Going vegitarian: protein pairing?

[Russet]

Hello! I'm new on the forums, though I have been sporradically following Steve's Blog for a few months.

I've decided to go raw, but instead of jumping in, I'm going vegetarian for a couple weeks, then vegan for a few and then finally raw. Yesterday was my first strictly vegitarian day, but I'm still doing research on my nutritional needs and came across multiple websites which suggest protein pairing due to the lack of complete proteins in plant foods.

I'm looking for advice on what to pair. It does not have to be done within the same meal, but over the course of a day I would like to ensure that I have consumed all the essential amino acids.

Articles I've read have suggested:

• grains and legumes
• nuts/seeds and legumes
• corn and legumes

I'm curious about other combinations, and any other advice would be much appreciated.

[Dan.Linehan]

First off, raw is a difficult transition. I've been vegan three years and I'm still not ready to make the leap.

Secondly, is there a whole foods nearby? That makes going vegan much, much easier. There are vegan versions of everything available at Whole Foods.

Third, vegan food has plenty of protein on its own, no pairing required. See: The Great Protein Myth

[Rose of Cairo]

Hello Russet!

Welcome here, first of all.

My opinion is that the whole thing about incomplete plant protein and food pairing is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. I don't pair anything and I'm perfectly fine.

Just make sure you eat lots of greens.

I wish you a lot of success!

Love.

[Angela Leeds]

I also understand the protein-pairing paradigm to now be proved unnecessary, as the body pools its amino acids. Just get lots of variety, lots of highly colored fresh fruit & vedge, and lots of fresh raw greens, green smoothies, and green juices.

Instead of the rice & beans, add a bit of goji berries (complete protein in itself) and hemp seeds every day and I believe you're gonna be just cool on the protein end.

[Russet]

Thank you everyone!

I realize it's difficult to transition to raw and I'm not expecting to get through it on my first go. But trying is something I can do again and again. I have a small group of friends trying to make the transition with me, so we will be able to support each other and hopefully make it though. And even if I end up staying vegan or vegetarian it will be an improvement to my current diet.

I've never heard of a Whole Foods, so I assume we don't have one. I live in Canada, so if it's an American chain it may not be here, or at least in my (small-ish) city. I am right across the border from Detroit though, so I'll look into finding one, it shouldn't be an issue to do groceries there.

I've read the article about the Great Protein Myth, but the uncertainty lingers in both myself and my friends and family. I hold Steve in high esteem, but it's not enough to convince my mother. If anyone knows where exactly I can find "Lappé herself recant[ing] her original theory", that would be wonderful, or even other scientific evidence that states the completeness of plant proteins.

I do plan to diversify my diet, but this is my first shot at any sort of meal planning. I'm still a teen, and my parents have always taken care of the food. I'm a little worried I'll mess up and get horribly ill. But hopefully not, hehe.

Thank you once more!

[funchy]

I'm vegetarian, but I can't seem to stick to vegan and/or raw yet.

I also encourage you to read protein myth articles. There is so much wrong information out there on protein and it's been repeated so many times, people are sure it must be fact. If I had a nickle for every time a person hears I'm vegetarian and exclaims "but where do you get your protein?!"

You shouldn't worry about messing up. It sounds like you're taking the time to think it through & do your homework. You'll be fine! Think of it this way: I'm sure you've met people who had diet related illness (diabetes, heart disease, stroke, cancer) and ate the standard diet... but I don't know of a single veg who ever died of protein deficiency. You're definitely making the healthier choice.

If you're curious about what foods have what amino acids, there are sites online which give more nutrition info than just fat/carbs/protein grams. For example:
Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com

I might suggest you don't set yourself to any timetable. It takes some people awhile to learn to buy & cook new foods. It took me awhile to learn where to buy good produce and how to spot a good piece from a spoiled or underripe one. Easy yourself into it. Once you try enough yummy meat-free dishes, your urge to go back to meat will go away on its own. I don't know if you like foreign food, but Asian and Indian food often have some wonderful vegetarian/vegan choices.

I wish you luck! I wish I could go vegan 100%. I'm just finding it hard to complete give up going out to eat, and in my (rural, un-enlightened) area there are zero restaurants who even know what vegan is. Sadly some places think even vegetables need to be cooked in lard or served with cubes of pork or some such greasy nonsense. Don't be too hard on yourself if you accidentally eat something nonvegan or non-raw.

[Angela Leeds]

Hey Russet, I wrote an article this evening about how to take the easy road to "going raw". I think this thread was the inspiration in the back of my mind for it.

[liamona]

Originally Posted by Angela Leeds

Hey Russet, I wrote an article this evening about how to take the easy road to "going raw". I think this thread was the inspiration in the back of my mind for it.

What a great article! You really know how to make the raw diet appealing. I love the suggestion of using white cabbage leaves as a sort of cracker and taco shell.

