Protein question?!
Protein question?
i keep reading on the internet about getting complete proteins. one example was eating beans on toast , the article basically said that the beans by themselves were incomplete and the toast by itself was incomplete but together they were complete. can somebody give me a brief explanation about mixing proteins and how??
f.y.i - ive been a vegetarian for a year ive managed to cut all animal ingredients out of my life at this point ( mono-diglycerides , datem , rennet , whey , etc..) but im still learning things about the lifestyle so any help would be appreciated .
Answers:
You don't really need to worry about it as much as you think. This idea was first popularized in the early '70's with Frances Moore Lappe's book, "Diet for a Small Planet." Her theory was that one of our dietary requirements was protein, which is made up of amino acids. The proteins that our body uses are made up of 22 different amino acids, 8 of which we cannot synthesize on our own. Those 8 are referred to as essential amino acids or EAAs, because it is essential that we get them in our diet. Animal protein contains all 8 of these, but protein from plants may not (and the book was presented as an argument for vegetarianism, because it is less wasteful than being an omnivore, hence the "Small Planet" in the title). Her idea was that in order to get those 8 EAAs and be a healthy vegetarian, you needed to combine different foods together at every meal to make the protein profile complete, because our bodies need all 8 EAAs in specific proportions in order to use that protein.
HOWEVER (and keep in mind that she's has since revised the book), science has discovered some new things since 1972 (shocking, huh? *g*). Our bodies are actually very efficient, and we recycle those EAAs constantly. If we get too much tryptophan (or leucine, or valine, or whatever) in one meal, it hangs out until we need some more, and when it's needed, it gets used. We can also break down proteins from our system (muscle tissue gets broken down and rebuilt all the time...fascinating and creepy, all at once) and use those if we need to.
The important thing is really to eat a varied diet, don't just eat one food to the exclusion of others, i.e., if you ate only rice, that wouldn't be healthy. But you probably eat many things over the course of a day or week, so you're probably okay. One thing to note is that if you are vegan, you need a source of B12 - that's available to lacto-ovo vegetarians in dairy products and eggs, but you mentioned cutting all animal ingredients out. Make sure you take a B12 supplement if you don't eat any animal products.
Most of the food combinations she presented are things that seem to go together anyway - rice or wheat + beans (rice and beans, tortillas and beans), milk + wheat (a bowl of cereal and milk), and so on. The beans on toast that you cited would be wheat + beans...but again, science has discovered that you don't necessarily have to eat them in the same meal. You might try to find her book in a used bookstore or at the library, and if you can get the 20th anniversary edition that was updated in the 90's, all the better. Both have a lot of recipes, which may inspire some new meals for you, and the information in the 20th anniversary edition is better than the original.
Honestly, I think a lot of the stuff out there now about how vegetarians don't get complete proteins is propaganda from meat producers, or people selling protein supplements. There are lots of perfectly healthy vegetarians and vegans who get plenty of protein in their diet. Most Americans get way too much of it.
Source(s):
I've eaten low on the food chain for the last 20 years...mostly vegetarian. I've also studied nutrition.
A whole protein makes up a complete amino acid. It's very important to have complete amino acids in your diet. Some foods, when eaten together, create a complete amino. Examples of these include beans on toast, beans and rice, and peanut butter and jelly.
have yogurt and gronola bars
I keep hearing that too as I am "almost" a vegetarian. seems there are too many do's and dont's these days. so what I found works best for me is to just eat foods that remember where they came from. My thought is if God makes it, it cant be bad, variety is key.
You need your essential amino acids: isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, histidine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. (You're body does not make them). You need all of them for "complete protein", VERY few plants are a complete protein in themselves, but you can combine foods to get all your amino acids.
If you don't have them, you'll compromise your health. This is mainly what happens to people when they fail to balance a vegetarian diet.
You don't need to eat them together. Lets say you eat have something in the morning that has 3 EAA's and something at lunch that has 5 more EAA's that are different, then for supper you have another 8 EAA's in your meal so long as you've covered each of them you're ok. It doesn't have to be in one meal, just balanced through out the day.
Here are two good information sources, gotta love wikipedia!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/essential_a...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/complete_pr...
Animal proteins have all the amino acids we need for proper health. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. Grains alone are missing vital amino acids. But eating a combination of grains and legumes (foods from the bean family) gives you all the essential amino acids. This is why so many cultures around the world eat rice and beans together. People refer to grains and legumes as "complementary". Common grain foods are rice, bread, tortillas, pasta, etc. Some complementary foods from the bean or legume family include beans, peas, peanuts, chickpeas (also called Garbanzo beans), bean sprouts, tofu, soy milk. Hummus is made from chickpeas. Suggestion: Keep a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and add some to pasta dishes or ramen. Also keep a bag of chickpea flour on hand. You can quickly whip up a thin crepe batter from chickpea flour and water and fry up crepes in a skillet with a little oil. Serve these on the side with a meatless pasta dish.