Animal Protein Products Are More Nutritious than Plant-Based Protein Products

Posted on January 22, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

It appears that plant-based diets are becoming all the rage. It isn’t uncommon now to see plant-based chicken nuggets, plant-based burger patties, and plant-based beef jerky on the shelves at the grocery store.  The label will tell you that it is very similar in terms of nutrition to regular meats, but according to a United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report, this isn’t exactly the case.

An analysis of 500 studies found that animal products contain nutrients important to our health that are very hard to get from the plant-based versions of those products. These nutrients include high-quality protein, amino acids, iron, calcium, zinc, vitamin B-12, selenium, choline, carnitine, creatine, and taurine. While getting enough of these nutrients is important for everyone, they are even more crucial for those who are pregnant or lactating, those who are older in age, as well as for children and teens during development.

So, while you may get a few of these nutrients from plant-based products, consuming real eggs, meats, and dairy products is a much better way to ensure that you are getting all of them as well as an adequate amount of each.

Ultimately, the most important consideration is to have a balanced, healthy diet. This includes your fruits and vegetables, meat proteins, dairy products, eggs, and whole grains. Plus, reduce your sugar consumption.

Arizona agriculture produces lots of animal protein products! Look for locally raised meats, dairy products, and eggs next time that you’re out grocery shopping. Not only will you be supporting your local farmers and ranchers, but you’ll also be getting high-quality protein products that are chock full of nutrients!  And, thank you Arizona farmers and ranchers for all you do for agriculture and feeding Arizonans and the world.

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Pairing Foods Boosts Nutritional Value

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

A little fun fact about me is that one of my absolute favorite foods in the whole world is pickles. In my opinion, the more sour and bitter the pickle, the better. This is why we always have a huge gallon jar of Best Maid’s Sour Pickles in our fridge at all times, and I frequently eat whole pickles by myself. While I adore pickles plain, I discovered one day that slicing them up and slathering mustard on them makes them even better! Everyone who has seen me do this thinks I’m insane, and I will agree it’s a little weird. But some things are just better together, and it doesn’t just have to do with flavor either. Did you know that pairing certain foods together can actually improve your body’s ability to absorb nutrients from those foods?

According to registered dietician Jordan Hill

, there are many different combinations of foods that contain nutrients that work synergistically as they aid in bodily processes. To make it even better, she says that many of them taste great together too! Some of them are as follows:

  • Salmon and asparagus – The fats in the salmon help to absorb vitamins A, E, D, and K, which are in lots of green veggies.
  • Tomatoes and avocados – The fats in avocados help the body to absorb carotenoids, an antioxidant compound found in red, yellow, and orange fruits and vegetables.
  • Eggs and Greek yogurt – Vitamin D is best absorbed when eaten with a source of calcium.
  • Oranges and nuts – The iron in nuts is best absorbed when consumed with vitamin C.
  • Oatmeal and yogurt – Oatmeal is a good source of prebiotics, which feeds the probiotics in fermented foods such as yogurt.

Those pairings listed above are just a few examples. The key to pairing foods together isn’t really the foods themselves, rather it’s the nutrients of each one being synergistic with each other, so there are lots of different combinations you can explore! Unfortunately, pickles and mustard probably don’t offer any kind of nutritional benefits, but they sure do taste good together!

For more articles about nutrition, check out the Fill Your Plate website!

 

 

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What Makes Superfoods So Super?

Posted on January 17, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

We often hear a lot about “superfoods” and how they are incredibly nutritious and good for your health. But what exactly makes a food a superfood? Read on to find out what makes foods able to be considered a superfood, some examples of superfoods, and a few ideas on how to incorporate them into your diet!

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According to the Cleveland Clinic, there is no specific, hard, and fast definition for superfoods, but the term is typically used to denote natural foods that are exceptionally nutrient dense all while being relatively low in calories. Registered dietician Beth Czerwony says that superfoods are very high in vitamins, antioxidants, and minerals, and they also might be high in fiber, flavonoids, and healthy fats.

 

There are tons of examples of foods that are considered superfoods, and the following are some dietician-recommended superfoods.

