Your Body is a 3-D Printer

Your Body, infinitely wise, is a 3-D Printer. The food you eat provides the ingredients to make the structures and systems that support the health and function of your body, from gene expression to hormone signaling. It is far too easy to underestimate the importance of this fact. Your body is built entirely from the food you eat.

Sure, we naturally have robust immune and detoxification systems, but our bodies can only handle so much before they lose their balance.

What is essential to keep this balance? Breath, water, love… and the nine essential amino acids that our body can't make on it's own. They must come from food.

Amino acids are the components of proteins and proteins are the basic building blocks of our body; skin, bones, hair, nails, teeth, tendons, lungs, arteries and more. Without getting into the murky waters of what is the best diet, let's just say that we need to eat a combination of foods that contain all nine essential amino acids.

Buckwheat, chia seeds, dairy products, eggs, hemp seeds, poultry, quinoa, red meats, seafood, soybeans and spirulina contain all nine essential amino acids in varying proportions. And, three food combinations that make a complete amino acid profile are beans and rice, hummus and whole wheat pita Bread, and oats and peanut butter.

Keep in mind that the proportion of amino acids varies depending on the food. For instance, 4 ounces of chicken breast has about 30 grams of protein. Whereas, you would have to eat almost 4 cups of quinoa to get the same amount of protein. Combine quinoa with sprouted lentils and you will get much closer with a comparable portion size.

Finally, bioavailability refers to how a protein is digested. Animal proteins are considered “high quality” because their amino acid profile aligns with the proportions for human requirements and they can be easily broken down for assimilation. However, when plant proteins are soaked and sprouted, they become easier to digest and they acquire greater nutritional value in the process.