What is "protein"?

What is "protein"?

Susan Silberstein & Marilyn Joyce (Health and Nutrition Educator & Heath Counselor) gives expert video advice on: How much protein do I need? and more...

Protein is made up of what we call amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of lean muscle tissue, and actually any muscle that you have in your body. There are 8 essential amino acids that we have to get from our diet. We get those from beans, peas, lentils, split peas, nuts and seeds. We get them from animal protein as well: fish and other wild game meat is a good source. We need amino acids from protein in order to build our bones, our teeth, our hair, our skin and our muscles. Every part of our body requires these amino acids which are the protein to build healthy cells, basically.