People often ask about Amino Acids and how to increase them in our diet. Here are the basics.As far as your body is concerned, there are two different types of amino acids: essential and non-essential. Non-essential amino acids are amino acids that your body can create out of other chemicals found in your body. Essential amino acids cannot be created, and therefore the only way to get them is through food. Protein in our diets comes from both animal and vegetable sources.

Most animal sources (meat, milk, eggs) provide what’s called “complete protein,” meaning that they contain all of the essential amino acids.

Most vegetable sources are usually are low on or missing certain essential amino acids. However, different vegetable sources are deficient in different amino acids, and by combining different foods you can get all of the essential amino acids throughout the course of the day. Some vegetable sources contain quite a bit of protein — things like nuts, beans, soybeans, etc. are all high in protein. Quinoa and chick peas are two of my favorite that are high in protein. Also by combining foods you can get complete coverage of all essential amino acids. The digestive system breaks all proteins down into their amino acids so that they can enter the bloodstream. Cells then use the amino acids as building blocks. Here are the different amino acids:

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