Nutrition question about beans and grains

[newcook]

I was just wondering if beans and grains are protein or carbs. My sister said they are carbs, but I thought beans were protein. I don't know about the grains.

What is the difference between white rice and brown rice or between regular pasta or whole wheat pasta, is it only that one has more fiber than the other? In other words, if I get enough fiber in my diet from other sources, are brown rice and whole wheat pasta still better for other reasons?

Daniele

[wallycat]

The carb/protein debate is fuzzy.
ALthough beans provide protein they act like a carb (albeit a low-glycemic carb).
Food is never black & white..just as milk is dairy, it also provides carbs and protein.

As for brown versus white rice, white rice is polished rice...it is brown rice with everything removed except for the starch portion of its kernel.
Brown rice contains the starch kernel, but because it isn't polished (refined), it also contains the bran and germ. THe bran provides the fiber but the germ provides things like vitamin E. Also, because the brown rice has the bran/fiber, it does not raise blood sugar as quickly as white rice does (it is lower on the glycemic scale).

Pasta is similar with the wheat berry....the whole wheat is less polished and contains more vitamins than does the white.

[gertdog]

Beans and grains both contain protein and carbohydrates, but a greater percentage of their calories come from carbs.

For example, 1 cup of cooked black beans has about 230 calories, 1 g. of fat, 41 g. of carbohydrate, and 15 g. of protein. That's about 74% of calories from carbs, 23% from protein.

Barley gets 90% of its calories from carbs, and 7% from protein.

Does that help with your first question?

You can look up nutrition information for lots of different foods at www.nutritiondata.com - just type the name of the food you want in the box at the upper right side of the page. That might help you find an answer to the question about what the nutritional difference is between brown rice and white rice etc. :)

[newcook]

Well, does that mean that when I am replacing meat and potatoe type dishes with beans and grains type dishes that I am not really doing myself any favours? I thought I would incorporate more beans and grains in my diet to reduce fat and carbohydrates, but now I'm not sure that was a good move. I've replaced say about 50% of meat and potatoes. Was that a good idea, or am I now overdoing it on the carb side? My sister says I am doing a carb overload. I was not trying to do a low carb diet, just a sensible move to healthier eating, but I'm finding it all very complicated.

Daniele

[Aubergine]

it is complicated and confusing, Danielle. from where i sit, grains and beans/legumes + fruit & veggie is a much more healthful diet than eating than meat and potatoes, for anyone, any day of the week. i've been living on a high-(healthful) carb, low-fat diet for over 15 years and am fit as a fiddle, and i eat all day long.:)

the Atkins craze has got a lot of people thinking that carbs are "bad," which simply isn't so. i live with a diabetic, so carbs and the glycemic index are a major factor; white potatoes and white rice are like poison for him. but the more whole grains i can get into his meals, the lower his blood sugars run. incidently, i find it odd that no one has mentioned taste as a factor; to me, the brown rices, especially Lundberg's gourmet varieties (like Black Japonica!), have a wonderfully nutty taste, and i adore things like wheat berries.

as fervently as i hold my beliefs--and i've given you the really short version--there are more people out there nowadays who are in the high protein/low carb camp and will vehemently disagree with me, although from what i'm reading in the newspapers, the low-carb fad is starting to lose ground.

keep asking questions, here and elsewhere. make changes in your eating and see what results you get. check out books like Diet for a Small Planet by Francis Moore Lappe. don't worry about what your sister says; in the end, it's your decision, and yours alone.

[Meg O'C]

Stephanie, cool site! Thanks for sharing.

newcook, I may have an oversimplified approach toward things like this, but I truly believe in the "everything in moderation" philosophy. If you are traditionally a meat and potatoes girl (love them!), I think switching some of those items out for more variety - beans, grains, etc, is a good thing (love the beans and grains too - just took me longer to learn that!). An ideal meal might have a little bit of everything - meat, beans, grains, veggies (like a good soup!).

Re: the brown rice and ww pasta, I don't use anything other than these items now (no white rice, no regular pasta). I can't spout out nutrition facts and figures, but I've read enough to know the brown rice and ww pasta are better for me (more fiber, less sugar; and now I actually prefer how they taste).

[newcook]

Thank you all for your answers. I think it is true that replacing meat and potatoes half the time with beans and grains adds to variety so must somehow add to nutrition. And I'm glad to know about the whole wheat and brown rice information. I was starting to wonder if I had missed the boat on this.

Daniele

[sneezles]

Originally posted by newcook
I think it is true that replacing meat and potatoes half the time with beans and grains adds to variety so must somehow add to nutrition.

Daniele

Oh, it most certainly adds to your overall nutrition by reducing certain fats from your diet, namely saturated fat (OK I'm assuming you don't add fat to either the beans or the rice ;) )! And while beans are a high carb they don't react like potatoes (wallycat's reference to the Glycemic Index) and by combining with a grain you get a complete protein, higher fiber and a more full feeling!!

