Protein

It’s only been a decade or so since social media first entered our lexicon, but to imagine a world without it is now incomprehensible. It’s infiltrated our lives in a myriad of ways, and for practically every passion out there, there’s a relevant social media account to follow. This is especially true for food – after all, we taste with our eyes first, and social media has made us hyper-visual, so it’s the perfect marriage of two worlds. If you’re serious about food, these are a few of the top social media accounts you should be following.

We all know that protein is essential to our bodies – it plays a myriad of roles from providing cell structure and strength, to aiding our immune system. The building blocks of protein are called amino acids and there are 22 specific types inherent to the process – 13 of these are produced by the body, nine are not and they must be sourced from the foods we eat. While plant-based foods will provide some of these amino acids, it is only animal-based protein that provide all nine in one go.

Eat This, Not That! is an American organisation begun in 2007 to better identify the caloric and nutritional content of every day food, particularly that sold by the fast food industry. In their role as public watch dog, they have encouraged various food chains to not only be more transparent about what goes into their food, but to also introduce healthier options.

Whether you’re into Paleo, Banting, Atkins or any other more mainstream eating plan, indisputable is the fact that when you’re trying to make healthier choices, the amount of information out there is staggering and quite often misleading – what’s good today is disproved tomorrow and vice versa. Nutrition is constantly under the magnifying glass; as well it should be, as so much of what we choose to put into our bodies affects our health and general well-being.