Data Is Beautiful

Protein quality. Whey (isolated milk protein) is "goat" for a reason. It contains all essential amino acids you want + good ratio of leucine.

For something like chicken, the macros are also noteworthy. 100g of chicken is 23g protein, 2.1g fat and 0 carbs.

Lentils have 3x more carbs than protein, peanuts have 25g protein, 32g carbs and 39g fat. So it isn't food that lends itself to a high (ratio) protein diet unless supplemented with something that got better macros (like meat).

Here's a nutrition lecture for macros lectured by a medical doctor with focus being on diet for weight-lifters, if you want some insight into it.

There are 9 different essential amino acids, and foods that contain all of them are considered "complete" proteins; like poultry, fish, eggs, dairy, and quinoa. If chickpeas are your only source of protein, you won't be getting all of your essential amino acids.

Probably at the dot marked "Broccoli"

It’s pinto beans, ese

Not just meat, but veggies as well, would get a huge boost from looking at protein per calorie. In terms of available calories, vegetables are often very protein rich, especially the dark leafy ones, but they are also packed with water and indigestible fiber. Nobody is going to eat 2000 calories of spinach, but when spinach is on your plate you shouldn't look at it as hurting your protein intake. Also a chart based on calories that had lines down the middle for suggested protein intake and suggested intake for bodybuilding would reveal that most whole foods that aren't fruit are completely adequate, the only reason you'd ever have to eat a lot of the highest protein per calorie foods is if a large portion of your diet was refined sugars or oils. Supplementing your Oreo addiction with chicken breast is not a good way to think about a balanced diet.

1+ for Anya!

Peanuts are cheap in the US. There's always peanut butter too, which despite the processing required is probably even cheaper, maybe because of shelf stability and packing density.

I think this is probably including unsalted roasted whole peanuts in the shell. They are pretty cheap to buy in big bulk bags. If you want pre-shelled roasted, salted, or seasoned peanuts, you will pay extra for it.

I assume this chart is intended for people making an effort to eat as much protein as possible for as cheap as possible, I.e. bodybuilders, powerlifters, and the like. In that case you would want to avoid vegetables because of their low protein regardless of how much they actually cost, so the cost per gram of protein is actually more useful.

In fairness I may be reading too much into it; nothing about the chart actually specifies who it's for.

Lol right? only people who don't know how to cook think beans and lentils tastes bad.

Lentils: boil in water or broth with paprika, pepper, bay leaf, and add salt half way through. 15in for red lentils, 20-25 for green.

Beans are extremely versatile and can go in almost anything, for sure chickpeas can be cheap as hell protein for all sorts of dishes around the world if you don't want to spring the rising costs for meat. They are dirt cheap canned and can be even cheaper dry and just need to be soaked then cooked.

Yeah, I interpreted it as such, which made me even more confused there's only milk and no other dairy products. Here in Germany at least, if protein for cheap is what you want, you go with Quark or Harzer.

EDIT: Huh, I just did some very rough math in my head, going with 1,35€ for a 500g pack of Quark from Lidl, and interestingly, that seems to put it roughly at the same place as actual milk, with it having 60g of protein, that is fascinating.

That's nice for scientists and policy makers. Not so useful for people buying things at the store.

That goes from a nice little graphic to a socioeconomic PhD.

I think this is what it's meant to be about. "How do I afford a good amount of protein with not much money?", is the question it's answering.

It reminds me of a Reddit post I read several years ago where someone shared their advice on how they managed to live under extreme poverty. They spent a good amount of time talking about what foods are the most cost effective to buy and this chart lines up with what they have been saying pretty well.

Selfish people don't care about those factors. The existing graph has a better chance of swaying them.

And subsidies

Lmao you don't need any animals or their secretions in your diet to be healthy.

Most crucially, the graph is an oversimplification of protein content. Legumes do not contain the full amino acid chain unlike meat. Non-meats need to be evaluated with the nuance of its nutrients not necessarily being as bio-available for human digestion. Carrots and Vitamin A, for example.

I think it's specifically meant to debunk the idea that meat is the only affordable source of protein-dense food, when in reality there are vegan protein-dense foods that are even more affordable.

That doesn't conflict with the fact that a well balanced diet is important; it's just addressing one sticking point that tends to come up in these conversations.