Complete proteins
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TofuRobot
Forum Legend
Hi there - the whole food combining thing is a myth. You really don't need to worry about getting a lot of protein unless you're a body-builder or seriously weight training. But since you asked - sure - it's complete enough for a meal. If you are looking for a complete protein in a single food, quinoa.
Lou
Forum Legend
Not really.
Below is a screenshot from CronOmeter. this is for 1/4 cup of rice and one cup of beans.
First off, why not have one cup of rice with your cup of beans. That is what I always do.
The main issue with rice and beans is the level of Cystine. Cystine is an important amino acid. Not more important than others. It just is first alphabetically.
There are also many plant foods that are high in Cystine. Lentils, Chickpeas, oatmeal, and hempseeds.
Every couple of months I go off on this rant. I really should copy it and save it for these replies. Maybe I will this time.
The concept of Complete Proteins and Food Combining is a Myth.
It was popularized in a book called Diet For a Small Planet published in 1971. I still have my copy on my bookshelf. The author stated that plant proteins were incomplete or inferior to animal proteins. And she based that assertion on 100-year-old research. Even though she put that in her book, she didn't even believe it. She just thought her readers wouldn't or couldn't accept that plant proteins ARE complete and NOT inferior. She even recanted in the 1981 edition. But it was too late. The myth of incomplete protein and food combing has become cannon.
(for more info on this check out this highly referenced article )
- https://michaelbluejay.com/veg/protein.html
You don't have to combine plant proteins at every meal. You almost don't have to worry about it at all. Pretty much if you eat enough calories of healthy plant-based food, you will meet your protein requirements.
Cronometer is a great tool for playing around with amino acid consumption. I took your suggestion and turned it into one cup of rice, .5 cup lentils, .5 black beans, 3 oz of tofu, 1 cup soy milk, 1 tbsp hemp seeds and met all my protein and amino acid requirements for the day - with only half the required calories for the day. So I still have room to turn those ingredients into three different meals by adding even more ingredients.
Yes! Rice and Beans are a complete protein. Thanks for adding the Cronometer screen cap @Lou ... it perfectly shows how rice and beans are complete protein.
Complete protein = includes all essentials Amino Acids
Complete protein = includes all essentials Amino Acids
Lou
Forum Legend
Yes! Rice and Beans are a complete protein. Thanks for adding the Cronometer screen cap @Lou ... it perfectly shows how rice and beans are complete protein.
Complete protein = includes all essentials Amino Acids
My ranting seems to have been ineffective. Or maybe I'm not understanding you.
Yes, Rice and beans are a complete protein. But so is rice. So is beans. As far as I know, all plants are complete proteins. In that, they have all the essential amino acids.
Just to make this point, below is a screenshot of CronOmeter. But this time I did it for 21 heads of iceberg lettuce. If you ate 2200 calories of lettuce a day you would still get the minimum RDA of every one of the amino acids.
Now I'm not suggesting that anyone eat 21 heads of lettuce (although it wouldn't be a bad thing- you would still get over 100% of the RDA for every nutrient but Selenium, D, and B12. )
But this is the point: we don't have to worry about complete proteins. Even lettuce is a complete protein.
Yes, I absolutely agree. Just a minor correction: Beans or Rice are a complete protein <-- Trying to answer the original question in a TLDR fashion
SapphireLightning
Forum Legend
ALL life on earth has ALL 20 amino acids encoded for in DNA/RNA for protein synthesis. That means that ALL whole foods contain ALL of the amino acids. The only variable is how much of each as a ratio. The whole "protein quality index" is based on how close to the ratios found in egg albumin are. The "limiting" amino acid is the one that is lowest as compared to egg albumin.
Lou
Forum Legend
I hadn't heard of the whole protein quality index before. I will look it up.
Eating twice as much total protein as you need just to get the RDA of the "limiting" amino acid is not optimal. but that example is only for living on one food - like lettuce. When eating a variety of foods it probably is not a factor.
Eating twice as much total protein as you need just to get the RDA of the "limiting" amino acid is not optimal. but that example is only for living on one food - like lettuce. When eating a variety of foods it probably is not a factor.
SapphireLightning
Forum Legend
https://esha.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/202915018-Protein-DV-PER-PDCAAS?mobile_site=true here is a good source for that Lou.
David3
Forum Legend
The American Heart Association makes this statement regarding complete proteins:
"Whole grains, legumes, vegetables, seeds and nuts all contain both essential and non-essential amino acids. You don't need to consciously combine these foods ("complementary proteins") within a given meal."
Link: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Healt...anDiets_UCM_306032_Article.jsp?appName=WebApp
The Vegan Society has a nice webpage that summarizes vegan nutrition: https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrition-overview
"Whole grains, legumes, vegetables, seeds and nuts all contain both essential and non-essential amino acids. You don't need to consciously combine these foods ("complementary proteins") within a given meal."
Link: http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Healt...anDiets_UCM_306032_Article.jsp?appName=WebApp
The Vegan Society has a nice webpage that summarizes vegan nutrition: https://www.vegansociety.com/resources/nutrition-and-health/nutrition-overview
