Hope's Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet (47 page)

Tips for complementing the protein in legumes

1.
Amino Acid Makeup
: notice in Protein
Table III
that the major amino acid deficiencies of legumes appear in the two outside columns: tryptophan and the sulfur-containing amino acids. But among the nuts and seeds in Protein
Table IV
and among grains in Protein
Table V
, deficiencies appear most frequently in the two inside columns: isoleucine and lysine. It is now clear why legume protein, on the one hand, and the protein in grains and certain nuts and seeds, on the other hand, complement each other. Having exactly the opposite strengths and weaknesses, in combination they become more complete proteins.

2. Experimentally determined complementary protein mixes include legumes:

plus Grains, for example:

Legumes + Rice

Soybeans + Rice + Wheat

Beans + Wheat

Soybeans + Corn + Milk

Beans + Corn

Soybeans + Wheat + Sesame

plus Dairy products, for example:

Beans + Milk

plus Nuts and seeds, for example:

Soybeans + Peanuts* + Sesame

Soybeans + Peanuts* + Wheat + Rice

Soybeans + Sesame + Wheat

* Peanuts are botanically classified as legumes
.

Tips for complementing the protein in nuts and seeds

1.
Amino Acid Makeup
: the amino acid pattern that emerges among the nuts and seeds is one of deficiency in the two
inside
columns, isoleucine and lysine, and strength in the two
outside
columns, tryptophan and the sulfur-containing amino acids. Sesame seed strikingly exemplifies this contrast. Seeds and many nuts, therefore, make good complements of legumes, which have just the opposite pattern—as you recall from Protein
Table III
.

Remember also the potential of dairy products to fill the amino acid “gaps” of nuts and seeds. The strength of dairy products in the two
inside
columns, isoleucine and lysine, means they have exactly what is needed by the nuts and seeds. It is not at all surprising, then, that experimentation has resulted in the complementary combinations below.

2. Experimentally determined complementary protein mixes include nuts and seeds:

plus Legumes, for exemple:

Peanuts* + Sesame + Soybeans

Sesame
+
Beans

Sesame + Soybeans + Wheat

plus Dairy products, for example:

Peanuts + Milk

plus Other nuts or seeds, for example:

Peanuts + Sunflower seeds

plus Grains (because grains and nuts and seeds are low in the same amino acids, their complementarity seems to depend usually on the presence of legumes or dairy products), for example:

Peanuts + Wheat + Milk

Sesame + Wheat + Soybeans

Exception: Sesame + Rice

* Peanuts are botanically classified as legumes
.

Tips for complementing the protein in grains, cereals, and their products

1. Amino Acid Makeup
: Like many nuts and seeds on the previous protein table, the amino acid deficiencies of grains, cereals, and their products, including flour (Protein
Table VI
), generally appear in the two inside columns, isoleucine and lysine. (This pattern is broken primarily by processed cereal products and by legume flours that I have included here only for convenience.) As we have already noted, legumes are the obvious match for grains because they have the reverse pattern of deficiencies. Except for black-eyed peas and mung beans, legumes are moderately strong in the second column, isoleucine; and without exception legumes are very strong in the third column, lysine. Perhaps the simplest way to regularly use legumes to complement grains is merely to add about
2
tablespoons of soy grits (partially cooked, cracked soybeans) to every cup of grain—in any dish from your morning oatmeal to your supper casserole. The dish will taste better, too. Certain commercial cereals such as “Protein Plus” have already added soy grits for you. So be sure to check the labels of commercially made cereals for a fortuitous complementary protein combination!

For the same reasons—strengths in both center columns, isoleucine and lysine—milk products make good complements to grains. But there’s a “natural” complement that you might not notice. Yeast, on Protein
Table VIII
, is also well endowed with these two amino acids in which grains are deficient. Nutritional, or brewer’s, yeast, as it is called, can be mixed into breads and pancakes or sprinkled on breakfast cereals.

2. Experimentally determined complementary protein mixes include grains:

plus Legumes, for example:

Rice + Legumes

Corn + Legumes

Wheat + Legumes

plus Dairy products, for example:

Rice + Milk

Wheat + Cheese

Wheat + Milk

plus Nuts and seeds (because grains and nuts and seeds are low in the same amino acids, their complementarity seems to depend usually on the presence of legumes or dairy products), for example: