Beans and rice protein question

Hey

I'm on a pretty tight budget, so I have to shop smart by striving to find the best nutrition I can get for my dollar. In addition to that, I also found out that my body's been in starvation mode the whole time I've been working out, so that means I need to bring my caloric intake up as well.

Well when I was at the grocery store the other day, I found a 2kg bag of lentils and when I checked the nutrition index, two of the three things that stuck out the most was the calories (something like 360) and the protein, which was 25 grams, both in a half cup serving. I did some research after and found that lentils aren't a complete protein and that people will add rice or chicken to them (or vice versa) to make sure they're getting all their nutrients.

So I got it into my head that I could add half a cup of lentils to my meals through the day along with some white long grain rice and I was wondering what you guys thought.

Do lentils plus rice compliment each other enough to ensure that I'm getting the right protein? I hear people say that whey protein is the best out of all of them, so of the protein I get from lentils and rice, am I doing my body a dis service because I'm not getting the "best" protein and therefor not be able to grow as well as I should, or grow at all? I'm not even sure what people mean by the "best protein"

Anyways, hopefully someone can help me out on this one.

Thanks!

starvation mode? go into more detail on what you mean by this!

Lentil are low in the amino acids methionine and cystine so combining with the likes of rice or wheat will bring up the over all protein quality

First and foremost, post your stats when you ask for help in the Diet section. How old are you? What is your BW and BF? How many meals do you eat a day and what does your PWO nutrition intake look like? You should also inform us about your training regimen as well as for how long have you been training.

From what I understand, you are under-eating. If that is the case, then lentils + white rice will help you out with anabolism to a great extent, especially when consumed pre and/or post-workout. However, you should be getting your anabolic protein preferably from animal sources as opposed to vegetable sources particularly to ensure sure you are not missing any of the highly anabolic amino acids.

Howdy

Starvation mode I believe is when you aren't getting enough calories needed for basic maintenance so your body starts feeding off the muscle in order to get those calories it needs to keep itself active. Don't quote me on it but I think that's what "starvation mode" means. I'm sure there's a lot more to it than that though.

Hey

Thanks for the reply. As for me, I'm a 35 year old male. I weigh 210 lbs. and my BF is at 22%. As for meals, I eat 5 - 6 meals a day and aim for 2400 calories a day. PWO I'll usually just down a protein shake and then have a turkey sandwich or 8oz chicken breast or sweet potato. Training wise, I haven't been training very long (about 2 months now) and my workouts are for combat conditioning (I'm training to fight), so I do a lot of body weight exercises (lunges, crab/duck walks, push ups, box jumps etc.), machines and some free weight exercises (mainly squats, deadlifts and bench presses) as well.

lately beans and rice are my new favorite foods... well other than pizza ...havent had too many lentils over the years..i like red beans the best but for economic purpose i think you got a good combo...the beans alone (1 cup) 16g protein, 40g carb, 16g fiber