Vegans, complete proteins, and supposed “myths”
I kept coming across articles claiming that people don’t need to eat complete proteins. That the body “stores” proteins. But here’s the thing.
You still have to eat all the different amino acids over time. You cannot just eat one plant all the time because you can eventually deplete whatever amino acids you’re not eating enough of.
This usually leads into arguments about not needing much protein, but I have yet to see anybody recommend anything crazy like less than 10 grams of protein a day. The usual minimum recommended amount is 0.36 grams per pound. So even if you weigh 90 pounds that’s still 32 grams a day.
It’s not that you don’t have to eat a complete mix of amino acids ever. The argument is that you don’t necessarily have to eat them in the same meal.
The biggest problem I have with this is gluconeogenesis, the process by which the body turns protein into glucose. Your liver is more than happy to strip down protein into glucose through gluconeogenesis and then turn that into fat through lipogenesis. Your body loves to make fat. Fat makes it happy. I don’t have any direct references, but I’m fairly certain that your body isn't going to “store” amino acids for a week till you finally eat the others you need. It’s more likely they’re getting turned into glucose at some point.
Vegans say to eat a “varied diet”. That “varied diet” is eating things that contain all the amino acids. This usually results in some people contradicting themselves by saying you don’t have to eat a complete mix of amino acids every day and then immediately following that by saying to eat a “varied diet”.
If you’re trying to recover from heavy physical exertion, and especially if you’re trying to build muscle, you’re going to want a complete amino acid profile every time you eat. Eating nothing but potatoes today and then beans tomorrow is going to slow your body’s ability to recover / build.
I think the biggest problem here is people challenging vegans about “do you get enough protein”, and vegans being all offended and comparing themselves to large herbivores. Instead, they should just point out that something as simple as combining beans and rice gives a complete amino acid profile. Beans and rice is a cheap food combination eaten by poor people in most of the world. It’s a simple easy answer that doesn't involve comparing the length of digestive tracts, how many stomachs something has, and the fact most large herbivores eat all day long. And then some people throw in that the “myth” of needing a “complete protein” was “disproved” and that somehow they can magically live off lettuce and celery sticks because their bodies draw the other amino acids from somewhere else. No, you still need to eat all those amino acids over time. And instead of angrily comparing themselves to elephants, they should say 3 simple words, “beans and rice”.
