When you eat a food containing protein, your body breaks down the protein into amino acids and then ‘makes’ our own proteins from those amino acids to build and repair muscle, bone, hair and fingernails; fight infection and provide energy, among other bodily functions.
We’ve all heard the argument that vegetarians don't get enough protein because "plants are incomplete sources of protein" – meaning they don’t contain significant amounts of all the essential amino acids like animal products do. (Please note: Plant foods do contain every essential amino acid, just not in significant quantities. Soy, for example, is a vegetable source which is a complete protein - meaning it contains significant amounts of all the essential amino acids.) Essential amino acids are amino acids not manufactured by your body so they must be supplied by your diet. (Just in case you were wondering, the essential amino acids are histidine, isolecine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, proline, threonine, tryptophan, and valine.)
Still with me? The whole "incomplete protein" myth is silly and here’s why. You don’t have to eat a protein containing significant amounts of all the essential amino acids at one time in order for your body to use them. Picture a swimming pool. When your body breaks down dietary protein into amino acids, any amino acid lacking a complimentary amino acid just hangs out in the pool until a complimentary amino acid comes along to complete it. Then they join up and get to work doing good stuff in your body. As long as you eat a varied diet, the essential amino acids in the food you eat will find each other in the pool.
Say you eat a handful of peanuts in the early afternoon. Later on you have a handful of whole-wheat crackers. Peanuts are low in the amino acid methionine. Whole-wheat crackers have a lot of methionine, but insignificant amounts of lysine and isoleucine. In your body, the amino acids in the peanuts and the crackers all meet up in the pool and PRESTO CHANGO you have a complete protein – significant amounts of all the essential amino acids. Of course, you could eat a peanut butter sandwich on whole wheat bread and be done with it, but the point here is you don’t have to eat complete proteins to reap the benefits as long as your diet is rich in a variety of healthy foods like whole grains, legumes, vegetables and fruits.
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