Am I lacking protein in my diet?

We often relate calcium to milk and dairy products without realize that in actual fact we can get complete quality protein from plants based diet.

Protein need vary from a person to another depending on age, size, activity level, metabolism rate, genetic and culture.

Nevertheless, studies suggest that we should take 10-15% of calories from protein, 15-30% from fat and 55-70% calories from carbohydrate.

There are 23 types of amino acids in which 9 of them are classified as essential amino acid as our body cannot synthesize them and must come from food that we eat.

Amino acids are building blocks of protein molecules. Generally protein come from animal are complete protein. Soy and quinoa also have complete protein. Most of the plant food has 1 or more limiting amino acid.

The limiting amino acid in grains is usually lysine. In legumes, it can be methionine and trypthophan. However when we combine the grains with legumes, it becomes complete protein without have to worry about the cholesterol and the unsaturated fat that come from the animal products.

Therefore a vegetarian who eat a variety of grains and legumes would not be deficient of protein. The advantage is I would not get the saturated fat & cholesterol from my plants based protein.

Isn't it wonderful?