Where we find protein… only in the meat? We are all well aware of the importance of protein to our organism, but do we also know exactly where we can find them?
These are real energy charges that can nourish our body: they rebuild our tissues to form new cells to replace worn ones, and they have the task of manufacturing very important substances such as enzymes, hormones, and antibodies.
The building materials for this intense activity are amino acids, bricks that form food protein and that the organism uses, recombining them differently, to produce from time to time the types of macromolecules it needs.
Some of these amino acids are called essential and are of particular importance because the organism is not able to produce them itself, nor to replace them with other similar, and therefore must necessarily take them through food.
Essential amino acids and where to find them
Common thought is that these essential amino acids can only be taken through foods of animal origin.
And it is precisely to disprove this belief, that we propose a clear and immediate comparison on the content of protein contained in an amount of beef and spinach equal to 100 calories each, with its nutritional contribution:
- 100 cal spinach = 12 g protein
- Fiber;
- Antioxidants;
- Calcium and Iron;
- No Fats;
- No Cholesterol;
- Greater Sense of Satiety;
- 100 cal BEEF = 13 g PROTEIN
– Fats;
– Cholesterol;
– No Fiber;
Plants contain protein and in addition, contrary to what happens by eating meat, they do not carry with them either fat or cholesterol. Instead, they bring fiber, antioxidants, calcium and iron giving a greater sense of long-term satiety after consumption.
The ideal diet
Our ideal diet would be based on vegetables, beans, lentils, cereals, nuts, seeds and fruits, the same as the largest animals in the world: elephants, giraffes, cattle, and other animals with huge masses, which consume only foods of plant origin.
In the light of the above, we can see that Nature offers us, in all the available variety of plant foods, the same essential amino acids that we find in meat but at the same time giving other indispensable nutritional elements from which our organism can benefit.
