Vegetarian: Getting Protein w/out Carbs?

SpazzyMal · April 2012

FYI, the argument about lentils, beans, etc. being "incomplete" is... well... incomplete. Most legumes have all the essential amino acids, though some are a bit low in one or another relative to nutritional needs. Lentils fall a bit short on methionine and cysteine. But at 25% or more protein versus under 20% for other legumes it can be a good trade-off. Your mileage may vary.

http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/legumes-and-legume-products/4338/2

Likewise, it's been studied that you don't even need to eat complete proteins every single meal. Assuming you get the missing amino acids that were missing in your earlier meal sometime later in the day, that's good enough. Basically, eating a varied diet is the only thing you need to worry about on that front.

ashleyregan8 · April 2012

Living fuel has an amazing vegetarian protien powder- u should check it out

kalynn06 · April 2012

For those that are advising caution on soy if you are a male: more caution is warranted if you are a female as opposed to a male. Soy can potentially cause problems for individuals with pre-existing thyroid problems. Females are more likely to have thyroid problems than male.
But thyroid problems or not, as long as the bulk of your protein is not coming from soy, it is nothing to worry about (be sure to keep sodium intake high).

This, except it's iodine you need to watch not sodium. Regular table salt is iodized, so they can go hand in hand, but many natural salts, sodium added to foods and sea salt products are not iodized, so they won't help with thyroid issues.