From: "Lawrence F. London, Jr." <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>
To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: [permaculture] Protein in vegetarian diet | Re: Fwd: [New post] Maintaining the garden
Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2011 19:26:57 -0500
On 11/6/2011 4:27 PM, John D'hondt wrote:
<...>
John:
Frances Moore Lappe in her book Diet For A Small Planet proposes
increasing one's protein intake from vegetarian meals through food
combining-for-maximum-protein, i.e. combining several vegetarian sources
of protein instead of eating just one or two. This could involve
combining grains, beans and nuts at a meal: rice with beans is well
known. Tonight I combined rice with black beans and added almond butter
and turnip greens with hatcho miso paste. This worked out well.
I would assume that different vegetarian protein sources have varying
amino acid profiles such that when you combine several of them you end
up with more complete protein, i.e. better and more nutritious. Is this
true? How would you calculate the best food combinations for each meal
using typical amino acid analysis of all the different protein
containing vegetarian foods? Are there charts or books available to make
this easier, ones that describe the amino acid makeup of the most ideal
vegetable protein? How much of each amino acid is needed for human
nutrition and how are they balanced, i.e. what are proper ratios,
if any?
Do you have answers to this or pointers to online resources?