questions about protein mixing.

I know that in order to get all of the amino acids at one meal you have to mix your foods (beans with a grain Etc)

I'm just wondering how that works. If I have Pasta with 7 grams of incomplete protein and I put beans in the sauce for another 7 grams per serving does that equal 14 grams of complete protein for that meal? or is there some other way to calculate?

Also, the pasta has 7 grams of protein and the sauce it's self has 2 grams per 1/2 cup ( I assume from the tomatoes) I'm wondering how you would calculate that into a complete protein. Does it then equal 9 grams of complete protein?

Thanks in advance.

But you don't have to combine it all in one meal, or even in one day. I don't understand the process but I know the body stores amino acids for days. This I know from reading and personal experience. I used to consume rice protein shakes (supposedly a highly incomplete protein.) I followed a relatively varied diet, nothing special, and my strength was just as good on rice protein as it had been on other sources.

But anyway, to answer your question in general, it could. If the pasta lacks 50% of one particular amino acid and the beans have that much extra of that amino acid, then yes. You could attempt to calculate such things by looking up the exact amino acid profiles of all foods. But then, it's not certain really how much we need of each amino acid anyway.... So it'd be a lot of calculating that would really be overkill.

I'd say as long as you're not trying to live off just a couple of foods, you can probably just add up all the total protein you eat.

To reiterate, you can eat an incomplete protein at one meal and nothing else at that meal. And still get all the protein benefit from it if in the previous few days you've been eating other foods.

tjonmc wrote:

I know that in order to get all of the amino acids at one meal you have to mix your foods (beans with a grain Etc)

I'm just wondering how that works. If I have Pasta with 7 grams of incomplete protein and I put beans in the sauce for another 7 grams per serving does that equal 14 grams of complete protein for that meal? or is there some other way to calculate?

Also, the pasta has 7 grams of protein and the sauce it's self has 2 grams per 1/2 cup ( I assume from the tomatoes) I'm wondering how you would calculate that into a complete protein. Does it then equal 9 grams of complete protein?

Thanks in advance.

protien combining is a myth
read here
http://michaelbluejay.com/veg/protein.html

or here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein_combining

Good links.
You've posted a number of good links by the way. Thanks for that.

Although the first link might get dismissed by some weightlifting people, in saying basically that just potatoes will supply enough protein.

Thanks for the fast replies. This is all really good information. Looks like i won't be putting as much emphasis on protein mixing as i had been previously.

On a side note -
Jay said:

Quote :

Although the first link might get dismissed by some weightlifting people, in saying basically that just potatoes will supply enough protein.

Bill Pearl, in his bodybuilding book "Keys to the inner Universe" states that he believes potatoes to be a really good protein source!

Not that I recommend potatoes as your major protein source, just an interesting bit of info [Bill is now 80 years old, still trains 6 days a week at 4AM for an hour or 2!!!!!!!!]

I remember years ago, reading articles that basically said you need to "complement" the protein for every meal or you'll practically shrivel up and die.
Apparently the book "Diet for a small planet" was the first and major source to encourage protein combining.
(Still a good book though, it was a major influence on my becoming a vegetarian
http://www.smallplanet.org/books/diet-small-planet )
I just try to eat some grains, legumes, nuts and seeds each day.

I just attempt to eat a varied vegan diet. Ideally trying to have one green vegetable and some fruit each day. I don't worry about having a legume or nut/seed each day. That's more or less what I've done for years and I'm still a relatively muscular guy, usually just a shade under 220 lbs/100kg.