You have heard it said, “we are what we eat.” To a certain extent, that is true. And if there is a substance that EVERY single cell in your body is dependent on, then that substance is of extreme importance. Well, PROTEIN is that substance. It is like oxygen that way. We can’t live without it. None of our cells can live without it. Because of this, however, many people have come to believe they need a lot of protein in their diet. In fact, we only need for 10-12% of our caloric intake to be protein. We often actually get too much, putting extra strain on our liver and kidneys, as they must work harder to clear unused protein molecules.
Why is it that we don’t need more protein if it is so important? Every protein molecule is made up of amino acids, the BUILDING BLOCKS of our human abodes. One of the reasons we don’t need as much protein as you would think, however, is that we are excellent recyclers. As we grow and maintain tissues, we are constantly breaking down protein molecules and then reusing parts to rebuild. A man who weighs 150 pounds will break down and synthesize 400 grams of protein every day. Our body just reuses parts from it’s demolition projects. Very cool!
Protein is made up of amino acids. There are 20 amino acids we have to have. Nine of these we have to get from food, because we cannot manufacture them. The other 11 amino acids we can produce if we come up short.
Listed below are the 9 essential and 11 nonessential amino acids:
ESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS
- Histidine
- Valine
- Tryptophan
- Methionine
- Leucine
- Lysine
- Threonine
- Phenylalanine
NONESSENTIAL AMINO ACIDS
- Glutamic acid
- Arginine
- Aspartic acid
- Proline
- Alanine
- Serine
- Tyrosine
- Cysteine
- Asparagine
- Glutamine
- Glycine
So………..we don’t need huge amounts of protein, but we do need some, and we can have a lot of fun getting it. It comes in some pretty delicious packages. Big juicy steaks. Eggs. Beans. Nuts. In fact, every single food we eat, unless it is pure oil/fat or pure sugar, has some protein in it.
We also can have a lot of fun making it a little easier on our bodies to use these protein sources. It is called cooking! We make an egg more digestible when we cook it, because that denatures the protein so it is easier to digest. Marinating a steak in lime juice or wine will tenderize it, making it easier for our enzymes to break it apart.
So enjoy that next meal, but think a little bit about how marvelous that body you walk around in all day really is. What a design! It is very efficient at what it does, constantly breaking down old parts and rebuilding new ones, so that you can do all the things you wish to do!
