We probably know that we need to eat protein, but what is it? Many foods contain protein (say: pro-teen), but the best sources are beef, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy products, nuts, seeds, and legumes like black beans and lentils. Protein builds up, maintains, and replaces the tissues in our body. (Not the tissues that we blow our nose in! We mean the stuff our body's made up of.) Our muscles, our organs, and our immune system are made up mostly of protein.
Our body uses the protein that we eat to make lots of specialized protein molecules that have specific jobs. For instance, our body uses protein to make hemoglobin (say: hee-muh-glow-bin), the part of red blood cells that carries oxygen to every part of our body. Other proteins are used to build cardiac muscle. What's that? Our heart! In fact, whether we're running or just hanging out, protein is doing important work like moving our legs, moving our lungs, and protecting us from disease.
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