Hi guys,

When looking at protein grams from beans or asparagus or other plant sources is the amount of protein named for that food the complete protein amount or do you need to have the missing amino acids to complement it to create that amount?

For example, one cup of beans on average has 15 g. of protein but beans are low in lysine and metathione. Do I need to eat lysine and metathione from another source in order for my body to use the beans as a complete protein?

I"m trying to wrap my brain around the concept that you can get ample and complete protein from a plant based diet.

its been about 40 years since I read "Diet for a Small Planet"
thats where I first learned that beans need to be supplemented with rice to make a complete protien. Dont know about asparagus...

Generally plant protients are incomplete... soy of course is complete...but not so good for a growing child.

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That's the book that has me a bit confused b/c she has a food list with two categories. One shows the protein amounts. The other shows the actual amount of protein the body uses (vegetbeans and grains is nearly half). So, I wondered if the protein amount on bags of nuts or other foods represent the amount actually utilized by the body or the amount if combined properly.

Vegans say they can easily meet their protein allowance but can they really?

It is a matter of complete or incomplete protein. It does not necessarily mean that the food has high or low quality protein. And you can change that quality by cooking, even if the source is good.

There is a very good chart and information on that link as well.

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Great link jfh. An incomplete protein is limited in function because it is missing one or more amino acid. When a bag of almonds says one serving provides 6 grams of protein it seems misleading to me. It's unclear if those 6 grams are usable/complete protein or if they are incomplete.

If I add the total amount of protein in my diet it looks like I get around 70 grams but if the amino acids aren't in the right proportion then the body can't use it so there may be less complete protein in the diet than what appears.

I may be wrong but it seems if you're going to eat very little to no animal products you should know which foods create a complete protein otherwise there could be some health problems.

Vegetarians rarely meet their protien needs in my estimation without a lot of hard work in diet control and many use extreme supplements... especially those body building vegan types. In general vegetarians have a smaller muscle mass... I was one fo r13 years and lived amongst solely vegetarians of various sorts... they do have smaller muscle mass in general.

That's what I'm finding. Every food matters and needs to be amino acid rich - not much room for fruits and of course processed nutrient deficient food.

When I learned you can use food to be your "medicine" protein isn't emphasized as much as having an alkaline diet with plenty of fruits and veggies. My poor hubby has become so thin since we became primarily plant based. I do need to add more meat to our diet. Even though we eat a ton of legumes, nuts, quinoa, veggies and brown rice I think it hasn't provided him enough protein.

I just love beans and rice and didn't know about the complete protein.

Add some nuts to that and you'll have more protein.

Don't forget about hemp seeds. Delicious.

The original post got it right.

If one combines beans with grains complete proteins can be had easily. Eating nuts and seeds helps provide healthy fats to this equation as well

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