Protein - Why?, What?, When? and How Much?
When you think of protein, do you picture bodybuilders? It's true that protein is an essential nutrient to build lean muscle mass, but its primary role is as an all-purpose nutritional building block to maintain your health and vitality. Your entire body consists of protein; nerves, bones and muscle are all created and maintained with the help of protein. It is the principle component of your skin, hair, nails, blood, and internal organs.
Protein has about 4 calories per gram. While your body's primary fuel sources come from carbohydrates and fats, protein can step in and take that role when there are insufficient amounts of those macronutrients. When carbs and fats are adequately provided for in the diet, protein is used for tissue building and maintenance.
Some of the primary hormones are largely comprised protein components called amino acids. Insulin and other critical hormones are also of amino acids. They are responsible for metabolic rate, growth rate, and sexual development.
Enzymes are the catalysts for a myriad of chemical processes that take place in your body. They are also amino acids, protein. Enzymes are required to perform digestion, produce viral and bacterial antibodies, and a host of other necessary processes.
Your digestive system's enzymes break down large protein molecules, which are basically chains of amino acids, into each individual amino acid. These amino acids are reserved" by the body and used when we need the building blocks to create complex tissue.
Proteins are classified into two categories:
* Essential Amino Acids * Non-Essential Amino Acids
"Non-essential amino acids" are not really "non-essential." The body needs them just as it does "essential" ones. However, they are called "nonessential" because the body can synthesize them itself. On the other hand, "essential" amino acids cannot be synthesized and must be gotten from the diet.
While it's true that the bodybuilding and fitness communities tout a fairly high consumption of protein per pound of bodyweight to be optimal, in fact, most nutritionists now teach that our dietary level of protein should be much lower. We should focus on "enough" protein, and you can, indeed, get "too much protein."
Your protein sources should come from lean meats, such as lean beef or skinless chicken, or fish. If you're a vegetarian, you can get ample protein just from high protein plant sources, such as beans and legumes. Even if you're not vegetarian, it's a good idea to include beans and legumes in your diet because of the soluble fiber they provide. They're also high in essential nutrients besides protein, like folic acid. It should also be noted that it is not at all true that plant or vegetarian sources of protein are inferior or "incomplete". Now we know that the body does not need a full compliment of amino acids in each meal to build tissue, and simply ingesting enough calories and enough of these types of foods is enough. That's where the concept of "amino acid pool" was developed.
In short, it's only of benefit to get a lot (or even all) of your protein from plant-based foods, and not hard at all. And give greens a try, too. They're chock full of nutrition and fiber (and after all, that's how a bull grows big and strong, with lots of greens, or grass).
------
J. Lance Curtis is editor and contributor to The Nutrition Guru! Discover why protein is the most important nutrient and by making the right choice can improve your health by visiting The Nutrition Guru! | Protein
Menstrual Cycles That Sync: A Mystery Unraveled
"I know this sounds crazy but I know when my menstrual period is going to start because when my girlfriend at the office starts her period mine will always come the next day." Sound familiar? First of all, no, you are not crazy, and without a doubt this is exactly what is happening. Second, with a little bit of knowledge about menstrual cycles you can understand exactly how this works. Just like every magic trick has a logical explanation, this common phenomenon can also be understood.
Knowledge of the Menstrual Cycle
To begin with, menstrual cycles do not have to be 28 days to be normal. In fact, in a series of classic studies by Vollman in 1977 on more than 31,000 menstrual cycles, fewer than 13% were exactly 28 days. Normal menstrual cycles are thought to fall between 24 and 38 days with greater instability being noted as a woman ages.
There are two phases of the menstrual cycle: pre-ovulation, and post-ovulation. Starting with the first day of the menstrual period, everything that happens up to ovulation (the release of the egg) is part of the pre-ovulation phase. Therefore, everything that happens after ovulation up to the beginning of the next menstrual period is part of the post-ovulation phase. The most important thing to remember is this: whereas the number of days AFTER ovulation is relatively constant (approximately 2 weeks), the number of days BEFORE ovulation is highly variable.
What does this mean? This means that if the menstrual cycle was short, then the pre-ovulation phase was short. For example, ovulation occurred 8 days after the menstrual cycle started (pre-ovulation phase = 8), the next menstrual period was 14 days later (post-ovulation phase = 14), and the total length of the cycle was 22 days (8 + 14). Likewise, if a menstrual cycle became really long, then it just took longer to ovulate. For example, pre-ovulation 26 + post-ovulation 14 = a cycle length of 40 days.
The most amazing thing about all of this is that if a woman can learn when she becomes fertile and when she ovulates (something that is easy to learn how to observe) then she can PREDICT the exact day that the next menstrual period is going to start � two weeks in advance!
What Makes Cycles Vary?
The winner is� STRESS! There are many things that can cause menstrual cycle variation such as medication, hormones, weight loss, weight gain, etc., but by far, the major influence is stress. The main effect of all of these things is that it takes longer to reach ovulation. Stress delays ovulation! The creator of the female body was a genius because if you think about it, the woman's body will naturally delay ovulation if a she has way too much stress, becomes ill, or chemically imbalanced-not a good idea to get pregnant under these circumstances!
Putting it All Together
So what do women who menstruate at the same time every month have in common? The stress pattern. In the above example, these two women both work in the same environment. As such, they have common stressors such as project deadlines, renewal of contracts, etc. The same story is frequently heard among women who live in a dorm together in a university. Once again, the stress environment is the common factor such as, quarterly exams, midterms, finals, etc. During times of stress, ovulation is delayed. When the stressors disappear, ovulation occurs and the menstrual periods begin approximately 2 weeks later.
When it comes to the menstrual cycle, there is no shortage of myths. There are so many, in fact, that writing articles such as this one could easily become a full time job!
------
David V. Picella, NP, is a PhD Student in the Department of Nursing at The University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. David is a co-founder of the MyFertilityCycle gynecological charting system that can solve infertility and gynecological problems and be used as a natural means of avoiding pregnancy. To learn more about the language of a woman's body visit the number top rated internet site about fertility and health.
