X-Message-Number: 4917 Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995 23:09:41 -0400 From: "Keith F. Lynch" <> Subject: Mood and Macronutrients Doug Skrecky <> writes: > Although lowering overall protein intake is likely to improve ones > mental health there may be a danger of malnutrition if this is > carried to an extreme. One side effect of a protein deficient diet is > continual feelings of hunger. *14 For protein, as with many things > in life the middle road is the best road. Perhaps this explains why I have never been depressed. I've always been a carbohydrate craver. *Nothing* that I buy is considered a significant protein source. Mostly I eat fruit and vegetables (without any butter or other toppings) and unfortified salt-free sugar-free cereal (without milk or other additions). But I do not feel hungry, and I don't believe I am malnourished. I never get sick -- not even a cold, ever. And I have considerable strength and stamina. I bike 20 to 40 miles every day. And I donate blood every eight weeks. While it's technically true that protein is an essential nutrient -- eight essential nutrients, actually -- I don't believe it's possible to get too little protein unless you're getting too little food, or unless most of your calories come from rendered fat (e.g. butter), pure sugar, or alcohol. The you-need-tons-of-protein myth was perpetrated by the US government, at the behest of the powerful meat and diary lobbies. Recently, some doctors have suggested that a few decades of typical American protein intake levels often leads to kidney failure and/or osteoporosis. Please feel free to print the above in your magazine. -- Keith Lynch, http://www.access.digex.net/~kfl/ Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=4917