Meat or Legume Protein?
Meats and dairy products contain high quality proteins as they provide all the essential amino acids in the right proportions. On the other hand, the plant proteins tend to be deficient in one or more of these amino acids.
Although the body has no protein reserves, there is still a small percentage of free amino acids that can be used to fill any dietary deficiencies. Therefore, although it is a very important rule, combining legumes with other plant foods must not be seen as an absolute imposition. The important thing is to follow a varied diet and avoid taking a single protein source for long periods of time.
Poor meat or noble proteins?
In the years following the Second World War, thanks to the increased standard of living of the population, legumes gained the nickname "meat of the poor". This term unjustly discredited their precious nutritional qualities and reflected the tendency to consume more and more meat, dairy products and derivatives that were considered "wellness products".
In more recent times, after having rediscovered the numerous properties and having ascertained the dangers of excessive consumption of meat and dairy products, legumes have been decidedly re-evaluated. To encourage their consumption, someone describes them as foods rich in noble proteins, comparing them in fact to meat. In reality this term is used improperly as only foods of animal origin have an amino acid profile worthy of such an adjective.
If in some respects the nutritional value of legumes is lower than that of meat, for others it is decidedly superior (also from the point of view of safety and the presence of foreign substances).
Legumes and meat must therefore coexist in a balanced diet, according to the rules that we will see later in the article.
Better alone than badly accompanied
As we have seen, one of the oldest and most successful nutritional combinations is to combine cereals and legumes. To encourage the digestive processes, someone recommends using the following proportion: two parts of cereals and one part of legumes. Most nutritionists do not look favorably on pairing legumes and animal proteins (meat, fish, dairy products or eggs). These associations are considered unfavorable because their composition in amino acids (amioacidic profile) is quite different and as such could create digestive problems.
Tips for cooking vegetables
The intestinal swellings that many people complain after eating legumes are caused by indigestible sugars (raffinose, stachiosio and verbascose) that come unaltered to the large intestine where they are fermented by the local bacterial flora. Meteorism and other digestive disorders are the consequence of this fermentation.
To speed up cooking and make these foods more digestible is good:
- soak the dried vegetables, eliminating those that come to the surface and remain there
- change the soaking water frequently and throw away the first boiling water (favors the elimination of purines, toxic and antinutrient substances)
- add salt or acid substances (such as lemon or vinegar) only when cooking is complete
- the addition of bicarbonate (generally not exceeding one gram per liter of water) accelerates cooking and avoids the formation of insoluble compounds between proteins and calcium salts present above all in "hard" waters; however, bicarbonate is harmful as it depletes the food of vitamin B1 (thiamine)
- to prevent digestive problems:
- add to the cooking water an onion, a carrot and a stalk of celery
- pressing the legumes when cooked is obtained a puree that reduces meteorism and intestinal fermentation, improving digestibility and absorption of nutrients
Nutritionists recommend consuming at least three portions of pulses per week
