`Combining' proteins on a vegetarian diet is simpler than it sounds

A reader writes:

"I'd love to start cooking meatless meals for all the obvioushealth reasons, but feel confused about the complete/incompleteprotein issues. How should I mix rice, grains and beans?"

Relax, and cook to your heart's content. Back in the 1970s,Frances Moore Lappe interested health-oriented cooks with her classicvegetarian treatise, Diet for a Small Planet (Ballantine Books, $6.99softcover). But she made it harder than it has to be.It's true that most plant foods fall short in one or more of theessential amino acids. So, by itself, any one is "incomplete" whenit comes to making the new proteins your body needs for growth,maintenance or repair of tissues. Corn is notoriously limited, whilesoy is complete. Other beans and grains fall somewhere in between.To be complete, they need to be matched up.This is an important issue for impoverished countries withlimited food supplies. For instance, a child's growth would beseverely limited if he ate only corn for breakfast, lunch and dinnerand little bits of other foods on a catch-as-catch-can basis.But the choices available to most people in the United Statesare varied and generous. That makes eating a vegetarian diet simple,because your body automatically mixes and matches for you.The amino acids from any one meal stay around for about 24hours. So the ones you get from your breakfast toast can match upwith those from your lunchtime lentils, the spoonful of peanut butteryou snitched between meals or the beans on your dinner pasta.Too, Americans need far less protein than we imagine. Theaverage adult woman needs less than 50 grams a day, while an adultmale needs a little more, about 65 grams. Using the recommendationsof the Food Guide Pyramid, see how easy it is to get enough proteinas long as you eat a well-balanced diet.Here's where protein comes from:Each serving of grains: about 3 grams of protein. The pyramidrecommends six to 11 servings daily. That's 18 to 33 grams ofprotein.Each serving of vegetables: about 2 grams of protein. Three tofive servings are recommended, for a total of 6 to 10 grams ofprotein.Each serving of fruit: no protein.Each serving of dairy food: 8 grams of protein. Two or threeare recommended, for an additional 16 to 24 grams of protein.If you've been adding as we go, you'll see that you already have40 to 67 grams of protein, and we haven't even arrived at the "meat"group yet. The pyramid recommends two high-protein servings totaling5 to 7 ounces. Each ounce of meat, chicken or fish provides about 7grams of protein. If you choose beans, peas, lentils or soy insteadof meat, you'll get about 9 grams of protein per 1/2-cup serving.That means a woman eating the minimum pyramid recommendationsneeds to add only 1 ounce of meat or 1/2 cup of beans to bring hertotal to 49 grams of protein daily.If you choose to give up dairy foods (which makes it much harderto get the calcium you need), you'll need to replace the missing 16grams of milk protein with an extra cup of beans. So you'll need atotal of 1 1/2 cups of beans, peas, lentils or soy for the day.One cup of bean soup at lunch plus 1/2 cup of chick-peas onyour dinner salad will do it.As easy as that seems, I do worry about American women who "govegetarian" to lose weight. I've met many who drop meat, beans anddairy foods and never ate vegetables to begin with. They fill up onpretzels, pasta and fat-free cookies, and there's just not enoughnutrition there to build a healthy body.For help with meatless cooking, you might enjoy the VegetarianJournal. Contact the Vegetarian Resource Group, P.O. Box 1463,Baltimore, Md. 21203 for subscription information. Or visit them incyberspace at envirolink.org/arrs/VRG/home.htmlWhether you choose to include small servings of lean meat,chicken and fish or decide to go meatless, remember that balance,variety and moderation are still the keys to healthful eating.