[ginkgo]

I did not read all the replies. It is not very scientific to say that protein pairing is *&^#!# (BS). That is like saying that the world being flat or sun orbiting around the earth or demons trying to posess people who sneeze so you say "God bless you" is BS. People were mistaken.

Educated people know now that this was a myth. Here is another myth. "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Everyone says that but it is wrong and false. The saying is "you can't eat your cake and have it too." See the article on this site about protein: Health Related Articles. It is not about swearing, getting upset and spouting theories. It gives you the amino acids in plant foods and you see that no plant foods are absent of any essential amino acids.

It also explains why average people getting 5 times the protein they need is worse, yes worse for health than 5 times the carbs that you need. The American Dietetic Association says that vegans get twice the protein that they need. It also has a link to a federal government website saying that people should limit high protein foods. In 10 years every person will know that sunlight being bad for people is a myth. It is also a myth that drugs (medications) are good for health, like the FDA approved Vioxx. Please note that too water, too much healthy food and too much exercise can kill you BUT, and this a big BUT, that does mean that water, healthy food and exercise are bad for health!

Another myth (on site above) is that people get osteoporosis since they do not eat enough ice cream (ice cream has tons of calcium in it). A high protein diet causes the body to become acidic and the body takes calcium out of the bones to neutralize it. This calcium ends up in the urine. So studies show that people eating a lot of protein have a lot of calcium in urine. For 6 year olds reading this, urine is also known as pee.

[Angela Leeds]

Originally Posted by liamona

What a great article! You really know how to make the raw diet appealing. I love the suggestion of using white cabbage leaves as a sort of cracker and taco shell.

Thank you!

BTW, I have two sons, 18 & 21, and even they love the white cabbage leaf discovery... One was just mentioning it this morning. So big thumbs up from the picky-eater crowd.

[Angela Leeds]

Originally Posted by ginkgo

I did not read all the replies. It is not very scientific to say that protein pairing is *&^#!# (BS). That is like saying that the world being flat or sun orbiting around the earth or demons trying to posess people who sneeze so you say "God bless you" is BS. People were mistaken.

Educated people know now that this was a myth. Here is another myth. "You can't have your cake and eat it too." Everyone says that but it is wrong and false. The saying is "you can't eat your cake and have it too." See the article on this site about protein: Health Related Articles. It is not about swearing, getting upset and spouting theories. It gives you the amino acids in plant foods and you see that no plant foods are absent of any essential amino acids.

It also explains why average people getting 5 times the protein they need is worse, yes worse for health than 5 times the carbs that you need. The American Dietetic Association says that vegans get twice the protein that they need. It also has a link to a federal government website saying that people should limit high protein foods. In 10 years every person will know that sunlight being bad for people is a myth. It is also a myth that drugs (medications) are good for health, like the FDA approved Vioxx. Please note that too water, too much healthy food and too much exercise can kill you BUT, and this a big BUT, that does mean that water, healthy food and exercise are bad for health!

Another myth (on site above) is that people get osteoporosis since they do not eat enough ice cream (ice cream has tons of calcium in it). A high protein diet causes the body to become acidic and the body takes calcium out of the bones to neutralize it. This calcium ends up in the urine. So studies show that people eating a lot of protein have a lot of calcium in urine. For 6 year olds reading this, urine is also known as pee.

Geez, everyone's having such a nice civil discussion and then you come along and rail without even caring to read what people said.

Someone needs a nap, lol...

[Russet]

Thanks for the links! As far as a timetable goes, I find that in most of my endeavors I work better with one than without one, but I'll definitely keep it flexible. If I feel that vegan/raw just isn't working for me at that moment in time, I'll step back and try again later.

So far I'm enjoying being vegetarian. It's only been three days, but I'm not missing meat yet, nor have I been hungry after any meals. My two favourite phrases are "I like cheese" and "I like chicken wings", and granted I'm still saying the former, but the latter has dropped out of my casual vocabulary. My friend and I had a cook-off over the weekend, so I'm se for meals this week, but next weekend my mom and I are going to stop by Whole Foods (it's conveniently close to Costco where we normally do groceries) and I'll be looking for more delicious recipes. If you have any tasty suggestions, please share!

PS. Loved the article Angela, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on your blog from now on. =)

[Angela Leeds]

Originally Posted by Russet

PS. Loved the article Angela, I'm definitely going to be keeping an eye on your blog from now on. =)

thank you, russet! looking forward to your dropping by.

good luck with the veggie thing!

[Bleicke]

There's an easy way to tell what to pair:

Things that have complementary nutrients tend to taste GREAT together

The variety in taste kind of represents the variety of nutrients. Of course this isn't true to 100%, some things taste similar and have different nutrients, but if you keep a good variety in each day you'll be fine.