Protein

            Proteins are necessary to maintain all forms of life – plant, animal, and human. They are complex substances made up of amino acids (twenty-two are needed by the human body; eight of them essential) and are indispensable to the building, growth, and repair of human body cells. They play an immensely important role during pregnancy, lactation, and childhood; it is absolutely necessary to ingest adequate protein at these times. Inadequate amounts can result in permanent body and brain damage.

            The American diet has tended to emphasize meat as its prime source of protein. It is perhaps the easiest way to be sure of getting adequate protein, but there are many reasons to look for one’s protein elsewhere – meat today is often tainted with additives and pesticides, and from moral or nutritional points of view it is distasteful to some people.

            A vegetarian diet successfully requires a good amount of nutritional knowledge. Do not undertake vegetarianism lightly. For it is not only the quantity of protein that is important but also the quality; many plants contain incomplete proteins that must be properly matched with just the right companion plant or the protein is of little use to the body.

            Prime sources of protein are meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, soybeans, brewer’s yeast, some nuts, and wheat germ. Beans and many seeds and nuts are high in incomplete protein. There are any number of powdered protein supplements on the health food market. They have their place, perhaps; but there seems no reason why with a modicum of knowledge and planning one cannot obtain adequate protein in a more pleasurable and interesting manner!