Getting Past the 'Protein Myth' That Keeps People from Quitting Meat and Dairy

By Kathy Freston, Huffington Post. Posted June 3, 2008.

The way Americans obsess about protein, you'd think protein deficiency was the number one health problem in America. Of course it's not.

When I tell people that I'm a vegan, the most popular question, by far, inevitably follows: "But, how do you get enough protein?"

There it is again, I think, the meat industry's most potent weapon against vegetarianism -- the protein myth. And it is just that -- a myth.

In fact, humans need only 10 percent of the calories we consume to be from protein. Athletes and pregnant women need a little more, but if you're eating enough calories from a varied plant based diet, it's close to impossible to not to get enough.

The way Americans obsess about protein, you'd think protein deficiency was the number one health problem in America. Of course it's not -- it's not even on the list of the ailments that doctors are worried about in America or any other countries where basic caloric needs are being met.

What is on the list? Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, obesity -- diseases of affluence. Diseases linked to eating animal products. According to the American Dietetic Association, which looked at all of the science on vegetarian diets and found not just that they're healthy, but that they "provide health benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases." Read On