posted
I'm a vegetarian, the only in my family, and they're always pestering me to eat more protein.
But I always thought that the ribosomes of the body could make their own proteins from the amino acids via transcription/translation.
"Amino acids are the building blocks (monomers) of proteins. 20 different amino acids are used to synthesize proteins. The shape and other properties of each protein is dictated by the precise sequence of amino acids in it."
So is what I really need to be a healthy fellow a good source of each of the 20 amino acids? Or can the body synthesize the amino acids out of something else?
Posts: 2756 | Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
There are a certain number of amino acids that the body cannot synthesize on its own. Sorry, it's been a while since I took Biochem, but you can find out what they are by doing a search for "essential amino acids". You should also be able to find lists of foods that are high in those amino acids.
You will have to be creative and mix your protein sources if you choose not to eat meat, but you can stay healthy if you're careful.
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
Okay, I looked it up. There are 8 essential amino acids - 20 aas in all. The essential ones for adults are tryptophan, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, valine, leucine and isoleucine. (I used to be able to draw all of those... ah memories. )
Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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posted
You eat proteins. Your digestive system breaks them down into amino acids, which are absorbed into the bloodstream. In the cells, amino acids are re-strung together, forming new proteins.
Some amino acids can be made by the human body from "scratch"; eight can not. More here.Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
mb, I used to be able to draw the darn things too! (Thanks to carrying around flashcards in my purse for six solid weeks. )
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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quote:There are a certain number of amino acids that the body cannot synthesize on its own... You will have to be creative and mix your protein sources if you choose not to eat meat, but you can stay healthy if you're careful.
Maui is right, you need some amino acids in your diet that your body cannot make.
I have heard from a good friend who is vegetarian that many cultures' staple diets contain "complementary" foods that have different amino acids and allow for a balanced diet, including sufficient protein and amino acids, with little or no meat. The only example I can think of is rice and beans, but their are others.
It takes a little more effort to balance your diet with out meat, but after a while it'll be second nature.
I'll ask my little sister, she's been vegetarian for years and knows about it.
Posts: 327 | Registered: Oct 2003
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I think Bob the Lawyer is vegan. I bet if you made the title more descriptive of what you're looking for (Protein for Vegetarians, for example, or Hey Bob the Lawyer!) he'd come in and give some good practical advice.
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
BtL and I had a conversation elsewhere (sakeriver, maybe?) about vegan protein sources elsewhere. He told me that the notion that complementary proteins must be eaten at the same meal (which is what I was taught, repeatedly) has been disproved. (Here's an article which echoes that.)
Since he's not only a vegan but a biochemist, I figure he would know!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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posted
It's curious that humans have lost the ability to synthesize some amino acids from scratch that other mammals can produce. An evolutionary luxury of sitting atop the food-chain?
Posts: 551 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I'd still go for the complementary proteins; it makes for a more filling and healthier diet anyway, in my experience. At least try to eat them within a few hours of each other.
quote: The only example I can think of is rice and beans, but their are others.
Beans and squash, beans and corn (including corn tortillas), lentils and rice (although I think lentils are complete on their own, rice just boosts the overall protein intake), peas and corn... Generally try to mix a legume with rice, corn, wheat, spelt, or squash, and you're good.
posted
alluvion, many mammals can synthesize things we cannot, and we can synthesize things many mammals can't. (Cats synthesize their own vitamin C.) It all has to do with what we're all specialized to eat, that's all.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Likely from being omnivorous for a long time before becoming protohumans, let alone humans sitting at the top of the food chain.
If its normal diet supplies an organism with certain amino acids often enough that ingestion&digestion provides a sufficient supply for survival&reproduction, then the organism no longer needs the ability to synthesize those same amino acids. If there is no survival&reproduction value in retaining the metabolic pathways for synthesis of those same amino acids, then the genes which create&control those metabolic pathways no longer need to be conserved. ie Gene mutations which affect those particular metabolic pathways but also don't otherwise harm the organism can accumulate until those particular metabolic pathways shut down, no longer exist, or are adapted into a form which performs a different function.
Similarly, other complex nutrients such as vitamins.
I wouldn't consider myself a vegetarian, because I have no problem eating meat and quite enjoy it. However, I'm married to a vegetarian who treats it like keeping kosher, so it's much more convenient for me if I don't have meat often. Otherwise I have to brush my teeth every time I want to kiss him.
I do keep an eye on my protein sources, especially since my body was used to getting chicken and beef on a regular basis. I buy soy crackers, use a lot of tofu and other meat-like stuff when I'm cooking, and choose veggies like artichoke hearts that contain protein. Mmmmmm. There's 18 grams of protein in one bag of soy crisps that I like to eat, and that's just a snack. It's not too difficult if you just keep an eye on it.
