So, once again, I was shooting off my mouth about something. Contrary to normal circumstances, though, I wasn't talking about movies, politics, or baseball. I was holding forth on, of all things, Peppermint Patties, and telling boring stories about buying them warm by the bag from the factory, when the conversation took a slight detour into nutritional value and I calmly asserted something to the effect of, "sure, anything with a fat content contains protein," concerning the chocolate covering on the minty patties.This was at a fundraising dinner at my church, so everyone else at the table was basically too polite to call me on this. There were at least two doctors present who cocked their heads and started to express some doubts on my assertion, but I obnoxiously over-talked them -- hey, I've learned something from the Republicans -- and changed the topic. It got me to thinking, though, that I might just be full of shit on the topic of proteins. It stuck with me all weekend, so this morning, I tried to find a definitive answer.
The first stop was my own pantry. Pop out ye olde bottle of Olive Oil. Check the helpful label. 14 grams of fat per serving, zero protein. Well, that didn't take long. Confirmation that those doctors weren't forgetting their basic biology, they were just being polite to me. Damn it. Perhaps, I comforted myself, I just had gotten things backwards: maybe anything with a protein content contains fat?
I hit the internet to do a little research. Egad. Wikipedia on protein goes on and on about essential amino acids. I finally found a somewhat useful nutritional page on protein. But still no definitive answer on the protein/fat correlation, if there is one. I know enough smart people, that someone reading this blog should be able to provide a quick breakdown, with some possible web references, so I'm asking for some help here. Go ahead, prove me wrong. Post your findings as a comment, please, or send them directly to me and I'll claim the work was my own and publish it in a blog post.
So, do I feel bad about talking smack? Sure, a little. It's embarrassing to realize something you thought to be true actually had no basis in fact. I feel worse about behaving like a boor and dismissing anyone else's opinions on the matter. So, to those of you at dinner. I'm sorry. I can't say I'll never do it again, but thanks for calling me on it, because that's what you should do when people aren't making sense. I took it to heart, did a little research, found out I was wrong. Now, I'm seeking a more informed answer. That's something the Republicans could learn from me.
I've done some more looking into this after our discussion this afternoon. On the simplist level, you are sort of right about the fat-protien connection, but only for animal products, the same doesn't hold for all protien sources.
ReplyDelete"Animal products (meat and dairy) are high in protein and fat. Grains, vegetables and fruits are high in carbohydrates. Thus diets low in animal products are high in carbohydrates." (http://rosensweetmd.com/carbohydratesprotein.html)
Strangely, this means that by eating vegitables and fruits you run the risk of actually putting on weight... "your blood sugar raises very quickly because they require little or no digestion and assimilate very rapidly. Your body is fooled into thinking you ate a big meal because of the rapid rise of blood glucose. You then can over-secrete Insulin and drop the blood glucose below normal as a consequence: an "overshoot" that is called "hypoglycemia". The recovery from this requires cortisol secretion, which then stresses your adrenal glands. Thus we have the connection between the sweet tooth¹ and weight gain."
But I digress. Back to proteins.
According to Harvard School of Public Health (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/protein-full-story/index.html)- "Pay attention to the protein package. You rarely eat straight protein. Some protein comes packaged with healthful fiber and micronutrients, such as beans, nuts, and whole grains. Some protein comes packaged with lots of unhealthy fat, like when you eat marbled beef or drink whole milk. Fish and poultry are the best choices for meat eaters; if you are partial to red meat, such as beef, pork or lamb, steer yourself toward the leanest cuts, and make it only an occasional part of your diet. If you like dairy products, skim or low-fat versions are healthier choices."
So you can get protein without fat... but not in animal products.
my understanding of the fat/protein connection is that protein itself does not contain fat, on a molecular level, but (natural) sources of food protein almost always do.
ReplyDeleteAs for chocolate (this i do know something about!) cocoa beans contain lots of fat, probably the healthy kind, so we remove that and then add lots of sugar and lovely BUTTER BUTTER BUTTER to make candy.
I checked the can of cocoa powder in my pantry: in 1 Tbps of powder there's .5 grams of fat and 1 gram of protein.
So there it is.
The chocolate chips are calling me, I must go.
I should make it clear that the .5 grams is BEFORE we add the butter.
ReplyDelete