5 Very Complete Recipes In Vegetable Proteins

Complete dishes rich in protein, vegetables!

Proteins are part of the food we eat, but food also has other components: water, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals …

The foods of animal origin are very rich in proteins, whereas vegetable have a ratio of lower and highly variable proteins according vegetable. Lettuce, for example, contains just over 1% protein, while raw beans have 20-25% protein.

Our protein needs

If we only ate meat, the proportion of proteins with respect to the other elements that we need to eat (carbohydrates and lipids, especially) would be very unbalanced; protein would win.

In this sense, the vegetarian diet is ideal, since it allows us to ingest a large amount of fiber, which helps us to promote the evacuation of waste; many carbohydrates, which provide us with energy; many vitamins and minerals; and a moderate amount of fat and protein.

In general, the ideal is that proteins represent 15% of our daily food intake. Regarding the quantity, the following data are indicative and correspond to grams per kilo of weight and day:

• babies, up to 1 year: 1.9 grams
• children: 1.1 grams
• teenagers: 1 grams
• adults 0.8 grams
• pregnant: 1 grams
• lactating women: 1.1 grams

You don’t have to take these figures at face value or walk around all day with a scale in your hands. These are figures that come from studies and, therefore, handle amounts that represent averages.

How to get all the essential amino acids

The only thing that could represent a problem in the vegetarian diet is the variety of amino acids that vegetable proteins contain: some vegetables have an insufficient amount of certain amino acids, while others have a sufficient amount of these, but lack others that have the same. first.

The important thing is to complement well foods rich in different amino acids so that a vegetarian diet is balanced in protein.

1. Combine legumes and cereals

With legumes and cereals , adequate amounts of essential amino acids are obtained so that organic systems can make their own proteins without problems.

Legumes contain too low a proportion of some essential amino acid, especially methionine, which cereals have in abundance.

Cereals, for their part, are deficient in some amino acid, especially lysine, which legumes contain in quantity.

Legumes and cereals do not need to be eaten in the same dish, not even in the same meal.

We can make multiple combinations : lentils with rice, chickpeas with couscous, beans with quinoa, for example. Vegetables can also be added, although in this case we must eat a cereal at the same meal or at another.

What about soy? It is a legume somewhat different from the others, since the proteins contained in soy are very complete in amino acids. It is not so necessary to combine it with cereals, so it can be eaten simply with vegetables.

2. Nuts with cereals

Together, great. We are referring to nuts in the shell, not to fruit dried by natural procedures or in factories.

As in the previous combination, the proteins of nuts are insufficient in an essential amino acid for humans, methionine, but this amino acid is found in abundance in cereals, which both complement each other wonderfully.

The combination possibilities are multiple, but the most common is the one used at breakfast.

• At breakfast: The mixture of cereals and nuts, added to a vegetable milk (soy, oatmeal, rice or hazelnut) or a soy yogurt, provides energy for a good start to the day, but also a significant proportion of protein balanced in essential amino acids.
• At food: There are other ways to combine cereals with nuts that we can use at lunch or dinner. How about a rice with almonds, hazelnuts, pine nuts and raisins? Or a couscous with peanuts and pistachios, plus some vegetables? Or a pasta with green pine nut pesto? The addition of some vegetable or sauce just completed the picture.
• Soups and creams: Another combination is achieved through soups that include cereals and nuts in their preparation, in addition to other ingredients. Rice can be the base, but also oatmeal or wheat pasta. We can prepare a rich cream using almonds or other powdered dried fruit.