"But how do you get your protein?"
That is the most common question asked of vegetarians and vegans. It's even the most common question people considering giving up meat and/or dairy products will ask themselves - "how will I get my protein?"
For years, the meat and dairy industries have drilled into our brains the school of thought that meat and dairy are "superior" proteins over any other food - and that calcium can only come from drinking milk.
Brilliant marketing - just look at how successful it's been! It's nearly impossible to find foods without meat, dairy or animal by-products in some form. But clever marketing campaigns don't mean that the information they promote are entirely accurate. Sure - there is plenty of protein in meat. There is plenty in dairy products. But there is also plenty is plants, legumes, grains and pretty much any food really.
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Who haven't the conned into doing these ads?
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Too much protein can be just as harmful as too little - but the risks of us getting too little are slim to none. How many people do you know with a protein deficiency? None... I do however, know someone who had side effects from too much protein consumption: me.
During one of my many fad diet eras, I took on the low-carb diet. Boy oh boy did it ever work! I lost weight - in fact I got down to the lowest weight I'd seen in years. Then I got a severe infection in my kidneys because my body wasn't processing the mass amounts of protein I was consuming. It was at that point in my life that my health started deteriorating. I started missing more days of work because of stomach issues, my menstrual cycle went even more off track than normal and depression set it. I felt worse than I had in my life. That was in 2008-2009. It has been a long road just to get to where I am now - and I still have a long way to go yet. But I've learned an enormous amount of things about myself and nutrition along the way - and they have all led me to veganism.
So how much protein do we
actually need in our diets? The
RDA recommends that we take in about 0.36 grams of protein per pound that we weigh. This recommendation includes a generous safety factor for most people.
When we make a few adjustments to account for some plant proteins being digested somewhat differently from animal proteins and for the amino acid mix in some plant proteins, we arrive at a level of 0.45 grams of protein per pound that we weigh.
So - armed with that information - go ahead and calculate your daily protein needed using the following formula - your weight multiplied by 0.36 and you'll get the total amount of protein you need daily. Then we'll talk about where vegans get that protein... Go ahead... I'll wait!
So let's do an example here: an average healthy female weighing 126lbs would need to eat approximately 46 grams of protein per day. Let's look at an example of a vegan diet from
vrg.org and see if she can get that much protein in...
| Breakfast: | 2 slices Whole Wheat Toast | 5 |
| | 2 Tbsp Peanut Butter | 8 |
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| Lunch: | 6 oz. Soy Yogurt | 6 |
| | 2 Tbsp Almonds | 4 |
| | 1 Baked Potato | 4 |
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| Dinner: | 1 cup cooked Lentils | 18 |
| | 1 cup cooked Bulgur | 6 |
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| Snack: | 1 cup Soymilk | 7 |
Total protein intake for that day: 58 grams
That's plenty of protein for her body weight! And that doesn't even add in the protein one can get from fruits and veggies (and she should eat a lot more fruits and veggies than what that example provides...)
Here's a chart from that same site that shows the protein content of some popular vegan foods:
Table 2: Protein Content of Selected Vegan Foods
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| FOOD | AMOUNT | PROTEIN(gm) | PROTEIN(gm/100 cal) |
| Tempeh | 1 cup | 41 | 9.3 |
| Seitan | 3 ounces | 31 | 22.1 |
| Soybeans, cooked | 1 cup | 29 | 9.6 |
| Lentils, cooked | 1 cup | 18 | 7.8 |
| Black beans, cooked | 1 cup | 15 | 6.7 |
| Kidney beans, cooked | 1 cup | 13 | 6.4 |
| Veggie burger | 1 patty | 13 | 13.0 |
| Chickpeas, cooked | 1 cup | 12 | 4.2 |
| Veggie baked beans | 1 cup | 12 | 5.0 |
| Pinto beans, cooked | 1 cup | 12 | 5.7 |
| Black-eyed peas, cooked | 1 cup | 11 | 6.2 |
| Tofu, firm | 4 ounces | 11 | 11.7 |
| Lima beans, cooked | 1 cup | 10 | 5.7 |
| Quinoa, cooked | 1 cup | 9 | 3.5 |
| Tofu, regular | 4 ounces | 9 | 10.6 |
| Bagel | 1 med.
(3 oz) | 9 | 3.9 |
| Peas, cooked | 1 cup | 9 | 6.4 |
| Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP), cooked | 1/2 cup | 8 | 8.4 |
| Peanut butter | 2 Tbsp | 8 | 4.3 |
| Veggie dog | 1 link | 8 | 13.3 |
| Spaghetti, cooked | 1 cup | 8 | 3.7 |
| Almonds | 1/4 cup | 8 | 3.7 |
| Soy milk, commercial, plain | 1 cup | 7 | 7.0 |
| Soy yogurt, plain | 6 ounces | 6 | 4.0 |
| Bulgur, cooked | 1 cup | 6 | 3.7 |
| Sunflower seeds | 1/4 cup | 6 | 3.3 |
| Whole wheat bread | 2 slices | 5 | 3.9 |
| Cashews | 1/4 cup | 5 | 2.7 |
| Almond butter | 2 Tbsp | 5 | 2.4 |
| Brown rice, cooked | 1 cup | 5 | 2.1 |
| Spinach, cooked | 1 cup | 5 | 13.0 |
| Broccoli, cooked | 1 cup | 4 | 6.8 |
| Potato | 1 med.
(6 oz) | 4 | 2.7 |
Sources: USDA Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 18, 2005 and manufacturers' information.
The recommendation for protein for adult males vegans is around 56-70 grams per day; for adult female vegans it is around 46-58 grams per day.
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Now - given the information above - let's look at an example of my daily intake of protein.
Here's an example of what I ate one day last week. Let's see if I'm getting enough protein. I weigh approximately 322 lbs right now so using the formula above - I should be eating approximately 116 grams of protein daily!
Here we go...
Morning:
2 White Peaches - total of 2.8 grams of protein
Fresh squeezed orange juice (juice of 4 fresh oranges) - total of 4.92 grams of protein
Green smoothie (made with strawberries, coconut water, maca powder, fresh spinach and chia seeds) - approximately 20 grams of protein
Lunch time:
1 cup brown rice with slivered almonds and 1 cup broccoli - 17 grams of protein
1 cup raw cauliflower - 6 grams of protein
hummus - approximately 5 grams of protein
Snack:
Raw brownie batter - approximately 10 grams of protein
Dinner:
Tofu scramble with onions, spinach, potatoes and vegan cheese - approximately 18 grams of protein
Black Beans: 15 grams of protein
Now let's see how I did... (drum roll please!)
Protein total for the day: 98.72 grams
That's under what the RDA recommends - but I think that's ok since I'm aiming to lose weight - not maintain my current weight. I'm getting more than what the average person needs. And my protein intake varies from day to day - sometimes I eat more, sometimes I eat less.
But the most important factor here?
I feel 100% better now than I did when I was getting my protein from eating animals. To me - that is the biggest win of all!
by Joel Fuhrman, M.D.
