or, How
to Get Enough Protein When You Can’t Get Meat
All proteins, no matter what food they come from, are made
up of amino acids. Amino acids are the
building blocks of protein. And protein is what your body needs to build and
maintain your body’s health. And when we think of Protein, we think of chicken, beef, turkey, pork, fish and eggs.When you eat a T-bone steak or baked beans (or anything that contains any protein at all, even a tiny amount), your digestive system breaks the food down into amino acids that are absorbed into your blood stream. From there, the amino acids are used to build the proteins that make up your muscles, organs, your brain and lots of other tissues.
Your body can make many amino acids itself, but there are some amino acids that the human body can't manufacture. These amino acids are called the essential amino acids because you have to actually eat foods that contain them.
A deficiency in any one of those 10 essential amino acids can cause the proteins in your muscle and other tissues to deteriorate, as your body seeks to obtain the necessary amino acid it’s missing by stealing it from your own body tissue.
These are the essential amino acids that your body can’t make on its own (so you must consume/eat them):