Plant Protein Combinations

The key to getting complete proteins as a vegetarian is to eat a diet that meets daily calorie needs and is rich in variety from vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds and whole grains everyday. To figure out how much protein you need daily divide your weight by 2.2. This will give you your weight in kilograms. For most people you would multiply your weight in kilograms by .8.  For athletes and exercise enthusiast refer to this document Protein and Muscle.

Example:  for a person weighing 200 pounds divide 200 by 2.2 = 90.90 kg   90.90 x .8 = 72.72 grams of protein. If you are overweight you should figure your protein needs for a healthy weight. Excess protein can cause other health problems.  If you are not sure how to figure your protein needs for your specific case schedule an appointment with our nutritionist.

The chart below shows how to combine vegetative proteins to make complete proteins. It is not necessary to have complete proteins at every meal. As long as you are accumulating a variety of proteins from the sources in the list below daily, your body can make the proteins it needs for good health. The body pulls amino acids from it's amino acid pool to make any type of protein the body needs.  The pool is made from digested proteins that come from your diet and those that the body makes. This list will show you how to create complete proteins at any meal. Combining the right plant foods together in one meal will help form a complete protein source.There are different combination's of plant foods that can be selected so you can choose which food you prefer to eat. The diagram below shows how to successfully combine plant proteins. This list shows the protein content of selected vegetative foods. 

Any item from group #1 above to be combined with any item from one of the three groups below.