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With all the benefits of plant based foods, if you want superior health and athletic performance, there really is no room left for any animal based foods.

Professor Trygve Tollefsbol, Ph.D

You can’t get enough protein from plant based foods, right? Wrong. Plant based foods have plenty of protein. The more discerning consumer may point out that the protein in many plant based foods is not ‘complete’. What do they mean? Well, protein is made up of structural units called amino acids. It gets a little complicated, but basically there are 22 standard amino acids of which 8 or 91 are considered essential. The others are considered non-essential and/or conditionally essential. A complete protein, also referred to as a whole protein, is a source of protein that contains an adequate proportion of all of the essential amino acids necessary for the our dietary needs.2 Some incomplete protein sources may contain all essential amino acids, but a complete protein contains them in correct proportions for supporting biological functions in our bodies. So, does this mean we have to eat complete protein foods every meal? Or do we at least have to combine different proteins at every meal? For example, unsprouted lentils are low in two essential amino acids, methionine and cysteine. One could combine this with red peppers, spinach and onions which are high in these missing amino acids therefore making a complete protein. Is this necessary? The answer is ‘No‘. While it may be tasty its certainly not required. The idea of combining proteins to make a complete protein was put forth in the 1971 vegetarian book Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé. It was a million-copy bestseller. Unfortunately, many people still aren’t aware that this hypothesis was later found to be completely false, as Lappé herself recanted in later works that were far less popular. The easiest way to think of protein is as a necklace with various colored beads representing the different amino acids. When consumed the body disassembles the necklace, stores the various beads and then makes new, different ‘necklaces’ with those beads when needed.

So as long as you have a varied, whole food plant based diet you should be getting all the amino acids which your body will use when needed. However, on a personal note, I still prefer to consume complete proteins as much as possible to ensure that I am, in fact, getting all of the essential amino acids. Chick peas, black beans, soy beans, hemp seeds and quinoa, to name a few, all contain complete protein.3 If you like to have a protein shake post workout there are excellent plant based protein powders too. I personally use Sunwarrior. It is made from raw, sprouted, fermented, whole grain brown rice. It is 98.2 digestible and the amino acid profile is 98% identical to human breast milk. It tastes good too.

As you can see plant based foods offer all the protein you need, plus you get great phytonutrients along with it. In addition you don’t get all of the negatives that are associated with animal based foods such as hormones, antibiotics and toxins such as mercury and PCBs. Want great protein….eat plants!

Footnotes:

1. Depending on sources the amino acid histidine is considered either essential or conditionally essential.
2. Protein in Diet” Medline Plus Medical Encyclopedia. U.S. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health. September 2,
3. http://www.nutritiondata.com

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