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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

New Year, New food, New Protein!

If you’re anything like me, you are surveying the caloric damage of the past 30-40 day holiday season and wondering to yourself . . . How is my underwear not ripping at the seams?!  Shrimp, cheese logs, fruit cake, pizza rolls, meats, and cheeses in excessive quantities, and enough alcohol to pickle yourself.  My answer to that?  Elastic.  Well . . . take a deep breath, and say to yourself: it’s over. And if you are reading this, it’s true that you made it out alive.  And If you are reading this from heaven, then I apologize for not writing this blog about a wonderful new product 15 days earlier. Hand is out.  Slap it.
Now, since we are entering a new year and it’s a great time to start a new habit I’d like to throw something out on the table:  Sunwarrior Brown Rice Sprouted Protein.  Not one word, but 6, so it must be good.
In all seriousness, I‘d like to talk about one way we can start the year off right, and that is with a wonderful new source of protein. Until now, there has not been a vegan raw protein with a complete amino acid profile available to the masses which I could rave about so effortlessly. Great tasting, great value, and great nutrition.  But before we go into the benefits of this stuff, let’s talk about protein for a moment. Then I’ll tell you why I like this one so much...because it levels the playing field with the former standard protein sources Moooooo.....










WHAT IS PROTEIN:  It’s an organic compound composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. One of its jobs is to synthesize structural proteins like muscle. Protein is also responsible for synthesizing structural hormones like insulin, growth hormone and Insulin Growth Factor I. These are anabolic hormones that can influence many functions in the body, including muscle growth, recovery, strength, and absorption of nutrients into your muscle cells. Muscle soreness, general fatigue and overall weakness accompany low protein consumption.

Wrap your head around this:
-Although your body appears to be unchanging as a mass, it is always in a constant state of growth and dying. Body protein is constantly being turned over as old cells die and new cells replace them. Science has proven that 98% of the atoms in your body are replaced within one year. In three months, your body produces an entirely new skeleton. Every six weeks, all the cells have been replaced in your liver. You have a new stomach lining every five days.  What?!  Every month you produce an entirely new layer of skin as dead cells are shed and new cells grow underneath. The proteins in your muscles are continually turned over as muscle is broken down and new tissue is synthesized. Every cell in your body is constantly being recycled. Where do all these new cells come from? These new cells come from the protein you consume every day . Proteins contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen , and sometimes other atoms. They form the cellular structural elements, are biochemical catalysts, and are important regulators of gene expression



In order for protein synthesis to occur (a magical process by which your body utilizes it), an adequate supply of both essential and non-essential amino acids is vital. If one of the essential amino acids is missing, synthesis is halted. Any amino acids that are not used within a short time cannot be stored for future use. Restriction in protein intake will result in protein degradation and muscle breakdown, i.e. your body becomes weak and frail. Like the old bag lady slumped over the fire hydrant at 50th and 8th.  Sweet . . . but frail.





The recommended daily Allowance of protein intake is .036 grams per pound of body weight, however this does not account for any outside stress such as exercise. <Cough, cough>.  Also, there are recommendations that say 300-500 grams a day (which is excessive and there is no literature to support this amount or any benefits it may yield). International Sports Sciences supports a diet including .8 gm/per pound to maintain a positive nitrogen balance and enable muscular gains.

So . . . we have established why we need it. Fair? Fair.

Now the reason I’m excited about the Sunwarrior protein: it levels the playing field of non-animal-product-based protein. Till recently there was not a great option for someone to supplement protein intake from a non-animal source. You could either do soy, which jacks up you estrogen levels. Or there was hemp, unsprouted brown rice, or pea protein . . . yuck. Believe me, I have tried them all.  They are all bad-tasting, and I found it very hard to keep muscle on while using these products as a supplementation to good old fashioned whey or meat. Here are some things this the product has going for it:
 “At 85% protein, Sunwarrior has the highest (non soy) raw (not heated over 90 degrees) whole grain sprouted vegan protein on the market.
           
By using a third generation process, we have created the best tasting vegetable protein on the market that has a silky smooth texture that blends well and tastes great compared with other chalky and grainy vegetable proteins.
           
We use old world process of combining the sprouted endosperm and the bran from raw sprouted whole grain brown rice. This unique process creates the first complete hypoallergenic protein, which is made up of all 9 essential amino acids and other non-essential amino acids in a perfectly balanced amino acid profile.
           
It has a 98% correlation rate to Mother's Milk and a 98.2% digestion efficiency making it one of the highest digestibility and efficiency ratings of any other protein sources (compared to whey and soy).
           
It has the highest net protein utilization score of any vegetable-based protein and the highest ratio of amino acids converted to proteins.
           
Unlike the extraction processes of other proteins, our method of extraction uses neither chemicals nor acid hydrolysis. We only use organic enzymes during the process and our process is 100% Organic Compliant.
           
Naturally rich in vitamins and minerals, Sunwarrior Protein contains high amounts of antioxidants tocopherols, and tocotrienols and other essential nutrients such as thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, phosphorous, iron and potassium.
           
Increases efficacy and absorption of vitamin, minerals. There has been a direct correlation between the use of Sunwarrior Protein and the absorption of vitamins.
           
Because Sunwarrior Protein is so digestible, it can be easily assimilated by infants, the elderly and adults The World Health Organization may be using Sunwarrior Protein in the future to feed malnourished individuals, because of the hypoallergenic profile, and superior absorption that Sunwarrior has shown to have.”
           

Love this!!!!!!!!!!!  There is currently a clinical trial that shows promise that Sunwarrior Protein aids in the absorption of vitamins in AIDS patients. There has been a direct correlation between the use of Sunwarrior Protein and the absorption of vitamins where other proteins do not provide such synergistic affects during intake. Weight loss clinical studies in Japan have showed that by providing rice protein as a staple in a diet, that it can be used as a weight control vehicle, particularly because of the superior absorption rates. Diabetes: there are clinical studies going on right now which show that because of the balanced nutritional profile of rice, it helps to actually maintain the diabetic affects of sugars, which could be used in diabetic products to help control insulin levels. Cholesterol: clinical studies have shown promise that Sunwarrior has cholesterol-lowering potential and the USDA is currently using Sunwarrior in trials to see if it may help control high blood pressure.

I don’t know what else to say, except I really think this is a keep on my Freddie Four Star List.  Oh yeah, I’ve started a list. This is on it. That is all.
As always I recommend a scoop of this in a smoothie with some flax seeds some fruit, and bringing it along with your for and in between meal snack. It’s also a great way to start your day.
Another recipe I use it for are my tahini protein balls:
-2 scoops sun warrior protein
-1/2 diced apple
-1/4 cup flax seeds
-1/2 cup rasins or dates
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¼ cup crushed walnuts
-1 ½ cup of tahini butter
Place all ingredients in a bowl and churn together! Then roll in coconut flakes! Raw and about 8 gm of protein each!







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