FOR
THE LOVE OF NUTRITION
The Power of Protein
Protein
is any of various naturally occurring extremely complex substances that consist
of amino-acid residues joined by peptide bonds, contain the elements carbon,
hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, usually sulfur, and occasionally other elements (as
phosphorus or iron), and include many essential biological compounds (as
enzymes, hormones, or antibodies). (Merriam-Webster Dictionary)
How
Does Your Body Use Proteins?
Your
body is a wonderful piece of machinery! It works with all its parts to work and
do wonderful things. Proteins are only one of so many sources you need to keep
all your parts running properly! Proteins help to build new cells, maintain
tissues, and synthesize new proteins that make it possible for you to perform
basic bodily functions.
- Proteins also help with your hair, nails and outer layers of your skin. The outer layer of your skin is made of keratin, a scleroprotein or a protein resistant to digestive enzymes, so if you bite your nails, you can not digest them.
- Your muscle tissue contains myosin, actin, myoglobin and a number of proteins.
- Bone’s Outer Layer is hardened with minerals such as calcium, while the rubbery inner layer is protein and bone marrow; the soft material inside the bone is also rich in protein.
- Red Blood Cells contain hemoglobin, a protein compound that carries oxygen throughout the body. Plasma, the clear fluid in your blood, contains fat and protein particle know as lipoproteins, which ferry cholesterol around and out of the body.
About half the
dietary protein that you consume each day goes into making enzymes. Your
ability to see, think, hear and move requires your nerve cells to send messages
back and forth to each other and to other specialized kinds of cells, such as
muscles cells. Sending these kinds of messages requires chemicals called
neurotransmitters. Making neurotransmitters requires PROTEINS!
HOW DOES THE PROTEINS YOU EAT GET TO
YOUR CELLS?
Proteins from foods
are broken into their component amino acids by digestive enzymes which are of
course, specialized proteins. Then other enzymes in your body cells build new
proteins by reassembling amino acids into compounds that your body needs to
function. This process is called protein synthesis. During the protein
synthesis the Amino Acids hook onto fats to form lipoproteins or they may even
join up with carbohydrates to form the glycoproteins found in the mucus
secretes by the digestive tract. Proteins combine with phosphoric acid to
produce phosphoproteins, such as casein, and a protein in milk. Nucleic acids
combine with proteins to create nucleophlasm, the living material inside each
cell.
High
and Low quality proteins
An animals body is
similar to ours, its proteins contains similar combinations of amino acids.
That’s why nutritionists call proteins from foods of animal origins. Meat,
fish, poultry, eggs and diary products re considered high quality proteins. Our
bodies absorb these proteins more efficiently. The proteins from plants such as
grains, fruit, vegetables, legumes (beans), nuts, and seeds often have limited
amounts of some essential amino acids, which means their nutritional content is
not as high as animal proteins.
Complete
and Incomplete Proteins
Another great way
to describe the quality of proteins is to say that they are either complete or incomplete.
A complete protein is one that contains ample amounts of all essential amino
acids, an incomplete protein does not. A protein low in one specific amino acid
is called a limiting protein because it can build only as much tissue as the
smallest amount of the necessary amino acids. You can improve by eating it
along with one that contains sufficient amounts of the limited amino acid. If you wanted the values of protein in
literally thousands of servings and foods check out the USDA National Nutrient
Database for Standard References.
Fun Fact
Do athletes need more
protein than the rest of us? Recent research suggests that the answer is yes,
but athletes easily meet their requirements simply by eating more food, not
necessarily increasing the amount of any specific food.
FACING
FATS AND CHOLESTEROL
Another name for
Cholesterol is lipids, from the Greek word Lipos which means fat. Liquid fats
are called oils; solid fats are called, well fat and the fat in food is called
dietary fats. Dietary fats are sources
of energy that add flavor to foods. The characteristics on sizzling steak so to
say. Sadly, this tasty nutrient may also
be hazardous to your health. The trick is to separate the good from the bad. A
healthy body needs fats to build the body tissues and manufacture
biochemical’s, such as hormones. Some of the adipose (fatty) tissue in your
body is plain to see. For example, even though your skin covers it, you can see
the fat deposits in female’s breasts, hips thighs, buttocks, and belly or on
the male abdomen and shoulders. Foods contain three kinds of fats….
Triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols.
All fats in foods are combinations of fatty acids. Depending on how many
hydrogen atoms ate attached to the carbon atoms in the chain. The more hydrogen
atoms, the more saturated the fatty acid. Depending on which fatty acids
predominated, a food fat is likewise characterized as saturated,
monounsaturated, or polyunsaturated.
Healthy Bodies need
cholesterol. Look carefully and you will find cholesterol in and around your
cells, in your fatty tissue, in your organs, in your brain, and in your glands.
Cholesterol
·
Protects
the integrity of cell membranes
·
Helps
nerve cells to send messages back and forth
·
Is
a building block for vitamin D
·
Enables
your gallbladder to make bile acids, digestive chemical that in turn enables
you to absorb fats and fat-so
·
Is
a base on which you build steroid hormones such as estrogen and testosterone
Cholesterol and Diet
Most
of the cholesterol that you need is made right in your own liver, which churns
out about 1 gram a day from the raw material in the proteins, fats and
carbohydrates that you consume. But you also get cholesterol from food of animal
origin: meat, poultry, fish, eggs, and dairy products. Although some plant
foods such as coconut and cocoa bean are high ion saturated fats, no plants
produce cholesterol.
New Exercise
Squats: How to Do A Squat?
The Bodyweight Basics
- Place feet a little wider than shoulder-width apart, hips stacked over knees, knees over ankles.
- Roll the shoulders back and down away from the ears. Note: Allowing the back to round (like a turtle’s shell) will cause unnecessary stress on the lower back.
- Extend the arms out straight so they are parallel with the ground, palms facing down (like your hands are on someone’s shoulders at a 7th grade dance). Or, if it’s more comfortable, pull the elbows close to the body, palms facing each other and thumbs pointing up.
- Initiate movement by inhaling into the belly, and unlocking the hips, slightly bringing them back. Keep sending hips backward as the knees begin to bend.
- While the butt starts to stick out, make sure the chest and shoulders stay upright, and the back stays straight. Keep the head facing forward with eyes straight ahead for a neutral spine.
- Let the hip joint squat lower to the ground than the knees, if comfortable. Pro tip: Try squatting onto a box or chair.
- Engage the core, and exhale while driving through the heels to return to standing. Imagine the feet are spreading the floor (the left foot to the left, right foot to the right) without actually moving the feet.
Quote
By Edward Stanley. "Those who think they have not time
for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness."
Question for reader: How can you improve “your health”?
Recipe: Strawberry Shortcake
Ingredients
· 1 Tablespoon Calorie Free sweetener
·
1 tablespoon cornstarch
·
1 cup orange juice
·
1/4 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
·
1 1/2 cups sliced fresh strawberries (about 1 pint)
·
6 spongecake dessert shells (5-ounce package)
·
Preparation
Combine sweetener and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Stir in orange juice. Bring to a boil; cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute or until mixture is thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat, and stir in extract. Cool completely.Combine orange juice mixture and strawberries in a bowl; stir gently. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
To serve, spoon sauce over dessert shells.
Tip: This luscious sauce is also good spooned over no-sugar-added ice cream, angel food cake, or fat-free pound cake.
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