In article m>, "Darryl
L. Pierce" > wrote:

> Dan Abel > wrote:

> > The nutritional database that I usually search is not available. However,
> > all of the above sources provide enough protein for human needs. We don't
> > need that much protein, in comparison to our need for calories to fuel the
> > body. For instance, if you get 10% of your RDA for calories from
> > potatoes, you will also get 10% of your RDA for protein. I don't know the
> > numbers for the other foods, but I believe that they are comparable, or
> > higher.
>
> There's quite a difference between the calories you get from starches
> and the proteins you take in.

There is no difference at all. Calories are a measure of the amount of
energy. Food calories used to be measured by taking a sample of the food,
burning it, and measuring the amount of heat produced.


>Your body can't easily convert the
> calories themselves.

If your body needs energy, it converts the foods you eat into glucose,
which then travels in the blood to deliver energy where it is needed.
Sugar is the most easily and quickly digested. Protein is the most
difficult to digest. However, your body will not digest protein for
energy unless it is excess. Your body first digests proteins into their
component amino acids. It then uses the amino acids as building blocks to
create human protein. The mix of amino acids needed to create human
protein is considerably different than that of plant proteins.



> If you ate a diet containing strictly vegetables
> such as rice, protatoes and corn, you would be severely malnourished.
> You need to take in at *least* a complimentary carbohydrate such as
> beans, legumes, etc. to give you body the *complete* protein that it
> needs. Yes, potatoes and the like give you some protein, but they're
> *incomplete* proteins. Your body can't work solely with just those.


I don't understand your usage of "vegetables" and "carbohydrates".
Carbohydrates are a component of foods. Rice, potatoes and corn all
contain a lot of carbohydrates. If you want to call rice a vegetable,
then beans are vegetables also. As far as "complementary" goes, that
refers to protein or food. Foods are complementary if they contain
complementary proteins. Corn and beans are complementary because the
amino acids that one is short of, the other one has lots of. Thus, eating
corn and beans together gives a mix of amino acids that is closer to that
of human protein.


> I know a few vegetarians who eat fish. But, when I think vegetarian, I
> think of my friends who basically stick with the philosophy of "if it
> has a birthday or a mother, it's not to be eaten".


My sister always says that she doesn't eat anything with a face.


:-)

--
Dan Abel
Sonoma State University
AIS