Amino acids are what make up proteins. There are over 250 different types of amino acids; we are only interested in about 20 of them though. These 20 are the ones important for protein synthesis. Protein synthesis is just the process your cells go through to create proteins out of the various amino acids. So, all proteins are just different combinations of the various amino acids.

The 20 amino acids can be broken down into 2 groups - essential amino acids, and non-essential amino acids. Essential amino acids are called that because they are not naturally formed in the human body. You have to take it in from food. Non-essential amino acids are therefore amino acids that are naturally available in your body.

Just make sure you don't take those labels too literally.

You see, all amino acids are essential to your body - they're all very important. The groups are just split by whether they can be formed in your body or not, nothing more than that.

Here are the list of the 20 amino acids split by essential or non-essential:

Unfortunately your body does not have large storage areas for amino acids, like it does with fat or carbs (glycogen) or proteins (muscles). So you must constantly supply it with regular feedings.

There are some foods that contain all the essential amino acids. These types of foods are called complete protein sources. All animal sources of proteins are complete proteins, except gelatin.

Although most vegetable sources of protein have one or two missing essential amino acids, it is not a problem if you are a vegetarian. You can combine one or two sources of vegetable proteins to get your essential amino acids. For example if you combine legumes with brown rice, you can get the essential acids you need. So, unless you want to win the latest bodybuilding contest, then you're not restricted to meats for your protein source.

You can get more specific information about diet information for weight loss, so that you eat a balanced diet, full of nutrition and lose weight in a healthy way on the rest of this site.