Vegetarian Protein for Earth Day
Happy Earth day! I hope you all are living up to yesterday's challenge of going vegetarian today.
Beans and legumes are such an under eaten food and yet sooooo healthy for us I'd like to discuss how we can easily work them into our current diets as a nutritious and ongoing vegetable protein with minimum hassle.
- Plan bean meals in your weekly menu so you can foresee and account for any needed prep work. (Or you can just simply make them on the weekends and freeze.) The day before you plan on cooking them post a note to soak them or you can use the quick soak method below.
- Soaking beans will lessen cooking time. Legumes and lentils do not require any soaking. Beans do. (Alternative quick soak method: Simply cook beans in water for two full minutes; turn off heat, cover, and then let stand for one hour. Drain thoroughly and proceed with cooking your bean recipe.)
- To avoid the whole embarrassing issue of gassiness, add a teaspoon of baking soda while soaking your beans and then rinse thoroughly. http://www.drmirkin.com/recipes/degas.html also offers additional hints on this issue. Or you can consume Beano prior to consumption. Beano is available at most drugstores and health food stores.
- Note, the smaller the bean the quicker it will cook but times will vary according to the freshness of the beans. Purchase your beans where you know there is a high turnover rate.
- After soaking beans you can utilize a pressure cooker. Cooking time is really quick, espececially with the bigger beans. Follow manufacturer's directions carefully! Or… Use a crock pot. The newer ones have timers that go on and off according to your directions. And of course you just cook the beans on the stove.
- Beans go well all year around. In the warmer months simply make cold bean salads, burritos, or top your green salads with them.
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Posted by: David Goldbeck | Apr 23, 2008 10:51:43 AM
In 1970 my wife and I made a New Year’s resolution to try vegetarianism for a week too. We have kept the resolution to this day. What’s more it started a new career for us - writing vegetarian cookbooks - as Nikki is both a nutritionist and trained in recipe development. Anyone interested in easy, reliable, time and taste tested, nutritionist approved (and developed), 1300 vegetarian recipes should take a look at “American Wholefoods Cuisine.” In print for more than thirty years it is considered the “vegetarian Joy of Cooking” by both gourmet and health writers.
Posted by: Dan White | Apr 23, 2008 7:01:45 PM
Beans includes green beans. Many people do not realize that green beans have over twice the protein of a Big Mac. Protein should be figured as the calories from protein divided by total calories. A can of green beans, for example has 8 grams of protein, but is only 70 calories. Since there are 4 calories per gram for any protein, that means green beans are 32/70 which is 46% protein. A Big Mac has 25 g. of protein, but 540 calories. 100/540 = 19% protein. Lentils are 50% protein. Most of the calories in a Big Mac come from fat. Oatmeal (without milk) is 13% protein by the same kind of calculation. Getting enough protein on a vegetarian diet is no problem if you get enough calories. You sure don't need to eat meat, yet that is the reason many people give for their reason for eating meat...the protein.
Posted by: Elaine Murphy | Apr 27, 2008 9:36:09 PM
Hi Dan,
Green beans are a great healthy vegetable. Just remember you need to have other foods, usually grains, to make the protein in green beans a complete protein source and biavailable to the body.
Big Macs have protein but as you mentioned it's also a very fatty and very processed form of protein. There's certainly better choices of more lean sources (including beans of course) but it's not usually found in fast food restaurants!
Most people, vegetarians included, usually get enough calories. Overweight vegetarians should take more care in their selections of lean protein sources, like the beans and lentils and consume less high fat dairy cheeses and less refined starch sources.
Posted by: EmpressWhew | Jul 14, 2008 6:59:36 PM
Regarding protein in green beans; whfoods.com shows 1 c = 2.36 grams of protein.
ProduceOasis says 4 grams.
TheDailyPlate says 4.2
nutrican: ranging from canned to frozen = max of 2.4 grams ...
...so wide variance on all these websites...what IS accurate?
Posted by: Elaine Murphy | Jul 14, 2008 9:02:42 PM
A lot of things can probably effect an exact measurement of protein in the bean. It could have to do with the variety of the bean, where it was grown, the condition it was grown in, how long from when it was picked, and especially the temperature it was at when it was measured, etc. Take the average of the three and go from there.
