 To keep a mother and her family healthy and happy, there are three families of foods that should be eaten every day. The first family can be thought of as building foods. These are foods that are high in protein and they help our bodies to grow and repair themselves. The second important family of foods are the energy foods or carbohydrates. These foods give us the energy we need to move, to think, to be active, and to feel good. The last important family of food can be thought of as the protecting foods. These are our good friends, fruits and vegetables, and these foods help us fight off infections, protect us from many other diseases, and make our bodies feel strong and healthy. In this video, we'll talk about the first group, building foods or protein. Protein helps keep our bones, muscles, and teeth strong, and protein-rich foods help babies to grow all of these necessary body parts as well. Proteins have many, many different jobs in the body, so it's important to eat foods that give the body the tools it needs to build and repair. Examples of foods that are rich in protein are chicken, fish, meat, milk, yogurt, eggs and dry beans, split peas, and soy products like tofu and lentils. You can see that protein can be found in a lot of different foods. Foods that come from animals like eggs, meat, fish, and chicken are very high in protein. Eggs are also inexpensive and they can be eaten often if they're available. Meat, chicken, and fish are usually more expensive, so they can be eaten less often. There are many foods that come from plants, which are also good sources of protein. Examples of these are dry beans, split peas, soy products like tofu, lentils, and all kinds of legumes. These foods are generally less expensive sources of protein, and they can be eaten every day to help keep families strong and healthy. For a pregnant mother, it's especially important to eat the right amount of protein. Protein-rich foods will help the baby to grow strong inside her mother, and these foods will also help the mother's body to recover and repair itself more quickly after she gives birth. When a mother is breastfeeding, her milk is high in protein, so it's important that she eats enough of the protein-rich foods when she's breastfeeding. Eating foods that are high in protein can help keep a mother, her baby, and the whole family strong and healthy.