Second post!! Love this group
The scientist who wrote the book in the late 70s where “plants aren’t complete proteins” came from says its one of her biggest regrets. That wasn’t her conclusion but the media picked it up and ignored the rapidly released second edition that rephrased her findings (which were that plants tend to have lower percentages of one or two amino acids while high in others when those percentages are compared to animal based protein.) So plants are not an incomplete protein and you do not need to plan meals around protein combos. Just track the macros and eat a variety of foods.
Grains ie corn ( including corn pasta - the gluten free one)
or regular pasta
it’s usually rice that is used tho
here are some recipe ideas https://www.reddit.com/r/EatCheapAndHealthy/comments/w7ngcd/actual_ideas_for_rice_and_beans/
In the context of food scarcity, it is interesting how the amino acids of rice and beans complement each other. In the usual context though, eating 400 cal of beans will give you more protein and amino acids than 200 cal beans + 200 cal rice.
My view is that there is no practical application for concepts around protein quality. If you want high protein, aim for the highest protein per calorie to just get protein as high as possible in a given calorie budget.
I’m assume by completely protein you mean having all the amino chain acids included and I can assure you this does NOT matter. Your body is very efficient and doesn’t need all amino acids in one meal to utilize the protein. If that was the case we could only eat meat for our protein sources. Eat what you like.
Please see this: https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-protein-combining-myth/
As long as you are getting enough calories and are eating a variety of foods you shouldn’t worry about getting all amino acids in one meal/day.
Beans are already a complete protein. If you want to maximize your protein intake, then add even more of those delicious protein bombs.
Although for health reasons, it is still recommended to consume at least three portions of whole grains daily. So don’t forget about grains. But focus on legumes for protein.
Quinoa , although others have mentioned this whole “complete protein” thing is a myth.
however If you are still concerned by it, Quinoa is considered complete meaning that it contains all nine essential amino acids that our bodies cannot make on their own.
Here I’m just going from a study comparing protein powders, this one:https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00726-018-2640-5
Judging from that, rice is the best complement to soy, peas or other beans.The study doesn’t contain data on tryptophan but there’s a good amount of that in soy and you can easily get it from seeds and nuts, especially pumpkin seeds.
I did some rough calculation (involving total protein content and amount of EAAs) showing that you’d need to eat twice the amount of calories of potatoes or wheat compared to rice, to get enough methionine which is what soy and peas are most lacking in.
However, just eating more soy is also a valid option if you want to keep your caloric intake low. But of course you should stick to a varied diet so don’t just eat soy.
Also there is methionine and other EAAs to complement soy/peas/beans in a lot of other food like spinach, nuts and seeds.
I’ve been meaning to read up on it more to better understand how different vegetables come into play but honestly, especially if you’re looking for DIAAS (Digestible Indispensable Amino Acid Score) then there’s a depressing lack of research and most of what there is have been done on pigs and rats.
Can someone explain why everytime you eat protein it needs to be “complete”?
Why can’t I just eat enough protein throughout the day which would eventually create a “complete” profile
I never found a reason to only eat “complete” protein each time you eat proteins, also until now I haven’t found source that does not contain all the amino in some levels
I have met rural Mexicans that the whole diet consists of corn tortillas rice beans tomatoes and avocados. On special occasions there is cream or cheese. These people have perfect teeth and are strong and healthy. This was in the days of one telephone towns.
If your diet is balanced don’t worry about “complete proteins”. It seems far more important to get enough calories an nutrition from food then to worry about protein constantly. If you’re getting enough of everything else you need, your protein intake is most likely not lacking at all.
Beans are an “incomplete protein” in the sense that they have a different amino acid profile than meat/eggs/dairy. In terms of “beans and rice”, the combination is commonly held as a “complete protein” because rice makes up for the low methionine of beans which make up for the low lysine of rice. Pea protein is also mixed with rice protein for many of the same reasons.
That said, beans still contain methionine and rice still contains lysine.
The idea behind having a varied, balanced diet is to cover any nutritional gaps.