Newbie with Questions

[Tillie]

Hi...I am just getting started on Protein Power and I'm wondering a couple of things.

#1 Is there anywhere in the Book (I couldn't find it) Where they make a suggestion as to how many calories you should be taking in daily?

#2 Also, I have read Sandra Cabots book and she recommends several supplements, can i do those with the protein power as well (Flaxseed Oil, Milk Thistle, Chromium...etc....

TY

Tillie

[Kristine]

Hello! :wave:

1) Not that I can remember. It's best to go with the number of carbs and protein that they recommend, and use enough fat to be satisfied. Personally, I think it's more important to regulate your appetite and learn to listen to your body's signals than it is to calorie count and possibly limit yourself. If that doesn't work, you can tweak in the future. In the meantime, it might help you to keep track on www.fitday.com .

2) It's not a bad idea. :thup: Chromium and flaxseed are recommended by the Eadeses, so I don't see why not. I don't know if the milk thistle is necessary, though, unless you have a compelling reason to protect your liver.

HTH! :sunny:

[acohn]

I think that the Eadeses have reversed themselves on flax seed oil, and recommend against it, until your are farther along towards your goals. In its place, i'm pretty sure that they recommend cod liver oil, which contains the EPA and DHA that the body actually uses.

[bellaluna]

Why have they recommended against flax oil? :confused:

[Elihnig]

In the first book, Protein Power, the Eades were against flax oil because your body has to take an extra step and convert it to what you need.

They changed their minds about that in the second book Protein Power Lifespan Plan.

I prefer fish oil, myself.


Beth

[acohn]

From PPLP, p. 69-70:
If all the desaturation and elongation enzymes are working in top order, the body converts the ALA in flax seed oil to EPA and DHA just fine...Most of our patients have disorders that interfere with the proper function of these enzymes and, therefore, don't respond particularly well to flax seed oil...If people are reasonably healthy, we don't have a problem giving them flax seed oil. We actually take it ourselves sometimes. But we still think it preferable to take the end products EPA and DHA, which we actually need, than to take the parent fat, ALA, in the form of flax seed oil and let our bodies do the conversion...taking flax seed oil is...like buying crude oil and running it through your home distillery to make gasoline for your car. If that's the only way you can get gasoline, then that's what you have to do. If you can buy the gasoline already distilled, however, it's much more efficient to do that and avoid all the hassle of the home-distillation process.

[Quinadal]

What about flaxMEAL?

[bellaluna]

Oh....ok then. Thanks...Ang :wave:

[doreen T]

There is a small % of people who are unable to convert the ALA fatty acid in flax (also called LNA by some sources, just to confuse everybody :rolleyes: ) to DHA and EPA ... they lack some of the enzymes necessary for this process ... in particular delta-6 desaturase. In Fats That Heal Fats That Kill, Udo Erasmus states that this may be due to a genetic mutation, and is found mainly in persons whose ancestry is from West Coast North American native, Inuit, Oriental coastal, Norwegian and coastal Welsh-Irish -- people who traditionally lived along the cold-water coasts and included fish as a staple in their diets. He estimates this would affect roughly 2 - 5% of the population.

So, if your ancestry is from the above groups, then you might be one who cannot derive a benefit from flax oil. Otherwise you likely will be able to.

Doreen

[Shadow01]

I'm so glad my ancestors were not from the groups Erasmus named - I just love the taste of my flax meal and it's a good source of fiber too :)

[acohn]

While I have Erasmus' book on my shelf and regard it as a valuable reference tool, I have great respect for the experience of nutritionists/doctors who see patients on a regular basis. Although ethnicity may prohibit only a small number of people from converting flax oil to EPA and DHA, I place a high degree of trust the observations of people like the Eades, who deal frequently with a more representative sample of people who need EPA-DHA supplementation.

I would encourage people to eat flax meal, though. As Shadow01 notes, it is a good source of fiber, tastes great. In addition, it is demulcent (slippery when wet), which is also good for the digestive tract. That's why it's part of my morning shake. (http://www.majicom.com/NR/Super Paleolithic Punch.pdf)