1)I live in the southern US, and therefore eat lots of greens. I have just been counting thme as carbs. Recently I was cooking a package of frozen collards and when I read the package, imaging my surpise when I discovered that collards (and other greens) actually have more grams of protein than they do net carbs. So should I begin to count all these "extra" grams of protein. I used to eat beans and greens in soups and since they both have some of each, it seems that I could be doing more mixing and matching.

2) I recently read in several raw cook books that raw vegetable protein requires less because this form of protein metabolizes differently than cooked protein. Does anyone know anything about this. I love sprounting and read that sprounts have more protein than I realized -- alfalfa - 27%, chia sprounts - 47% protein

Thanks in advance for any information.
Julia

Julia, Barry Sears tells us not to count the protein in plant foods for Zone purposes, with the exception of soy ("gluten meats" are another exception), because a fair amount of the protein in plants is trapped inside structures of insoluble fiber. Since insoluble fiber doesn't break down in the human digestive system, the protein trapped by it doesn't become available for absorption.

For Zone purposes, the only protein you count is from animal sources (ie: meat, milk, cheese, eggs, yogurt) or soy. Our bodies don't metabolize vegetable proteins as efficiently, so you wouldn't be getting enough protein if you counted it.

What I've never figured out, is trying to count the protein off a label that has mixed sources, like say a can of chicken vegetable soup. Anyone have thoughts on that?

I usually rely on the first few ingredients to tell me what is in the can. So, if chicken is listed fairly high on the label, most of the protein is likely coming from the chicken. No need to be exact.