I just love strawberries. They are so tasty, thinking about them reminds me of summer. At the moment, summer seems to be so incredibly far away. In fact, I can’t remember the last time I ate strawberries, that’s what it feels like in freezing Norway at the moment.

Anyway.

One of the reasons I love strawberries is the taste (and of course the bright red color). They are so tasty, and they can be combined with almost anything in order to make the dish taste good.

I have been tasting various protein shakes, and the only shake I really like, was the one with strawberries (well, I haven’t tasted that many, so I guess there are probably several other shakes I like).

If you want to make a strawberry protein shake yourself, you can try the following receipe:

2 tablespoons of vanilla protein powder
10 strawberries
1 cup of vanilla yogurt
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of honey
5 walnuts

Finally, just place all the ingredients into a blender and blend them on high speed until the strawberry protein shake is smooth (looks like a shake).

I like it, and if you enjoy a regular protein shake, my guess is that you will enjoy this one as well.

One of the reasons why people think that protein is very important is that celebrities and well-known people talk about it.

People in general are concerned about their health, a lot of people are concerned about the way they look, and celebrities are usually very concerned about both. That’s probably because they “have to”, because they are in the media spotlight, and people look at them all the time.

Anyway.

When celebrities say that they are eating their proteins every single day. People that don’t know what proteins are, will look it up and try to figure out what they are talking about. People who knows about proteins, will start to think that they too should eat their proteins every single day.

I’ll give you an example, Travis Barker blogs about the recent plane crash and what does he have to say about the hospital food?

My good friend Armen has been kind enough to save me from the hospital food, and brings Jamba Juice, Wahoos, or whatever else I need to keep my calories and protein levels high.

I find it both really interesting, and at the same time really cool, that celebrities are involved and letting people know about how important protein is.

Most people lose about 50 to 100 head hairs a day. That’s totally normal, and all these hairs are replaced. Even though 100 head hairs might sound a lot, it’s really not. We have more than 100,000 head hairs, and some people have even more than 150,000.

When do you need to start to worry?

You only need to worry about hair loss if you are losing more than 100 head hairs a day. The problem is that you probably won’t know until it’s too late. If you’re losing more than that, though, something might be wrong.

What is hair anyway?

Hair is made up of a form of protein (Hair Keratin), the same material that is found in fingernails and toenails.

How to prevent hair loss

It’s important to understand that if you want to continue having a beautiful hair, then you should really start to think about what you are eating. Because a healthy diet is indeed important. Low-fat foods that rank high in protein, low in carbohydrates, can play a vital role in sustaining healthy hair growth and aid in preventing hair loss.

If you eat a protein-rich diet it will often result in improved hair growth, and that’s really how you sustain healthy hair.

Are there any treatments for hair loss?

There are many treatments for hair loss. You can buy vitamins, get an adequate amount of sulphur, or start food therapy.

But if you are really unsure what to do, then you should probably contact something like American Hair Loss Association. They’ll know for sure.

I just discovered an interesting fact about protein. I discovered it while reading The Protein Counter.

Research shows that a meal high in protein helps to keep you awake and alert, while a meal high in carbohydrate tends to make you sleepy.

This is interesting.

I know a lot of people that seems to be tired all day, especially a few at work. I might advice them to start eating more protein, just as an experiment. And then after a few weeks, I’ll let you know if they have become more awake and alert.

I have always heard that if you want protein, you should start eating meat. The more meat you eat, the more protein you’ll get. But this is not an option for me, because I am a vegetarian. I have a few “body builder” friends though, and they are meat eaters - and they think of protein as a way to build their bodies full of muscles without doing hardly any active work…

Today, I have read another chapter at The Protein Counter, and I found a few interesting thoughts regarding meat and protein - and it’s actually a little funny.

It’s regarding ways to improve physical ability, and that people have been trying to improve it during the history.

Meat was believed to be good because it’s animal muscle and builds body muscle. There are reports that as early as the sixth century B.C., a dedicated Greek wrestler, Milo of Crotona, ate 20 pounds of meat every day to build up his body.

The problem is however, that many still believe as this Greek wrestler did, that extra meat or just more protein will increase their muscle size and strength. That simply isn’t true. Eating more protein is not a shortcut to a strong active body.

I am glad that’s true, because it it were true, I would probably be the weakest kid around

You probably know that protein is important, and you might even know that it’s a source of energy and that it’s important for building muscles. But accordring to The Protein Counter, protein is also very important because it is:

- Necessary for life
- Necessary for growth
- Part of every cell in your body
- Needed to replace worn out cells
- Necessary to repair damaged tissue
- A major part of your immune system
- A major part of every enzyme

Did you know this?

I have been reading “The Protein Counter” and so far, it’s been interesting. Insted of writing a rather lengthy review, I will write short “stories” from the book, about things that fascinates me and/or things I just find interesting enough to share.

Let’s begin.

You probably know that protein is found in every cell, and that if you don’t get enough protein to replace lost cells, our bodies will cannibalize its own tissues and the body wastes away. This is the reason why we need protein; they all have jobs  to do (to help our bones, teeth, mucles, skin and more).

Our bodies uses amino acids as building blocks to make the specific proteins we need. All the protein we need are made from about 20 amino acids, and the amino acids are combined in order to make the protein we need.

An easy way to understand what is happening is by looking at the alphabet, and think of each letter as an amino acid and words as protein. In order to make a word (protein), we need different letters (amino acids).

But do we really need to think about combining the right amino acids to form the protein we need? Well, our bodies are doing this for us. But our bodies will need the right food in order to find the amino acids and combine them into the destinct protein.

That’s why we need to eat a variety of foods.

For instance, beans may be short in one of the essential amino acids, while rice and other grains have plenty of it.  If you eat both during the day, then our bodies will pool their amino acids together and make the protein.

If you eat a variety of foods every single day, you probably don’t have to think about finding the right amino acids.

I have just bought a book called The Protein Counter, actually, I just received it from Barnes and Nobles.

So, I haven’t really had the time to do much reading. But I will get to it, and as soon as I do, you’ll see a review of it here.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the book, was the text above the introduction:

Every day your body loses millions of cells. They are used up, worn out, rubbed off, and are even cut off, like your beard or fingernails. You need protein to replace these cells.

Except for water, there is more protein in our bodies than anything else. A 143 pound man has over 25 pounds of it!

You can probably understand why I am excited to get started reading The Protein Counter.

I just adore cashew nuts. I enjoy eating them as snacks, I enjoy woking them and I really enjoy them as part of a salad. Cashew nuts are one of my favorite nuts along with Brazil nuts.

The thing with nuts is that they are healthy, and they taste really good. When I think about it, I am actually a little nuts about nuts (LOL).

If you look at the container in the store, you might get a little concerned about the high percentage of fat. But don’t be, Cashew nuts actually contains less fat than most other nuts.

… approximately 75% of their fat is unsaturated fatty acids, plus about 75% of this unsaturated fatty acid content is oleic acid, the same heart-healthy monounsaturated fat found in olive oil.

When it comes to protein, you can expect apx. 20 grams of protein per 100 grams of cashew nuts. It’s a great source of protein.

The value of protein may vary between different brands and whether they are served with or without shells.