KNIFE, FORK, MUSCLE_ Book I_ DI - Brooks D. Kubik (1)

Q. Which is better for you – animal protein or vegetable protein?
A. Animal proteins are sometimes referred to as “complete proteins” because
they contain all of the essential amino acids. Vegetable proteins do not.
However, if you eat vegetable proteins together with animal proteins, the
animal proteins supply enough of the essential amino acids.
It also is possible to obtain all of the essential amino acids from vegetable
protein alone if you combine different sources of vegetable protein. For
example, beans contain a reasonable amount of protein, but they do not
contain all of the essential amino acids. However, it you eat a dish of rice and
beans, the rice provides some of the amino acids that are missing in the beans,
and thus, the two foods combine to provide all of the essential amino acids.
Some studies suggest that it is not even necessary to combine beans and rice
at the same meal, as long as you include both foods in your diet.
The problem with beans, peas and legumes is that they are hard to digest for
many people. I happen to be one of those people, and I avoid them
completely. We’ll discuss these foods in greater detail later on.