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Fitness Systems
Silver State Athletic Center
5680 Morgan Mill Road
Carson City, NV 89701
Phone: 775 883 3500
Fax: 775 841 5233
Protein Basics
By Lucas D. Wold www.CarsonCityFitnessSystems.com
As a fitness professional, I receive tons of questions about protein. What is it? What does it do? What is the difference between essential and non-essential amino acids? This article will outline what you need to know in order to make your own informed decisions about this vital nutritional structure.
Protein has a wide variety of physiological functions that are essential to optimal physical performance. Protein forms the structural basis of muscle tissue, it is the major component of most muscle enzymes, and it can even serve as a source of fuel during exercise.
The development and functioning of muscle tissue can’t happen without protein.
What is protein, anyway? Protein is a complex chemical structure which is made up of oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen – just as are fats and carbohydrates. But protein has one other element that is lacking in fats and carbohydrates – nitrogen.
Nitrogen comprises right around sixteen percent of your dietary protein.
To build a protein, oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen are formed into structures called amino acids. Each amino acid possesses an amine group (chemical formula: NH2) and an acid group (chemical formula: COOH). The rest of the amino acid consists of different combinations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and occasionally sulfur.
There are twenty amino acids in total. These amino acids together can construct all of the proteins necessary for the proper structure and function of your body.
Amino acids are divided into two groups: dispensable and indispensable. (These two groups are often called non-essential and essential amino acids, respectively.)
Of the twenty amino acids eleven of them are dispensable. This means your body can synthesize these amino acids from other amino acids when it needs to. The more common name for these, which is non-essential amino acids, comes from the fact that it isn’t necessary to consume these acids with every meal.
The nine remaining amino acids are called indispensable because they must be supplied by your diet. Your body can’t synthesize these nine. A food or dish containing all nine of these amino acids is said to be a complete protein.
Amino Acids |
|
Indispensable (Essential) | Dispensable (Non-Essential) |
Histidine | Alanine |
Isoleucine | Arginine |
Leucine | Asparagine |
Lysine | Aspartic Acid |
Methionine | Cysteine |
Phenylalanine | Glutamic Acid |
Threonine | Glutamine |
Tryptophan | Glycine |
Valine | Proline |
| Serine |
| Tyrosine |
One of Carson City Fitness Systems’ seven fundamental rules of nutrition is to consume a complete protein at each meal.
Animal proteins, those found in meat and milk, are complete proteins on their own. (They contain all nine of the essential amino acids.)
Plant proteins are incomplete proteins. They are missing one or more of your nine essential amino acids.
How then, do our vegetarian clients eat a complete protein at each meal if plant foods are incomplete? They do this by pairing two foods with incomplete proteins together to fill in the gaps, so that they finish with all nine essential amino acids.
Some examples of pairing foods to get complete protein are rice with beans or pea soup with toast.
The least you should know is this: Your body requires an adequate supply of the nine essential amino acids for optimum health and performance.
Now get out there and eat some protein!
