•⠀ Proteins are made up of smaller units called #AminoAcids. These amino acids are linked to each other forming a chain 🔗. Think of a #protein as a string of beads 🔵🔵🔵🔵where each bead is an amino acid. After you eat protein, your body breaks the protein down into the individual amino acids 🔵. Once in your intestine, the amino acids get absorbed into your blood stream so they can travel to your muscles 💪🏻 and tissues that need them.⠀ •⠀ There are 2️⃣0️⃣ total amino acids. Protein foods are made up of any combination of these molecules. Of these 20 amino acids, your body can make some amino acids itself, but there are 9️⃣ amino acids that we cannot produce. In order to get these amino acids they have to come from our foods. These nine amino acids are called #EssentialAminoAcids⠀ •⠀ The 9 Essential Amino acids = histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine 🤯 Now that you know what these weird sounding words are simply the building blocks of protein, not something to be afraid of.⠀ •⠀ You can get these essential amino acids from eating high quality protein foods like 🥛🥚🥩 or from eating a combination of plant proteins like beans + grains.⠀ #NoshItFoodFacts
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