5 Cool Facts about Protein!

Our nutrition blog this week is to discuss 5 interesting facts about protein or protein sources! Here are mine:
1. Meat sources contain higher levels of the amino acid arginine which aggravates the herpes simplex virus. I get cold sores on a regular basis and was told to take Lysine for them, but I didn’t know why. Lysine is the amino acid that works in tandem with arginine. When I have too much arginine, I have too little lysine therefore increasing the chance for a flare up. From now on I will take lysine if I am having meat in my meal ;c)
2. I was very excited to learn that the amino acids in the combination of beans and rice make a complete protein! For months now this has been a daily meal of mine and I thought that I might not be getting enough protein, but I am! Yahoo!! And who would have thought that grains contain protein? ;c)
3. Did you know you can eat too much protein? I didn’t! I was amazed to find out that eating too much protein will cause too much ammonia in your system, acidic pH levels, insomnia, nausea, irritability, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and body odor. Wow! With all the media hype about eating more protein we, Americans, actually on average consume more protein than we need! Which leads me to my next item…
4. A person only needs .36g of protein per pound of body weight a day. For me that is only 40g of protein a day which is only 160kcal a day and only 9-10% of my daily total calories!! Most protein bars out on the market contain 25-30 grams of protein in each bar! That is almost my whole entire daily need!
5. This one is the biggie!!! Ready??? Deficiency in protein=deficiency in immunity!!! Protein is EXTREMELY important for your immune function!! Now before you go consuming extra protein when you get sick… remember… too much protein is not good either! We need to eat a BALANCED diet of protein, fats, and carbohydrates! The amino acid Glutamine is the body’s most potent and completely natural antioxidant! Protein is also responsible for cellular rejuvenation and detoxification!