  • Flax seeds
  • Chia seeds
  • Watercress
  • Walnuts
  • Blueberries
  • Kale
  • Yogurt
  • Eggs
  • Oats
  • Beans
  • Quinoa
  • Sea vegetables
  • Cabbage
  • Alaskan sablefish

When it comes to incorporating some of these superfoods into your diet, some you can just use as part of a meal or all by themselves, or others you can add to recipes to give it more of a nutritional punch. For example, you could make a salad using kale as the greens, or you could add some kale to a smoothie, you’re still getting the extra vitamins and minerals either way!

Want to read more about healthy eating? Check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

 

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Plant Protein Vs. Animal Protein – Main Differences

Posted on January 15, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

 

You’ve probably noticed that recently plant-based protein sources have been gaining lots of attention. Some view them as a healthier source of protein than animal proteins, while others say the opposite. But, besides the fact that one is from a live animal and the other is just from a plant, are there any significant differences between plant-based protein and animal proteins?

One of the main differences between plant and animal proteins is their amino acid content. All proteins are made up of amino acids, but certain proteins have more than others. Our bodies use 20 different amino acids, and our bodies make all of them except for 9. The remaining 9 we have to get through the proteins that we consume. This is where animal and plant proteins begin to differ. Animal proteins are considered “complete proteins,” which means that they have all 9 of those amino acids that we need. Most plant proteins are incomplete proteins, as they don’t have all 9 amino acids.

Another difference between animal and plant proteins is the type of iron that they provide. Animal protein sources offer us a kind of iron called heme iron. This kind of iron is more readily absorbed by our bodies than the non-heme iron that plant proteins have to offer.

A final difference between the two protein sources is their protein density relative to their calorie content. Animal proteins offer more protein per calorie than do plant protein sources. In other words, you get more protein bang for your caloric buck when you eat animal proteins. Since plant proteins are a lot lower in protein overall than animal proteins, you’d have to eat a lot more of them to equal the amount of protein you could be getting from a smaller portion of animal protein.

This is only a broad overview of the many differences between plant and animal protein. While there is nothing wrong with either, and both should be included in a healthy diet, animal proteins are the better option, as they have all of the 9 essential amino acids, have better-absorbed iron, and have more protein per calorie.

Did you know that Arizona Agriculture produces lots of fresh, locally-grown animal protein products? Look for Arizona eggs, dairy products, and meats the next time that you’re out shopping!

For more health-related articles, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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Overview of Diets Part 3 – The Paleo, Dukan, and Zone Diets

Posted on January 12, 2024 by Fill Your Plate

By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern

In this final article about diets, we’ll be looking at 3 diets that aren’t as popular as some others, but still deserve some attention! Specifically, we’ll be looking at the paleo diet, the Dukan diet, and the Zone diet.

 

The Paleo Diet

The paleo diet is known for its restriction of certain foods such as grains, dairy, and processed foods. The goal is to eat whole, natural foods and emphasize the consumption of lean proteins, vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds. There are a few variations to the paleo diet with some being stricter than others, but the main goal of eating natural and whole foods remains the same.

This diet does help with weight loss and has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, but the downside is that it eliminates whole grains, legumes, and dairy products which all offer great nutrition as well.

 

The Dukan Diet

The Dukan diet is a high-protein, low-carbohydrate diet that is done in four phases, two of which are focused on weight loss, and the other two are focused on maintenance. In the two weight loss phases, you eat unlimited protein as well as mandatory oat bran. In the two maintenance phases, you begin to add non-starchy vegetables as well as some carbohydrates and fat. Some of the benefits of this diet are a higher metabolic rate and decreased hunger.

 

The Zone Diet

The zone diet is focused on giving your body a low-glycemic load, and it does so by limiting your daily carbohydrate intake to only 35-45% of your diet, while also eating 30% each of both protein and fat. Of the carbohydrates that you eat, you have to make sure that they have a low glycemic index. Reviews on whether this diet helps with weight loss are mixed, but it does reduce heart disease risk.

Hopefully, this series of articles gave you a little bit more insight into some of the different diet protocols that are out there.

When choosing a diet to start following, it’s important to know as much as you can about it and make sure that it is the right one for you! It might also be valuable to consult your doctor especially if you have a large amount of weight that you are planning to lose.

If you want to read up on more articles about dieting, check out the Fill Your Plate blog!

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