Plant meals rarely lack protein. They run short on one of the six essential amino acids that actually go limiting in plants. Plant-Maxxing scores the plate 0–100, checks leucine against the muscle-protein-synthesis threshold, and names the single food that closes the gap. Every number on this page came out of the scorer, not a copywriter.
The score is the worst-supplied essential amino acid on the plate, discounted for how well plant protein actually digests. Nothing is weighted by hand.
score = (lowest amino acid ÷ its reference requirement) × digestibility × 100
18 g protein
1.00 = meets the reference requirement
Marker at 2.5 g — the commonly cited trigger for muscle protein synthesis.
Four essentials sit well over the line. One does not — and the plate scores as that one. That is what limiting means.
30 g protein
1.00 = meets the reference requirement
Marker at 2.5 g — the commonly cited trigger for muscle protein synthesis.
Two additions, every essential clears the line, and leucine crosses the threshold. Same lentils underneath.
Nine essential amino acids exist. Six decide the score: leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, methionine and tryptophan. The other three are rarely the constraint in a plant diet, so they stay out of the number.
Cysteine spares methionine, so the two are scored as one sulfur pool, the way the reference pattern defines it. Score them apart and every legume gets punished for a shortfall the body does not have.
Whole plant foods absorb less completely than isolates, so the score is multiplied by 0.80 to 0.95 depending on the plate — an all-high-fibre meal takes the biggest cut. It is why a plate can clear every amino target and still land in the eighties.
Six plates people actually eat, scored, each with the gap-closer the app returns for it. The last column is the score after adding that one food.
| Plate | Protein | Leucine | Score | Limiting | Add | After |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oats + peanut butter | 18 g | 1.23 g | 48 | Lysine 0.57 | 100 g lentils | 66 |
| Black beans + brown rice | 22 g | 1.55 g | 80 | Lysine 0.94 | 100 g lentils | 86 |
| Chickpeas + tahini | 24 g | 1.51 g | 77 | Tryptophan 0.91 | 90 g edamame | 85 |
| Lentils, on their own | 18 g | 1.36 g | 73 | Tryptophan 0.91 | 100 g tofu | 88 |
| Tempeh + brown rice | 32 g | 2.33 g | 78 | Lysine 0.92 | 100 g lentils | 83 |
| Tofu + brown rice | 16 g | 1.25 g | 83 | Lysine 0.98 | 100 g lentils | 89 |
Leucine column: green clears 2.5 g, amber is 1.5–2.5 g, red is below. One generous serving each. The “add” column is the recommender's own output for that exact plate, not a hand-picked pairing — which is why oats and peanut butter, the classic gym breakfast, needs a lot more than a sprinkle of seeds to recover.
Scored from each recipe's protein ingredients by the same engine. Nothing is rounded up to look better — real food lands between 78 and 88.
Completeness is a ratio, so scoring the pot and scoring one plate give the same number. Protein is per serving, as listed on each recipe.
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