In the most recent issue of Women’s Health magazine they had a short blurb about sources of protein and if they are all created equal –The answer was No. Up until recently, I never really thought about this. I always figured, protein is protein. But after looking into it and talking with others — you want to eat whole, efficient and complete food — and some would even say the info below should leave out dairy products all together and go pure ‘paleo’. One of the things I have found — we are all different and we need to try different approaches to see what works best for you, your lifestyle and your body type.  But the key take away here is not all protein is equal —

Many plant foods, including nuts and beans, can provide a good dose of protein, the best sources are dairy products, eggs, lean meat and fish. …Unlike plant based proteins, animal protein is complete, meaning it contains the right proportions of the essential amino acids your body can’t synthesize on it’s own. It’s possible to build complete protein from plant based foods by combining legumes, nuts and grains, but you’d need to consume 20-25% more plant based protein to reap the same benefits that animal-derived sources would provide…