Protein Explained

There are three macronutrients in nutrition, 1) proteins 2) carbohydrates and 3) fats. You can easily find all three in your daily diet but not always in the healthiest varieties or combinations. In this article we will explore proteins.

Carbohydrates and fats can be good for you or bad for you based on their natural biochemistry while all dietary proteins are about equally good. The quality of a protein depends mostly on how your food is prepared or what fats accompany the protein.

Protein is an important component of every cell in the body and your cellular nutrition is where you should start. Protein is stored in muscles and organs and the body utilizes it to build and repair tissues. The body also uses protein in the production of enzymes and hormones. Proteins make it possible for blood to carry oxygen throughout the body. As a macronutrient, the body needs relatively large amounts of protein to maintain health.

It may help to understand a little about the biochemistry of protein. Proteins are made up of different combinations of 20 amino acids, the building blocks of life. Of these 20, your body produces 11 of them while the other nine come from, or need to come directly from your diet. These nine are called essential amino acids.

Amino Acids produced by the body:

Alanine, Arginine, Asparagine, Aspartic acid, Cysteine, Glutamic acid, Glutamine, Glycine Proline, Serine, Tyrosine

Essential Amino Acids:

Histidine, Isoleucine, Leucine, Lysine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Threonine, Tryptophan, Valine

The Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that our daily protein requirements should be 10% to 35% of our total caloric intake. Men need slightly more than women. A lack of protein can cause loss of muscle mass, decreased immunity, and a weakening of the heart and respiratory system.

As you eat, your digestive system processes or breaks down proteins into the individual amino acids and absorbs them. Your body then uses them to make new proteins needed for muscles, organs and components of your immune system.

The widespread popularity of high-protein diets, especially protein shakes, is due in large part to the ability of protein to help manage hunger. When protein is absorbed, it sends a signal to the brain that decreases hunger. Protein also raises your resting metabolism by maintaining muscle mass. As we age, muscle mass decreases without exercise, so staying fit is a key to burning fat by keeping your metabolism high. Protein also reduces the rapid rise and fall of blood sugar and insulin. This helps to avoid the sugar highs and lows after eating sweets high in fats and sugars. However, certain foods provide a healthier resource for protein than others.

Complete (animal) and Incomplete (plant-based) Proteins

Complete proteins are proteins that come from animals, so called because they contain some combination of all nine essential amino acids.

Incomplete or plant-based proteins do not contain all amino acids, except soy. Soy is a complete protein. If you are a vegetarian, you need to eat a variety of plants to be sure you get all of the amino acids you need.

If your daily diet includes meat, fish, poultry, eggs, dairy products or soy, you will easily get all of the amino acids you need.

Making Good Protein Choices

All animal products contain a large amount of protein as do some plant foods such as legumes, nuts and seeds. Fruits and vegetables generally do not have as much protein, but they still contribute to your overall protein intake. Most of us only need 50 to 70 grams of protein every day, which is about what you would find in eight ounces of beef. It really isn’t difficult to get all of the protein you need each day, the difficult part is choosing the healthiest protein sources.

When you choose your proteins, you need to think about how the protein source is prepared or what fats are naturally found with that protein. Fish, especially salmon or tuna, is a terrific protein source because the fats that accompany the proteins are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for good health and often scarce in western diets.

An example of a poor protein choice would be a chicken-fried steak. Steak, as a red meat, has a large amount of saturated fats and the style of cooking (breaded, fried and drenched in gravy) adds more unhealthy fats and extra calories.

Here are some tips for choosing healthy protein sources. These are very simple and easy modifications to any diet that do not cost any more or require any more time to prepare.

• Drink low- or non-fat milk. These provide plenty of calcium with the protein.
• Roast, bake or grill your meats, poultry and fish to avoid the extra fats in the oils used for cooking.
• Use lean red meats to limit the amount of saturated fats.
• Try a vegetarian main course once or twice a week.
• Do not fry fish, this adds extra fats and calories.
• Enjoy a handful of nuts as a snack. Nuts contain healthy fats and protein.
• Remove the skin and fat from poultry, or pick out a rotisserie chicken. Rotisserie cooking allows fats to drain away.
• Choose grilled chicken sandwiches rather than breaded chicken or burgers.
• Avoid processed, high fat lunch meats, hot dogs and sausage.