LUNCH;

BY AUBREY T.

So now after your nutritious and satisfying breakfast of turkey bacon, brown rice, and scambled eggs, you decide to run around for a couple of hours. After those couple of hours runing around with your friends, you decide that you're hungry and head to the kitchen. Hmm, you look in the pantry and a package of instant ramen is the first thing your eager and hungry eyes spot. You rip open the bag, place it in the pot, and sprinkle the seasoning (it's contents are unknown to you) all over the softening noodles. According to kidshealth.org, you should be eating around a gram for every 2 pounds you are, which means that protein intake should vary from person to person. That one ramen packet you call your lunch contains 5 grams of proteins. This means that for a ten-pound boy, this would be a sufficient amount of protein, however it is most likely uncommon you will find a 10 pound teenager. Most people would think, "Well...it's okay that there isn't enough protein in this meal because it's only lunch, i can always make up the lack at dinner." NO matter how trye this is, the high amounts of sodium almost negate the small of protein. INstead of reaching for that ramen package, try and consider some foods that are not only healthy is other areas, but are rich in protein and nutrition. An example of this would be lean meats (chicken and fish), milk, beans, and even yogurt which are all excellent sources of protein.

The whole reason why proteins are so essential to our bodies is because proteins provide amino acids, which in turn gets turned into a code that your DNA reads and instructs to perform a task within your body. Basically, there are all types of different amino acids that carry out different things in your body in different ways. Proteins are important for your muscles, because protein produces hemoglobin, or blood cells in your body that carry oxygen places it needs to be. Proteins are also extremely important for building cardiac muscle, or the muscles for your heart. The only way to get as many good amino acids is to consume as much of the recommended amount of proteins from a variety of excellent protein sources. There are also complete proteins vs. incomplete proteins. You can get complete proteins from foods such as milk and certain meats. Complete proteins contain all of the nine essential amino acids, which are all the amino acids you need for your body to function. The incomplete proteins, however, contain only some amino acids rather than all. You can get incomplete proteins from foods like red beans, but when paired with other incomplete proteins, like rice, they complete each other and provide you with all essential amino acids. If you want to be sure that you are getting a sufficient amount of proteins, you can always monitor your percentage of protein intake by reading nutrition labels, but if you eat right and have balanced meals, you'll find its not too difficult to get enough proteins.