Great post!

I wanted to add that this isn’t quite how proteins work. Those protein-rich legumes aren’t what you would call ‘complete proteins.’ There’s a number of amino acids our bodies use as proteins and while legumes are a good source of many of them, there’s a couple proteins you won’t get enough of from just the beans. Fortunately, brown rice- while not as rich in protein- gives you the proteins that the beans are lacking. That’s why beans and rice are a match made in heaven.

Herbivorous animals are just better at metabolising proteins from plants and of course they’re capable of eating much more than us. That’s why they’re able to live off of grass.

This just stuff I read up on a few years ago so if I’ve gotten something wrong please say so

It’s extremely unlikely that anyone with an even vaguely normal diet isn’t getting all the essential amino acids as those complementary to legumes are found not just in rice but in all grains and seeds. So it’s not just rice, any kind of bread, pasta, oats, barley/spelt/etc. or nuts will do. And soy is pretty much a complete protein.

Yours and other comments have been insightful and have made me reconsider some assumptions I did not realize I had made, so thank you.

I’ll concede that a sedentary person of normal weight doesn’t need to worry much about getting all their essential amino acids. If I was interested in gaining muscle on a plant-based diet, would you say that I would still be wasting energy by stressing about eating enough? Wouldn’t that make my only issue getting the right amount of calories?

I’ll look for some literature when I have the time but if you have any off-hand knowledge you could share then I would appreciate it.