Lentils

Delicious, but don’t overthink the “perfect protein.”

While it’s true that garbanzo beans and lentils have complementary proteins, and eating them together and produce a somewhat closer-to-perfect balance of essential amino acids, they’re not strictly a perfect protein, which would, in theory, be the right amino acids in the right proportions. (Garbanzo beans and lentils together produces something a little high in Isoleucine and a little low in Methionine and Cystine.)

But that said, the significance of protein “completeness” has been largely overstated. As long as you’re eating vegetables and not strictly a diet of starches, obtaining enough protein to sustain life is not especially challenging. Even vegan bodybuilders can hold their own.

From a box sold in Chicago, Illinois.

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