Unlocking the Power of Amino Acids: Building a Healthier You

Getting to Know Amino Acids.
There are 22 different types of amino acids known to us today.
Each amino acid has its unique functions.
Amino acids join together in countless ways to create... proteins.
Proteins – a more familiar and friendly term.

Proteins are essential for building body cells, tissues, and organs that make us who we are. They are involved in numerous processes occurring in our bodies.
Not just in our bodies.
Every living thing's cells, including humans, animals, plants, fungi, and even bacteria are made of proteins.
Yes, even bacteria – and since it is alive, despite being very tiny, it too is composed of protein.

Some well-known proteins:

• We've all heard of collagen – a protein involved in the structure of skin, cartilage, and even bones – it's like the glue holding everything together.
• Insulin – a protein hormone that manages blood sugar levels.
• Antibodies are proteins that protect our body from foreign invaders, forming a key part of our immune system.
• Blood tests sometimes check for hemoglobin – a protein that carries oxygen in the blood, delivering it to our body's cells.
• As I've mentioned before, I lack the enzyme lactase – a protein responsible for breaking down milk sugar.

And there are many more different proteins operating within every living organism continuously.

Now we also begin to understand how important protein quality is in our daily diet.

How Do We Determine Protein Quality?
Let's revisit the opening paragraph of this article;

Getting to Know Amino Acids.
There are 22 different types of amino acids known to us today.
Some argue there are 20, others 23. Recent conclusive studies have established – 22 types!
Rachel Yahalom, in her fascinating book "To Health – The Science of Nutrition Through the Lens of Sources", offers an inspiring and thrilling interpretation that gave me chills.
Hashem created our world from the combination of the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
The letters of the Hebrew language hold deep secrets; each combination of letters creates a spiritual meaning for the word formed. Changing even one letter completely alters the word's meaning.
Thus, light is different from skin, just as a blemish differs from pleasure.
(For those interested in this topic, I invite you to dive deeply into the captivating book by Rabbi Zamir Cohen Shlita, "The Code – Secrets of the Universe and the Human Name Hidden in Hebrew Letters").

So it's only logical that amino acids, the building blocks of all living things, should also number 22.
Like letters, amino acids form countless combinations of proteins.
Similar to words, even if we swap two different types of amino acids or just change the location of a specific amino acid in the molecular space, we obtain a protein with an entirely different meaning.

Some amino acids the body can produce on its own.
The others, it cannot produce by itself, and must be obtained from food – hence they are called essential amino acids.

• Eggs, for example, contain all the essential amino acids, making an egg a complete protein.
• Grains (wheat, barley, corn, rice, etc.) contain some of the essential amino acids but not all, so a grain is an incomplete protein.
• Legumes (peas, beans, chickpeas, lentils, etc.) also have only some of the essential amino acids – hence they are also called incomplete proteins.
  Interestingly, the amino acids lacking in grains – are present in legumes, and vice versa.
  In other words, grains and legumes complement each other to form a complete protein.

(Photo: shutterstock)

Here's when it gets fascinating!

How brilliant were our grandmothers, who without knowing much about essential amino acids, incomplete or complete proteins, knew how to assemble a perfect meal.

• A perfect example is mujaddara.
  Known to be made of rice (grain) and lentils (legume) – joining together to create a complete protein!
• Another excellent example – vegetarian couscous soup (without meat).
  The couscous itself is made of semolinawheat (grain), combined with vegetables and... chickpeas (legume).
• Cholent is made of barley (grain) together with beans (legume) (along with meat, although, in those days, it wasn't always available).
  In our Ashkenazi tradition, we say cholent; my late father explained why:
  In Yiddish, synagogue is "shul".
  "End" means finish, end.
  So on Shabbat afternoon, when the synagogue ends (or "shul-end" or cholent), you come home, take off the large pot that slowly cooked during the night from the warming plate, and indulge in the hot, steaming stew filling the entire house with the inviting aroma typical of Shabbat.
  Ahhhhh, the joy of Shabbat.

"Hashem said to Moshe: 'I have a good gift in My treasury and its name is Shabbat, and I want to give it to Israel; go and inform them'" (Shabbat 10b).

Before wrapping up this article, I'd like to address feedback from the previous article;
Firstly, I want to thank all of you for your feedback and comments, bless you.

Two comments touched me immensely;
One from Yaffa and one from Shoshi, whose sons simply don't like spreads on bread.
Yaffa and Shoshi are not alone, many children can be picky with their food.
Bless them for not giving up and exploring more options and ideas for diversifying their sons' diets.
King Solomon praises imaginative mothers like them in Proverbs: "...She brings her food from afar; she rises while it is still night..."

But what moved me even more was that other moms chimed in with marvelous tips from their experience.
Bless you, women of Israel.
The best advice, better than any I could give, was Shilat's suggestion: Shilat sat down with her children and planned their weekly sandwich menu.
The children fully participated in choosing the menu.
It kind of resembles an agreement, a commitment, as after all, they decided what goes on their bread and thus bear responsibility to eat the sandwich.

Another idea is quality time with your child at a kosher cafe, ordering a couple's breakfast.
Beyond the bread, egg, and salad, cafes often serve a variety of spreads.
Sit with your child, taste everything, get their opinion on what they like and what they don't.
This also creates a lovely childhood memory for your child.

Sometimes there's no choice but to think outside the box.
For example, finger foods – reminiscent of sandwiches, but not quite, that are simply picked up and eaten without silverware, based on what the child likes.
Yaffa's son enjoys pasta pearls. You can prepare them, mix with fried onions, canned corn, and egg, bake patties in the oven. Instead of sandwiches, send pasta pearl patties to school.
He also enjoys corn schnitzel, so potato and corn muffins can be made for school, or whole wheat bakes filled with potatoes or even pizza-filled pastries (with pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, and olives).
What's great about these ideas is preparing a large quantity every couple months for freezing.
Before school, simply select something and thaw at room temperature.
Yaffa and Shoshi – try and update us on how it went.
I'm sure we'd all love to know.

For anyone accessing the article via the app (not directly from the website), some recipes and insights on chickpeas, various tahini spreads, and the subject of peanut butter were cut off due to technical issues – it's great and essential information, worth checking out the article again, this time directly from the site and not the app.

With Hashem's help, in my next article, I'll give examples of healthy and nourishing lunch meals.
If you have ideas for good and healthy lunch meals – feel free to share in the comments, you know how much I enjoy learning from each and every one of you.

Until then, wishing you much health,
Chen Tovi