Since energy is transferred and stored within your cells, it is no surprise that maintaining healthy levels of energy requires healthy cells. And, energy production from food also requires many factors other than just the machinery involved in the energy transfer process. As an example, think about what happens when you eat a meal. The sugar (glucose) is released and taken into your body through the digestion process, during which it enters your bloodstream. Your body responds to the glucose in your blood by secreting insulin from your pancreas into your bloodstream. When the insulin gets to one of your cells that needs glucose, it attaches to a protein (receptor) on the cell's surface, which then activates, or opens, a gate in the cell to let the glucose enter that cell. This glucose is then either used by the cell to produce energy or is stored for future energy production.

Much of the work of energy transfer in your body is performed by a variety of enzymes, which are proteins. Insulin is a peptide, made of the amino acids from the proteins in your diet. The insulin receptor on your cells is also a protein. The quality of protein in your body, and in these important energy support factors, is reflective of the quality of protein in your diet.

One key factor determining the quality of protein in foods is how well that food supplies the amino acids (building blocks of protein) you need in order to transform the food protein into yourself. All protein-containing foods provide a different profile of the essential amino acids as well as others that may be valuable. Another important consideration is eating protein-containing foods when your body can most efficiently use them to provide the energy you need when you need that energy. High-quality protein is found in foods such as fish, (preferably wild-caught, cold water fish, since they are also an excellent source of beneficial omega 3 fatty acids), organic eggs, legumes, grains, nuts and seeds, and vegetables.

The example above also shows how important healthy cell membranes are in supporting energy generation within your cells. Cell membranes are primarily made of fats, and these fats come from the food you eat. Research has shown that the fats you eat in food are reflective of the fats in your cell membranes. Poor nutrition, such as low intakes of the health-promoting omega-3 fatty acids and high intake of saturated fats may result in brittle, broken (leaky) cell membranes that can't function appropriately. Fats that support healthy cell membranes can be provided by cold-water fish oils (especially salmon), many nuts and seeds and their oils (especially flax, canola, pumpkin, borage, black currant, and evening primrose oils), and the oils of marine algae. The menus in the World's Healthiest Foods provide healthy fats for support of cellular health.

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