I am a huge fan of greens, for health and for weight loss, but they are not at all a good source of protein. The percents you list ar the percents of the calories in greens that come from their protein content. but greens have very low calorie content to begin with, so this is a good percent of a tiny number.
specifically, spinach--a favorite of mine--has only about five grams of protein in 180 grams of cooked spinach--and that is a LOT of spinach! a cup of raw spinach leaves (about one ounce by weight)has less than one gram of protein. brocolli is a great food indeed, but a cup of raw broc (88 grams, or just over three ounces) has less than three grams of protein.
just for comparison, one extra large egg (58 gms) has more than seven grams of protein (and it is very high quality, complete protein, by the way, something that is very hard to find in veggies). Three ounces of chicken--84 grams, not a huge portion, have almost 28 grams of protein!
If you're looking for vegetable sources of protein, beans are famous ones. for example black beans, 1 cup (172 grams) yields 15 grams of protein--about three times the protein in the same weight of cooked spinach. soy beans do even better, at about 22 grams of protein in a cup of cooked beans. nuts are an often overlooked vegl source of protein. almonds,for instance, yield about 6 grams of protein per ounce (28 grams).
So, one can get protein from veggies, and one can certainly get tons of healthful nutrients from greens, but adequate, complete protein is not one of them.
sean<p>[This message has been edited by moderator3 (edited 06-02-2002).]
