Carnivores eat protein after working out
Of course that’s obvious. If you think this article sounds stupid, wait until you read the follow ups, “Animals don’t stretch before they workout,” and “Monkeys don’t do rotator cuff exercises.” Relax PhDs. I’m not saying any of these theories are true. I just like ruminating about how there might be answers to our physiology in nature.
The lions “workout” is vastly different than ours. He’s probably thinking about it all day. He doesn’t have much of a warm up, or stretching time. Maybe he’s creeping along, which is using some muscles for warm up. Maybe they have endorphins like us, and the thrill of a hunt is giving them that muscle warm up. We have endorphins that help us to warm up and prepare muscles for contractions.
Their workout is all out, and if they fail, they don’t eat. Can you imagine if our gyms were set up that way? Reach a goal, or you don’t get to eat. That would probably help our motivation. We’d all likely be very thin.
I’m not advocating that we exercise that way. Maybe that would make the best athletes, but that’s not the same as health. Optimum health is more about moderation.
Maybe the manner in which we collect food dictates benefit, hunting vs farming. I’m not saying that farming or food collection is not difficult. The energy systems are different.
Sprinting all out to catch a meal requires explosive muscle power, for shorter bursts of energy. Explosive speed requires more muscle, and muscle is built with more protein.
Farming and food collection does not require speed, or explosive muscle power, but does require strength and a certain level of fitness. Maybe berries, nuts, and plant proteins are enough to sustain life forms under those conditions.
There is some human science to support eating protein after working out. Basically, weightlifting or exercise is perceived as an outside survival stress on our bodies. This stimulus triggers hormonal responses to heal any damage, and prepare us for the next survival situation/exercise response.
Our bodies lean toward more of an anabolic metabolism after working out. That means that for the next 24-48 hours we are more likely use protein and build muscle, with the help of some hormones that were released.
Some studies show that we will be the most productive with protein synthesis 1-2 hours after the workout. Maybe nature has “evolutionized” the use of our animal efforts. In other words, the fittest animals that caught prey have been rewarded with new energy source, protein to build muscle. This in turn makes them stronger and faster, and will be more likely to survive the next month, as they will need to kill again to eat. For the animals it’s called survival. For humans, now in modern times, it’s called sports.
There are many theories about what we should eat. There are diets very high in protein, and that does appear to have health benefits. Our blood sugar levels appear to be much healthier with that, as opposed to high carbs or sugars. We can build and maintain more muscle mass with a higher protein diet.
There are also some heavily debated competing diets. Carnivore vs Vegetarian.
Should we only eat meat or only vegetables? I don’t know. One of the hardest parts to any nutritional diet is consistency and follow through. Most people can’t maintain these strict regimes forever. I know I couldn’t. I feel much better when I have both.
Undaunted Courage is a book about the Lewis and Clark expedition. In the diary entries they mention eating ten pounds of meat per day, when the hunting was good, and they were walking twenty miles a day. yuck. I like meat, but that sounds disgusting. They probably didn’t mind. It was better than starving, which they were at times.
It is interesting to ponder which diet nature dictates. There are vegetarians that point out that bulls don’t eat meat, they eat grass. And they are massive, and have massive muscle without meat protein.
It is proven that humans will build more muscle with higher protein intake. That protein does not have to come from meat. Beans, avocados, nuts and eggs are also high in protein.
How much protein do humans need? Depends on our goals and activity level.
