Plant Protein That Is Cheaper Healthier Yummier And COMPLETE!

Your body is younger than you think

It is constantly replacing old cells with new ones at the rate of millions per second. By the time you finish reading this sentence, 50 million of your cells will have died and been replaced by others. Some wear out, some simply reach the end of their life, and others self-destruct (on purpose). Maintaining just the right number of each type of cell is tricky business (not enough cell growth and you atrophy and can die, too much--we call that cancer--and you can die as well).  Your remarkable body, following the instructions in your DNA, carefully controls the life cycle of each of your cells so you have just the right number of each kind of cell.  It's pretty incredible that your beautiful body races along through life in a constant state of disintegration and that hundreds of millions of little workers are simultaneously renewing and replacing the dying bits so that you seem fairly permanent and unchanging.  That remarkable renewal process requires raw materials.

You quite literally ARE what you eat

As you consume proteins, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, water, and vitamins/minerals you provide your body with the building blocks it needs to renew itself and keep you healthy and alive.  In this post I'm focusing on protein which plays a very key role.  Proteins are large biological molecules consisting of one or more chains of amino acids. They perform a number of critical functions within you body including:

• Assisting with metabolic reactions - the set of life-sustaining chemical transformations within the cells of living organisms which allow them to grow, reproduce, and maintain their structures
• Replicating DNA - for a cell to divide it must first replicate its unique double-helix-shaped code called DNA which enables the resulting cell to be an identical copy
• Responding to stimuli - the ability of cells to perceive and correctly respond to their microenvironment is the basis of development, tissue repair, and immunity as well maintaining a stable environment for tissue--errors in cellular information processing are responsible for diseases such as cancer, autoimmunity, and diabetes.
• Transporting molecules - the body's process of renewal requires getting the right materials at the right place at the right time and proteins act as the delivery trucks to move molecules from one location to another

Essential Amino Acids - eat them in the right proportions or they are WASTED

Proteins are the building blocks of our bodies and they consist of chains of elements called amino acids (various configurations of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen).  There are nearly 500 known amino acids, 22 of which are "standard" for human nutrition.  Your remarkable body generates most of them itself, but there are 9 which called the "Essential Amino Acids"or EAAs which have to be consumed through the food you eat.  What is difficult about the EAAs is that your body can only use protein with the EAAs in a specific proportion to each other (that's known as a "complete protein").  If any of the EAAs is reduced or missing it proportionately reduces the amount of protein your body can use.  The rest of the EAAs are wasted!

Animal Protein vs. Plant Protein

Animal proteins are usually complete because they contain all EAAs (for instance eggs have nearly the perfect balance), but nearly all plant proteins are incomplete because they are proportionately low in one or more EAAs so a lot of the protein is unusable by your body and is wasted.  The obvious conclusion would seem to be to get your protein from meat, eggs, milk etc.  However, animal proteins, while complete, have a number of downsides if consumed in excess (see below).

The Downsides of Eating Lots of Animal Protein

Health Impacts - A number of recent studies bear out the principle that animal proteins should be eaten sparingly.  It's been known for many years that diets high in animal fats correlate highly with heart disease, diabetes, and several cancers, but a late-breaking study shows that there is a gut-bacterial connection to heart-disease in people who eat a lot of red meat even if it is lean.  People who frequently eat red meat have a higher level of a particular type of bacteria which metabolizes a compound called TMAO which slows the removal of cholesterol that accumulates on arteries' walls and so contributes to heart disease.


Most of the animals we use for food create the protein we consume by eating plant protein.  However they are not very efficient protein converters.  For instance it takes nearly 22 pounds of plant protein to make one pound of beef.  The arable land available in the world is a limited resource and if you could get the same nutrition on less than 5% of the land (1/22) without all the negative health consequences of beef why wouldn't you?  Feeding crops to animals rather than humans and then eating the meat thus derived is one of the least efficient uses of arable land for food production in the world.  Another limited resource is fresh water and it takes 2,500 gallons of fresh water to make 1 lb of beef or, said another way, the water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a destroyer.

That doesn't mean we should never use animal protein, but for the sake of our health, and the economic and environmental cost, we should find ways to use plant protein for the main event and meat etc. as the garnish.

How to get complete protein from plants

Plant proteins can be combined to include all of the essential amino acids and form a complete protein.

For instance:

If eaten separately the protein is equivalent to a 13 ounce steak
      4 Cups Wheat Flour = 7 ounce steak
      2 Cups Soy Flour = 6 ounce steak
If eaten together the protein is equivalent to a 17 ounce steak
      4 Cups Wheat Flour
      2 Cups Soy Flour

That is a bonus is 4 extra ounces or nearly 31% more usable protein for the same number of calories!

