The Truth about Protein

We all know that protein is an important part of our diet. To get protein we mainly eat fish, poultry, meat and eggs. You may also know that there is protein in legumes, grains and nuts, but did you know that by themselves they are not a complete protein? They lack certain amino acids that link together to make the chain complete. Don't worry, though, it's an easy fix. By eating two incomplete proteins together, they form a complete protein like beans and rice or whole wheat toast and peanut butter. This is great information for vegetarians, but can also be a less expensive way to get protein when you are on a budget.

Grains	Legumes	Nuts/Seeds
Barley	Beans	Sesame seeds
Bulgur	Lentils	Sunflower seeds
Cornmeal	Dried peas	Walnuts
Oats	Peanuts	Cashews
Buckwheat	Chickpeas	Pumpkin seeds
Rice	Soy products	Other nuts
Pasta
Rye
Wheat

Combine Grains and Legumes	Combine Grains and Nuts/Seeds	Combine Legumes and Nuts/Seeds
Peanut butter on whole-wheat bread	Whole-wheat bun with sesame seeds	Humus (chickpeas and sesame paste)
Rice and beans	Breadsticks rolled with sesame seeds	Trail mix (peanuts and sunflower seeds)
Bean soup and a roll	Rice cakes with peanut butter
Salad with chickpeas and cornbread
Tofu-vegetable stir-fry over rice or pasta
Vegetarian chili with bread