What is a Complete Protein?

If you were to remove the water from our human bodies, what is left would be made up of 75% protein. Protein is by far the most important nutrient in our diets and getting enough of it is crucial. Vegetarians are more likely to become protein-deficient than carnivores, but everyone must be vigilant about taking in adequate protein. Pregnant women require 80 to 100 grams of high quality complete protein a day to remain optimally healthy. Because meats contain all the amino acids, the concept of a complete protein is mute for an omnivorous diet. however, since vegetarian sources of complete protein are rare, I have pulled together the following information to help you understand and form complete proteins.

What is a complete protein? All proteins are made up of amino acids. There are twenty amino acids required by the body, nine of which are called "essential," because they cannot be made by the body and therefore must be eaten. The human body is able to synthesize the other 11 from within, as long as it has the other nine. Of the nine essentials, the three limiting amino acids (lysine, tryptophan, and the interchangeable methionine/cystine) are truly critical --- the other six are abundant and easily found in many foodstuffs. It is these three limiting amino acids which really determine the completeness of a foodstuff's usable protein. When these three amino acids are missing the remaining amino acids cannot make new protein. Protein-rich foods that contain all of the essential amino acids are called "complete"; most of them are in animal-based foodstuffs --- flesh, milk, eggs. Soybean is the only plant-based complete protein. This includes soybeans, whose protein structure closely resembles that of milk, and anything made from soybeans, such as tofu or tempeh. All other plant-based protein sources --- legumes, grains, nuts, seeds --- contain only some of the essential amino acids and are thus called "incomplete"

How do you form a complete protein? By combining complementary protein sources from two or more of the following columns, you create a complete protein. When eaten in combination, either in the same meal of throughout the day, your body receives all nine essential amino acids.

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	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	Hummus
Rice and beans	Breadsticks rolled in sesame seeds	Trail mix (peanuts and sunflower seeds)
Bean soup and a whole wheat roll	Rice cakes with peanut butter	Almond brittle
Salad with chickpeas and cornbread	Cereal with sliced almonds
Tofu vegetable stir fry over rice	Nut roll
Vegetarian chili with bread	7 grain bread that includes nuts

By adding small amounts of animal protein (eggs, cheese, yogurt) to any of the above groups, you create a complete protein.

This is WAY too technical for me!!
An excellent reference book is Laurel's Kitchen by Laurel Robertson
http://www.amazon.com/New-Laurels-Kitchen-Vegetarian-Nutrition/dp/089815166X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/103-6948550-3283840?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1182953217&sr=8-1

As a nutritionally-based vegetarian cookbook author, Laurel Robertson pointed out that "In the kitchen it is enough to balance food families, because the members of like families like grains, legumes, and milk products share similar amino acid strengths and weaknesses. Doing this meal to meal, and day to day, without too much precision necessary is easy, because, again, many of the world's great dishes are just these kinds of combinations: beans and cornbread, stir-fried vegetables with tofu over rice, or Boston baked beans with steamed brown bread." You CAN do this, and you baby will thank you for it.

Contributing Sources: http://www.bodyforlife2.com/incompletprotein.htm
http://www.passionatevegetarian.com/protein_.htm