That means you can get a huge protein boost just by choosing which plant-based foods to eat together.  Conversely you can get the same amount of protein by consuming almost a third less calories.  This works because the wheat has most of the EAAs in acceptable quantities but is deficient in Lysine.  The soy beans on the other hand have plenty of Lysine but are low in 6 or the 9 EAAs.  If you eat just the wheat or just the soybeans you will have an incomplete protein and much of the latent goodness of the plant will be wasted, but by combining plants with complementary proteins you can get complete proteins and still enjoy all the benefits of eating plants (e.g. it's cheaper, it contains vitamins minerals and roughage your body needs for good health, great heart health, diabetes and cancer prevention, and you get wonderful variety).

Here is a chart showing what combinations of plants are more or less complementary relative to protein.  The “Fat” arrows are especially good combinations and “thin” arrows are satisfactory combinations.

It’s amazing how many cultures instinctively came up with local ideas for complementary protein dishes without even knowing there were any “rules” for doing so.  For instance refried beans on tortilla in Central America, falafel made from chick peas in whole wheat pita in the Middle East, soybeans and whole rice in the Far East, cornbread and pinto beans down South, and peanut butter on whole wheat bread make complete proteins. Other examples of complete proteins from classic combinations include Middle Eastern dip known as hummus made from sesame seeds ground up like peanut butter and cooked chick peas.

Daily Intake Recommendations

The US Department of Agriculture (FDA) recommends that protein should comprise 10 to 15 percent of your diet. If your daily calorie needs are 2,000 calories, you should consume around 200 calories from protein. There are four calories in 1g of protein, therefore you should consume around 50g of protein daily. Dietaryfiberfood.com explains that average adult males should consume 56g of protein per day, while adult females should consume around 46g of protein daily. The needs for children and special groups like pregnant or lactating women vary.

Here are some tips for losing weight without hunger:

• Protein satisfies longer than same-calorie carbs (slow energy release)
• Using plant protein increases the carb calories but provides fiber, vitamins, and minerals needed for health
• Choose foods with a calorie to gram of protein ratio of 40:1 or less (calculate from the nutrition label by dividing the calories listed by the grams of protein) 
• At meals eat until you’re satisfied – not until you’re full – then STOP.
• Snack often on low calorie/gram-protein ratio foods (less than 20 - see the chart below for tips)
• Drink lots of water (start the day with a tall glass and repeat often)

Sample Complimentary Protein Proportions (mix your own for better health)

• Beans-1 + Rice-2.6
• Soy-1 + Wheat-4.0
• Soy-1 + Rice-8.0
• Beans-1 + Wheat-6.0
• Sesame Seeds-1 + Rice-3.0
• Beans-1 + Cornmeal-4.0
• Rice-1 + Milk-1.3
• Cottage Cheese-1 + Beans-1.5
• Milk-1 + Pasta-1.0
• Peanut Butter-1 + Sunflower Seeds-2.0
• Milk-1 + Wheat-2.0
• Milk-1 + Sesame Seeds-1.2

Sample High Protein Recipes:

Complete Protein Waffles or Pancakes

• 2 ½ cups Whole Wheat Flour
• ¾ cups Soy Flour (just grind the soy with the wheat)
• 3 cup Kefir or Buttermilk
• 1 Tbsp Baking Powder
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• ½ cup Oil

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Separate the eggs and whip the egg whites until they are stiff. Beat egg yolks, oil, and buttermilk into the dry ingredients. Fold in the egg whites. Bake in hot waffle iron or on griddle until golden brown.

Complete Protein Wheat Bread

• 6 cups Water - luke warm (optional: other liquid such as soy water from making soymilk)
• 3 Tbsp Baker’s Yeast
• 3 Tbsp Salt 
• ¾ cup Sugar
• ¾ cup Oil
• 9 cups Whole Wheat
• 2½ cups Soy Beans
• ¾ cup Gluten 

Dissolve yeast in liquid. Add salt, sugar, and oil. Grind together the wheat and the soybeans.  Stir in the combined wheat / soy flour (much easier if you use a bread mixer) a cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl (use more or less flour as needed to get the right consistency of dough). Grease loaf pans, then oil the table or other solid flat surface and separate dough into 6 even lumps. Knead each one well and form into loaves. Let raise in warm oven until double. Turn on oven to 350 and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Conclusion

You can boost your plant-based protein by eating complementary quantities of plant-based protein (e.g. grains and legumes) together.  Use the proportions listed above to modify your own recipes.  This will result in you getting complete proteins that are cheaper, healthier, and more delicious?