Corn, beans, and squash is technically a viable diet and was used by a few native american groups for centuries. Its a full protein and very nutritionally dense. It is called the three sisters but they sometimes consumed sunflowers as a fourth sister for their fat content.
Legumes and cereals both have protein, but they both lack some amino acids, while the body needs them in a certain proportion. However, they complement each other in regard to which of the essential amino acids they have, so one should eat both.
This is a little bit of a myth, but also a little bit true. Virtually all plant-sources of protein have all essential amino acids. It’s just that legumes have a slightly lower amount of one amino acid compared to what’s in our muscles, and grains have a slightly lower amount of another. So while they do complement each other and ensure plenty of all amino acids, it’s also actually not that hard to get all necessary protein from one or the other just by eating a bit more of it.
In other words, if you go a day or even a few days only having grains or only having legumes, it’s probably not going to hurt you, so there’s no need to be overly concerned about protein combining. But in any case there are other reasons why it is better to eat a variety of foods, so getting grains and legumes is still better.
You can pretty much survive on black beans and onions.
Iirc, beans have everything you need except for vitamin c, but I could be wrong about that.
You’re unlikely to be lacking most nutrients in a first world country, even eating tons of junk food.
That’s not me saying it’s okay to live on junk food, that’s me saying essential nutrients aren’t going to be your problem.
Edit:
I looked it up. You’ll be missing some components of a complete protein, so eat some grains too.
Corn, beans, and squash is technically a viable diet and was used by a few native american groups for centuries. Its a full protein and very nutritionally dense. It is called the three sisters but they sometimes consumed sunflowers as a fourth sister for their fat content.
Legumes and cereals both have protein, but they both lack some amino acids, while the body needs them in a certain proportion. However, they complement each other in regard to which of the essential amino acids they have, so one should eat both.
This is a little bit of a myth, but also a little bit true. Virtually all plant-sources of protein have all essential amino acids. It’s just that legumes have a slightly lower amount of one amino acid compared to what’s in our muscles, and grains have a slightly lower amount of another. So while they do complement each other and ensure plenty of all amino acids, it’s also actually not that hard to get all necessary protein from one or the other just by eating a bit more of it.
In other words, if you go a day or even a few days only having grains or only having legumes, it’s probably not going to hurt you, so there’s no need to be overly concerned about protein combining. But in any case there are other reasons why it is better to eat a variety of foods, so getting grains and legumes is still better.
Red beans and rice is a good dish that will give you vital protein.
And a bit of lime juice for acid will make it taste great and round out a few more vitamins.
And combat scurvy!