[SusanMac]

Another factor in all of this, and the Atkins/etc discussions, is how active you are and how often you workout. If people cut way back on carbs, yet workout aerobically everyday, they are doing themselves a disservice and will not have enough energy. People I know who have done Atkins & had it work tend to be people who don't run, bike, etc. That's a generalization, I know, but something to think about. It is all about balance, because you also need quite a bit of protein to be energized. I don't eat a lot of beef, so have begun keeping hard-boiled eggs on hand to have with my lunch.

Aubergine - that's funny that you mention the taste of brown & wild rice. I much prefern the taste of brown rice, too. But, I've seen several threads of people complaining about having to "settle" for brown rice which doesn't taste as good! Guess it's all a matter of preference.

[bobmark226]

Originally posted by Aubergine
keep asking questions, here and elsewhere. make changes in your eating and see what results you get. check out books like Diet for a Small Planet by Francis Moore Lappe. don't worry about what your sister says; in the end, it's your decision, and yours alone.

Also if you can find a copy of Jane Brody's GOOD FOOD BOOK, while you might not want to use her recipes (many of us do here!), the first third of the book is an excellent introduction to good carbs and the art of combining to complete proteins. It changed my eating habits many, many years ago and got me really going on beans and grains, which are now my staples. There are plenty of cheap copies of it around, at amazon, or possibly your used book dealer.

Bob

[Aubergine]

Originally posted by bobmark226


Also if you can find a copy of Jane Brody's GOOD FOOD BOOK, while you might not want to use her recipes (many of us do here!), the first third of the book is an excellent introduction to good carbs and the art of combining to complete proteins. It changed my eating habits many, many years ago and got me really going on beans and grains, which are now my staples. There are plenty of cheap copies of it around, at amazon, or possibly your used book dealer.

Bob

we are toooo much alike! initially i began learning from Adele Davis, but it was Jane Brody who first synthesized vegetarian regimens + animal products to come up with a sensible formula for non-extremists, like moi.:D

[bobmark226]

Originally posted by Aubergine

we are toooo much alike!

:eek: :eek: :eek:

Adele Davis, though I read her, was way too strict for me, as I remember it.

But since the subject is up, I've had a question picking at my brain for a while now: how do potatoes figure in this? If you combine a potato with a bean, does it complete the protein? For example, Jane Brody has a simple potato patty with adzuki beans I've always liked, but is it "complete"?

Bob

[gertdog]

Originally posted by bobmark226


But since the subject is up, I've had a question picking at my brain for a while now: how do potatoes figure in this? If you combine a potato with a bean, does it complete the protein? For example, Jane Brody has a simple potato patty with adzuki beans I've always liked, but is it "complete"?

Bob

Good question. I always thought "complementary proteins" referred to legumes + grains, legumes + nuts, or grains + nuts, and that the small amount of vegetable protein in potatoes didn't figure into it, but I can't recall *why* I think that. :o

[Aubergine]

bob, i don't think it works that way, potatoes don't sub for grains. the amino acids in the protein in beans/legumes teams up with the ones in grains, and it used to be that one had to eat them together in the same meal to get the "complete" protein, but the last i read, this is no longer the case - they can be eaten separately.

[sneezles]

Originally posted by Aubergine
it used to be that one had to eat them together in the same meal to get the "complete" protein, but the last i read, this is no longer the case - they can be eaten separately.

Hmmm! Wel, I did some reading on this and you're right...

"But what about protein complementarity?"

In 1971, a revolutionary new book came out espousing the virtues of a meatless diet. It became a million-copy bestseller and convinced many people to try vegetarianism or become vegetarians. That book was Diet for a Small Planet by Frances Moore Lappé.

In her book, Lappé put forward as her central concept the idea of "protein complementarity"--the idea that vegetarians should eat different kinds of proteins at a single meal in order to get the same quality of protein which was found in meat. Countless thousands of vegetarians thereafter referred to Lappé's charts and tables and struggled to understand the intricacies of balancing tryptophan, lysine, methionine, and all the other amino acids.

The basic idea was this: while meat contains all of the amino acids, plant foods were deficient in one or more of the eight "essential" amino acids. Therefore, balance plant foods weak in one amino acid but strong in a second amino acid, with other plant foods strong in the first but weak in the second. Simple, right? Well, simple to some people, but not so simple to others, who eventually gave up the effort and went back to a meat-based diet out of fear of missing one or another of the amino acids.

And yet the central thesis of this best-selling book, one which even today many vegetarians believe in, is false. There's no question that you need all of the amino acids. But virtually all plant foods have all of the essential amino acids; and not only are the amino acids there, they are present in more than enough quantity to meet the needs of normal adults, if you are on a calorically adequate diet.

It's true that plant foods have more of the requirements of some amino acids than of others. Rice is strong in tryptophan, methionine, and valine, and weak in isoleucine and lysine. But rice protein sufficient to provide 100% of our quantitative protein needs, also provides 265% of the adult male requirement for lysine and 266% of that for isoleucine. (It provides 400% or more of all of the others.)

The same is true for virtually all other plant foods. In fact, some plant foods which do not quite provide the requirement for total protein, such as sweet potatoes, do provide the minimum requirement for all of the essential amino acids.