Protein

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Protein

What is it?

Proteins are the building blocks that grow and repair your body.

Proteins are needed not only for muscle but also for hair, skin and

internal organs. Some proteins travel around your body in the blood

as hormones, enzymes and red blood cells. Protein is unique because

it is the only food source of nitrogen, which is essential to all

plant and animal life.

Proteins are made up of chains of amino acids. For each protein,

there are specific amino acids in a specific amount, and they are

joined in a unique order. This is what makes a chicken different

from cheese or a fingernail different from a strand of hair. There

are 22 amino acids. Eight of these are called the essential amino

acids because they cannot be made by the body and must be provided

by the diet.

What does it do?

Antibodies, which are made of protein, help you resist disease and

infection.

Each day, your body loses protein in the form of hair, skin and

nails. You also use up protein in all the activities of running and

maintaining your body.

If you eat protein daily, it is supplied to your body tissue to

replenish any loss and repair any injury.

For growing infants, children and teens, protein, along with

sufficient calories, is necessary for growth of the entire body.

Pregnant and breast-feeding women need adequate protein for the

fetus, for supporting maternal tissue, and for the production of

breast milk after delivery.

If you have a cut, undergo surgery, or have an injury or illness,

you need protein to recover and to rebuild your body.

Where do you get it?

Protein foods are classified in two ways: complete and incomplete.

Complete proteins, which come from animal sources such as chicken,

fish, dairy and soybeans, contain all the essential amino acids that

help build your muscle and body tissue. Incomplete proteins, found

in plant foods, such as grains, seeds, nuts, beans and vegetables,

provide a varying but limited array of amino acids. A greater

variety and amount of incomplete proteins must be consumed to cover

all the amino acids needed for protein building.

We can compensate for the amino acid deficiencies in an incomplete

protein by combining it with another protein, thus providing all the

building blocks for protein creation. This is the concept of

complementary proteins, in which proteins with opposite strengths

and weaknesses complement each other.

For example, many cereals are low in an amino acid called lysine,

but high in methionine and cystine. Lima beans, soybeans and kidney

beans are high in lysine but low in methionine and cystine. Many

cultures, including Mexican and Indian cultures, have limited animal

protein sources but eat combinations of incomplete foods. Examples

of appropriate combinations include:

rice and beans

cereal and milk

beans and corn

bread and cheese

Recent research indicates that such combinations need not be eaten

at the same meal. If they are consumed over the period of a day, the

necessary building of muscle and body tissue will occur. Vegetarians

thrive on non-animal protein diets because of our body's ability to

do this.

How to increase your protein intake

Here are five ways to increase protein in your diet if you need more

than you are currently getting.

1. Increase your meat serving at lunch or dinner by just one ounce

to add seven more grams to your daily protein intake.

2. Make a high-protein breakfast drink by blending a cup of yogurt

or silken tofu, a cup of milk and your favorite fruit. Bananas and

strawberries work well. You may want to add ice.

3. Add shredded cheese, cottage cheese or garbanzo beans to a tossed

salad at dinner.

4. Add a little protein to your snacks. Put peanut butter on apples,

drink milk with cookies, or use cheese cubes to make a kabob with

grapes, pineapple and cherries.

5. Mix protein into foods. For example, you can make an eggnog of

egg substitutes, milk and sweetener, stir nonfat dried powdered milk

powder into hot cereal or mashed potatoes, or add powdered egg

whites to applesauce.