By now, you may have figured out that we don’t eat a lot of meat. Mainly due to environmental reasons, but also because it benefits the health. However, and we’ve written about this before, the most commonly asked question when talking about replacing meat with vegetables is about protein deficiency.

Animal protein contains all the essential amino acids and is therefore called a complete protein, compared to the protein found in plants, which do not have all essential amino acids. But if you’re a vegan, this doesn’t mean you can’t get complete protein. You just need to be more mindful to combine different sources of vegetarian protein and eat larger amounts of it! For example, you don’t have to worry about not getting enough protein if you eat a large salad that includes lots of leafy greens, nuts, buckwheat, and legumes.

On the one hand, we always say that we eat so much vegetables, legumes and lentils that we shouldn’t worry. On the other hand, we have never been completely sure. It’s easy to remember that an orange contains a lot of vitamin C, but how do we remember which vegetable contain which amino acids? That’s just way too complicated.

To be completely honest, we haven’t been out of our minds worried about protein deficiency. However, we stumbled upon this very interesting list of what plant-based foods to combine to make complete protein. All you have to do to meet your protein requirements is to combine foods from both the left and the right column. Also, you don’t have to eat all your protein sources in a single meal. Eating a variety of these foods throughout the day allows your body to get all the amino acids you need.

Plant-based Foods to Combine to Make Complete Protein:

Whole Grains                     Legumes
Corn                                    Leafy Greens
Millet                                  Agae
Nuts                                    Nutritional Yeast
Seeds                                  Buckwheat

A while ago, our dear professor Stig told us to cut back on corn and millet. But since we already include nuts, seeds, leafy greens and legumes as part of our daily eating habits, it doesn’t really matter.

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