I don't blame them for being concerned about stuff like whey. It's better to have parents that are skeptical of processed stuff than parents who depend on it to feed their families. I think that speaking with a sports nutritionist with them is a great idea. Make sure they ask the tough questions so that they can have their concerns addressed.

 

I am always interested when I read recommendations for "low fat" foods as this seems to be another way to say "more processed". Processed food is exactly the kind of thing I try to avoid. The problem I see is that in a sense, fat is flavor... remove fat, remove flavor. When processors remove fat they often add sugar and other low nutrient stuff to make up for the reduced flavor.

 

I don't know if that applies to the low fat foods mentioned above. Maybe folks here can share their knowledge. To be clear, I'm not claiming that my understanding is correct... I honestly want to hear what some of the wise folks here think of this. 

"Processing" is not evil. Some processing is beneficial. It's worth actually looking in to what happens to your food rather than just demonizing 'processed food'. All food is processed to one degree or another. If you really want to eat healthy, you need to learn what processes are applied to which foods, and whether or not they are good or bad. 

Non-fat greek yogurt for example, is merely greek yogurt made from skim milk. And skim milk is just un-homogenized whole milk where the cream has been scraped off of the top. Nothing in the processing makes it appreciably less healthy than fatty greek yogurt.  

If you prefer the taste of the fatty version, that is a perfectly valid reason to eat it instead of the non-fat version. Personally, I think they're about the same in this case, so I eat the non-fat version. 

Hari_Seldon said:

"Processing" is not evil. Some processing is beneficial. It's worth actually looking in to what happens to your food rather than just demonizing 'processed food'. All food is processed to one degree or another.

 

I agree whole heartedly. Unless you are pulling something from the ground and eating it raw, it is to some degree processed. Cooking is processing as are breaking down a butchered animals, drying rice grains or plucking a chicken.

Hari_Seldon said:

 ... If you really want to eat healthy, you need to learn what processes are applied to which foods, and whether or not they are good or bad. 

 

I hope it's apparent that this is precisely what I was doing by asking the question. I appreciate the info about the low fat yogurts and such. When in the states I'm lucky enough to have access to raw milk dairy from a highly responsible and transparent small producer so I don't purchase a lot of dairy. When I do, however, I'll be looking at it with a little more wisdom.

When I do purchase yogurt I purchase plain. I would caution those that are trying to limit their intake of empty carbs that flavored low-fat yogurt does often have a bunch of sugar added. I'm not saying that one shouldn't eat it. I'm only suggesting that those who are trying to avoid that specific kind of sugar should read the label carefully and choose the best option for their goals.

mmm said:

I hope it's apparent that this is precisely what I was doing by asking the question. I appreciate the info about the low fat yogurts and such. When in the states I'm lucky enough to have access to raw milk dairy from a highly responsible and transparent small producer so I don't purchase a lot of dairy. When I do, however, I'll be looking at it with a little more wisdom.

 

When I do purchase yogurt I purchase plain. I would caution those that are trying to limit their intake of empty carbs that flavored low-fat yogurt does often have a bunch of sugar added. I'm not saying that one shouldn't eat it. I'm only suggesting that those who are trying to avoid that specific kind of sugar should read the label carefully and choose the best option for their goals.

Yeah, good suggestion. Getting plain yogurt is the right way to go. Flavored yogurt generally has ungodly amounts of sugar added. 

I'm definitely adding yogurt to my list of protein sources since I really haven't thought much about it lately. Thanks so much guys!

It can be hard to find yogurt with the right macro ratios - at least it is for me anyway. I bought some 0% fat Greek Yogurt the other day which had 11 grams of protein per 100g and 0g fat. When I'd finished it I went to a different store and bought a different brand of low fat Greek Yogurt which only had 5 grams of protein per 100g and 3g fat. It wasn't until I got home that I realised I'd have to eat twice as much of the second yogurt to get the same amount of protein.

I guess just keep in mind that not all yogurts are necessarily even close to equal, regardless of if they are of the same type. 

Except for milk, the macros for dairy are usually expressed in % of the dry matter mass, not in % of the produce.

Yogurt is probably 90% water (or more) - that is 10% of dry matter, or 10 grams for each 100g of produce.

11% protein is really 11% of 10g = 1.1g   ---> that is 1.1g per 100g of produce!

You'll need to eat 3Kg of yogurt to get 33g of protein.

Good luck with that!

FredInChina said:

Except for milk, the macros for dairy are usually expressed in % of the dry matter mass, not in % of the produce.

Yogurt is probably 90% water (or more) - that is 10% of dry matter, or 10 grams for each 100g of produce.

11% protein is really 11% of 10g = 1.1g ---> that is 1.1g per 100g of produce!

You'll need to eat 3Kg of yogurt to get 33g of protein.

Good luck with that!

I'm pretty sure that's not how it's listed in Australia...

Fred, Greek yogurt has a lot of the liquid removed, concentrated yogurt if you will. 

So it has more protein by volume or weight, but a lower whey fraction.

If you hang regular yogurt in a cheese cloth you can get something similar called yogurt cheese.

And the idea of "processing" puts too much focus of what happens after the animal is killed.

Farmed chicken can be unprocessed - slaughter and cook - and still be horrible for health.

Joel Tomkins said:

It can be hard to find yogurt with the right macro ratios - at least it is for me anyway. I bought some 0% fat Greek Yogurt the other day which had 11 grams of protein per 100g and 0g fat. When I'd finished it I went to a different store and bought a different brand of low fat Greek Yogurt which only had 5 grams of protein per 100g and 3g fat. It wasn't until I got home that I realised I'd have to eat twice as much of the second yogurt to get the same amount of protein.

 

I guess just keep in mind that not all yogurts are necessarily even close to equal, regardless of if they are of the same type. 

Yeah, some brands sell "greek" yogurt that's basically just regular yogurt with a fancy name. You have to read the label to be sure you're getting the good stuff. 

FredInChina said:

Except for milk, the macros for dairy are usually expressed in % of the dry matter mass, not in % of the produce.

Yogurt is probably 90% water (or more) - that is 10% of dry matter, or 10 grams for each 100g of produce.

 

11% protein is really 11% of 10g = 1.1g   ---> that is 1.1g per 100g of produce!

You'll need to eat 3Kg of yogurt to get 33g of protein.

 

Good luck with that!

In the US, macros are simply listed by weight for a given serving size. The yogurt I buy, for example, lists 23g of protein for a 227g serving of yogurt. So that's a mere 325kg of yogurt for 33g of protein. 

Hari_Seldon said:

Yeah, some brands sell "greek" yogurt that's basically just regular yogurt with a fancy name. You have to read the label to be sure you're getting the good stuff. 

 

In the US, macros are simply listed by weight for a given serving size. The yogurt I buy, for example, lists 23g of protein for a 227g serving of yogurt. So that's a mere 325kg of yogurt for 33g of protein. 

How is "Greek" a fancy name?  There is nothing fancy about "Greek"... BTW I live in the "Yougurt country" . I bet you don't even know what  is  a real natural Yougurt. And "Yougurt" is a Turkish word. In reality it is just "sour milk" produced by bacteria that lives in nature naturaly only around here.

Zingam said:

How is "Greek" a fancy name?  There is nothing fancy about "Greek"... BTW I live in the "Yougurt country" . I bet you don't even know what  is  a real natural Yougurt. And "Yougurt" is a Turkish word. In reality it is just "sour milk" produced by bacteria that lives in nature naturaly only around here.

'Greek yogurt' is strained yogurt. Selling regular yogurt and labeling it 'greek yogurt' is misleading.