Lobster - Premium Seafood

Health Food & Fitness

Your body is largely made of protein: your skin, muscles, internal organs, nails, hair, brain, and even the base of your bones. Only when protein of excellent quality is supplied can each cell function normally and keep itself in constant repair. Since your muscles contain a greater amount of protein than do other body structures, a glance at yourself in the mirror will give you a rough estimate of the adequacy of your protein intake.

Strong well-nourished muscles automatically hold the body erect. When muscles have not received the food necessary for their repair, they lose their elasticity, like old rubber bands, and posture becomes poor. A mother who says to a child, “Stand up straight,” is complaining of her own failure to provide nourishing food. Without conscious effort a healthy person holds his head high, his chest out, his shoulders and abdomen flat; he has only a slight forward curve in the center of the back. The pelvic bone is almost horizontal, supporting the viscera in the way a large salad bowl holds its contents; the feet have well-defined arches; the step is rhythmical.

!t is almost unbelievable how quickly faulty posture can improve. Not long ago I planned a nutritional regime for a sixty-eight-year-old woman. A few weeks later she told me that for the first time in her life it was easy for her to hold herself erect; as a young girl her shoulders were so rounded that she had begged her mother to buy her a brace. It had always been impossible for her to hold herself erect except for a few strained moments, but at last her desire had been achieved. Another case which I found astonishing was that of a three-year-old boy: his chest was sunken; he had an enormous pot belly and feet as flat as a table top. Three months later this child had a high chest, beautifully arched feet, and a total absence of protruding abdomen. The rarity of good posture and a rhythmical, graceful stride tells of our widespread protein deficiency.

Since hair and nails are made of protein, this nutrient must be adequate to maintain their health. Like the muscles, hail which lacks elasticity and resiliency and perhaps breaks or refuses to take a permanent will often change to healthy hair after a few weeks of improved nutrition. Nails which break, peel, or crack can likewise change when the diet is improved.

Advantages of an adequate protein intake are that energy is readily produced and sustained, and life is made easier. Although a major cause of fatigue is low blood sugar, there ate other causes resulting from protein deficiency which are less quickly corrected: low blood pressure, anemia, and the body’s inability to produce the enzymes necessary for the breakdown of foods into energy.