And, if I'm really craving something, especially something odd like spinach, I take it seriously.
posted
Did anyone mention diet for a small planet yet? Thats kind of the bible on getting your essential amino acids from non animal sources.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Yeah. If I have an egg for breakfast, a bag of soy crisps during the day, and half a block of tofu in a stir fry for dinner, I've met my protein requirement for the day.
Mmmm, I feel like cooking!
Edit: There was a post about eggs right above mine! I swear!
posted
I erased my post out of respect for your link, Zeugma and because I am too tired to get into an argument with people about the logic behind eating eggs if you're vegetarian.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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posted
Ahh. Well, as far as I know, I'm the only person here who's ever really gotten on people's cases about what it means to be a vegetarian, so if I'm not hasslin' you, I doubt anyone else will. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I think you should put in the thread title that this thread is about vegetarianism -- because there are other vegetarians on the forum that could probably help, and don't realize that is what the thread is about, from the title.
posted
Beans on toast sounds awful. It's that kind of crap that gets people thinking that vegetarians will be perfectly happy eating only the house salad and a breadstick while everyone else gets prime rib.
One of our current favorite lazy-man's dinners is a pot of timer-cooked rice waiting for us when we get home, with a can or pouch of pre-packaged Indian food dumped on top and mixed in. We have something like 3 or 4 complete lines of pre-packaged Indian entree's available in town, so we get a huge variety of dinners. Mattar paneer, aloo mattar, dal makhani, navratna korma, palak paneer, saag... and about a dozen more. Costs about $4 to feed both of us, and about 2 minutes of work.
Edit: Actually, I just checked the website for one of the brands of pre-packaged food, and we could buy it in bulk with free shipping, and end up spending $2.10 for the entree and $.40 for our rice.... might have to give that a shot!
posted
Zeugma, do you really think it is fair to chide people on their vegetarian ways when you have the Moosewood Restaurant, probably within walking distance?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Leftover baked beans on toast was a farmer's breakfast long before vegetarians thought of it as a protein combination. I mean, really, isn't it just a bean burrito, when you think about it?
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Well, come visit both of us the weekend of April 2 and 3, as that is where I will be! I will bring JaneX.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
Rivka is right about the fact that complimentary proteins don't need to be eaten at the same meal. Kaioshin, I honestly wouldn't worry all that much about it - though I understand that's difficult when you have family members breathing down your neck. Most people get a lot of protein in their diets without even trying. I'm a vegetarian and pregnant, and my OB has never once worried over my protein intake.
posted
See, but you're talking baked beans and bean hummus! "Beans on toast" definitely conjures up images of 3 lonely half-cooked kidney beans on a dry piece of toast.
And actually, Elizabeth, you know what almost anyone here would tell you? Moosewood the restaurant isn't nearly as good as Moosewood the cookbooks. Seriously! There are much better places to get a veggie meal in this town, like The ABC Cafe. Mmmmmm!! We've even managed to make picky fast-food-only carnivore friends happy at ABC, they have everything from fries and shakes (both homemade, of course) to Broccoli-Cashew Stir Fry with Tempeh over Cous-Cous!
Okay, I am SO ready for lunch. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Elizabeth, it's going to be really hard deciding what to eat while you're here. Maybe Mark and I will pick up take-out from our top 5 places and create an "Ithaca Sampler" buffet. Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
And I am so ready to come to your house for dinner! Have you had New York Pizza in Trumansburg? It is our staple food at Grassroots.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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Yeah, they make great pizza!! We used to walk over there all the time when we were living a few blocks away. Also good is Gino's on the Ithaca Commons... They make a peppers 'n onions pizza that's really tasty. Mmm!
Posts: 1681 | Registered: Jun 2004
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posted
I have to e you about the Rongo. I am worried they won't let the kids in. Jennie Stearns tends to get a family crowd, though, even at night.
Posts: 10890 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
While putting soy sauce on my snack just now, I noticed that one tablespoon has 2 grams of protein. So using soy sauce instead of salt in cooking and on food is one easy way to up your protein intake a bit.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
If I remember aright, there is a particular nutrient that is only found in meats or SEAWEED. So, if you're vegan, make sure you eat plenty of sea vegetables!
And really, do you realize that even vegans eat meat accidentally? Insect pieces and parts are in the vegetable products you eat. Insects are full of nutrients.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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Soy sauce has 980 mg of sodium in 1 Tbsp. Since I usually eat about 1/2 a Tbsp. at a time, at least as a condiment, that's 1 g of protein to 490 mg of sodium.
posted
As Ketchup noted, soy is often used as a source of protein for people who don't eat meat. And while I do consume quite a bit of soy sauce, I've never tried claiming it as a protein source.
I'm not a vegetarian and I'm not a trained dietician, but a little Googling will present quite a list of options.
quote: The only example I can think of is rice and beans, but their are others.
Just because it hasn't been specified, and you can never tell...
We're talking about BROWN rice here, folks.
Also, part of why bread is such an important staple is that as the bread rises, the yeast is synthesizing protein. I'm not sure if it's complete protein though, or how much there is.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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