Protein is the only macronutrient your body cannot stockpile. Carbohydrates become glycogen, fat becomes fat — but protein, once digested, breaks down into amino acids that have to be used or discarded within a window of hours. This is why "hitting your protein" is meaningful as a daily target, not as a weekly one.
What protein actually does is repair: muscle fibre micro-tears from any kind of movement, the gut's epithelial cells that turn over every few days, the enzymes and hormones the body builds continuously. It also tames hunger more reliably than fat or carbohydrate, which is why a protein-led breakfast often quiets the mid-morning crash.
The nuance the wellness aisle skips is that not all protein sources do the same job. A complete protein — animal or some legume blends — provides all nine essential amino acids in usable proportions. Anything else needs pairing. We don't think the high-protein label is wrong; we just think it's a coarser signal than it sounds.
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Mealora Editorial
