The traditional establishment introduces a bean as a notable protein source and places them in the “meat and beans” group. Meanwhile, the Core Fat Loss system views beans as a carbohydrate because they contain mostly carbohydrates. For example, even though beans contain protein, they are 70% carbohydrates and therefore only considered a carbohydrate source.
The digestibility of the protein in beans is another fact to consider. The protein derived from animal sources like eggs is easily digestible (90-100% digestible) whereas the protein found in beans is 70% digestible. Protein from grains can be as low as 60% digestible, however softening foods through various cooking methods improves the digestibility of these proteins that are normally deeply embedded into the plant fibers. Animal protein from milk and egg sources are the highest biological values because their protein digestibility is 100% (all the absorbed protein is retained). The digestibility and quality of selected protein sources are as follows:
Beef 92%
Chick peas (canned) 66%
Egg whites 100%
Kidney beans (canned) 68%
Lentils 52%
Milk protein 100%
Peanuts 52%
Peas 69%
Soybean isolate 99%
Rolled oats 57%
Whole wheat 40%
The Core Fat Loss plan categorizes nuts as a fat source when creating a main meal. Since nuts contain much more fat than protein, a person can not extract a significant amount of protein out of a nuts without drastically increasing the amount of fat they are consuming at the same moment. Nuts can be considered both a protein and a fat source when eating a snack, however. For example, nuts and a piece of fruit is a balanced Fat Loss snack.