A Vegan Food and Lifestyle Blog
The Protein Question
Hogwash
I’ve been asked questions about protein for a long, long time, and I’d like to take this blog post to ruminate on the topic. Everyone knows that lean meat has high amounts of protein, but a lot of people have the misconception that eating meat and dairy is the only way to get an adequate amount. Let me clear that up right now – it’s total hogwash!
First, we need to find out how much protein is recommended per day. The CDC has a handy little table on their website, which states that women ages 19 – 70+ need 46 grams of protein every day. So this chart doesn’t take into account factors like weight, lifestyle, and BMI. The Institute of Medicine designates that “adults get a minimum of 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram of body weight per day.” So, if I am 125 pounds, that works out to about 45 grams of protein per day for me. Well, I’ve heard from other reputable sources that you should eat half your body weight in protein (in grams of course!), meaning I would need 62.5 g of protein a day. I don’t pay close attention to my protein intake, because I don’t often feel like I am lacking protein. But just to see how much I’m getting on any given day, I decided to write down everything I ate yesterday and calculate the calories and protein amount. Here it is:
What I Ate: Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Food Calories Protein (g)
Oat Bran aka Breakfast #1:
1/4 Cup Hodgson Mill Oat Bran Hot Cereal 120 6
1/4 Cup Apple Juice Sweetened Raisins 91 0.7
Smoothie aka Breakfast #2:
1 Banana 105 1
1 Tbsp. MLO Brown Rice Protein Powder 55 7.5
1/2 Cup Silk Vanilla Soymilk 50 3
1 Cup Tropical Mixed Fruit 70 1
Meditterranean Chickpea Wrap:
1 La Tortilla Whole Grain Soft Wrap 100 8
4 oz. chickpeas 86 3.6
1 oz. sundried tomatoes 34.8 1.9
1/2 cup roasted pepper, onion, and potato mixture 50 0.8
Spinach Salad:
1 Cup Baby Spinach 7.5 1
1/2 Slicing Tomato 16.5 0.8
1 Sweet Red Pepper 13 0.6
1 Tbsp. Brianna's Ginger Mandarin Dressing 75 0
Snacks:
1 Gala apple 75 0.2
1 oz. Sunflower Seeds, raw, hulled 160 6
2 pieces Green & Black's Organic Dark Chocolate Espresso Bar 37.4 0.7
Dinner:
2 Cups Made from Scratch Red Beans and Rice 727 10.6
4 Tbsp. Tofutti Sour Cream 170 2
27 Ruffle's Natural Sea Salt Ridges Chips 250 4
Total 2293.2 59.4
Making this food journal is eye-opening for me in a couple ways. First, wow, I eat a lot! I eat all day long. It’s basically six meals that I eat, and that’s not counting nights when I have dessert. But whatevs, I’m always hungry, and it seems to work for me. I exercise too, so that burns some of those calories off. Second, I am impressed by the amount of protein in whole grains. The brown rice, oat bran, and whole grain wrap I ate yesterday account for 19 grams of protein, not including the brown rice powder I put in my smoothie. So if I go by the CDC’s standards, I’m actually eating too much protein, which I sort of thought all along, and I really just want to show people that I am not protein-deficient.
If you want more vegetarian ideas for protein, check out this blog post from trainer (and vegan celebrity) Bob Harper of Biggest Loser fame. I think he got tired of fielding protein questions, too!
MY Protein Choices!
Posted: November 15th, 2010 Author: Bob HarperA lot of you have been asking me about plant-based protein.. So let me give you a breakdown of all my protein choices:
1. ALL kinds of beans (black, kidney, great northern, chick peas, black eyed peas, green peas, lentils, pinto beans, lima beans)
2. Tempeh
3. Seitan
4. Tofu
5. Veggie burger
6. Quinoa
7. Oatmeal
8. Brown rice
9. Whole wheat bread
10. Nuts
11. Peanut butter
12. Soy milk
13. Hemp Protein
14. Green Pea Protein
15. Brown Rice Protein
16. Vegan Protein Powder
17. Chlorella
18. Plenty of rich green leafy vegetables
So, what do you guys think? If you are veg, do you get this question like every day? And if you’re not veg, are you surprised how much protein there is in whole grains and veggies? Am I eating too much protein? Am I eating too much in general?? I welcome any and all criticism and/or advice!
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about 1 year ago
While we disagree about eating animal based foods, I have never bought the argument that you can’t get enough protein from plants. Clearly that isn’t the case, but I think the protein concern is a little outdated. When I look at your list of foods I see hardly any fat. Maybe you don’t list cooking oils?
Traditional societies (which all ate some kind of animal food) often preferred the fat (and organs and such) over lean protein. ( http://discovermagazine.com/2004/oct/inuit-paradox/article_view?b_start:int=3&-C= ) It is difficult to get much out of foods without fat, namely the fat soluble vitamins.
I don’t worry about a lack of protein in plant based diet (though, really all diets are plant based…) but other nutrients like vitamin A (in it’s most usable form), tryptophan (makes serotonin), choline, and vitamin D. While many nutrients are found in plant foods, they are most often found in the greatest quantities, in the most accessible forms, in animal foods.
I’d say with this diet, at least, to include more avocados and some big heaps of coconut oil.
about 1 year ago
Hi there! I just found your blog and I am a fellow Raleigh-er so I thought I would throw in my 0.02 cents
There’s no doubt that you can get your needed protein from plants instead of dairy/meat.
I think there a couple problems with plant based protein that may or may not affect you that are worth mentioning.
1. The amino acid spread is not complete in most veggies. Meat is a source of complete amino acids which makes it optimal for muscle building and maintenance. Eggs are a great source of complete amino acids in a low calorie form that is not abusive to animals (I’m talking about the mega awesome local organic farm eggs from the Raleigh farmers market).
2. You have to ingest a larger number of carbohydrates (and specifically sugar) to get adequate protein from plants (maybe with exception of protein powders). This isn’t a big deal for a normal person but for athletes or bodybuilders it can be an issue. Have you done the breakdown of macrronutrients for your daily eats? (carb/protein/fat).
3. The CDCs standards are debatable. I’ve read so much conflicting information on this topic…some doctors feel that it is too low, some feel more is not needed. I know for myself, as I upped the workouts, I needed more protein for recovery. I was just struggling with soreness so much.
4. You say that you are always hungry with what you’re eating now…could that be because of your diet? I agree with the above poster that adding in more healthy fats may satiate you.
about 1 year ago
Hi ladies! Thanks for your advice.
Sage, (Hi! I miss you Sagers) I did leave out a few things from my food list just out of brevity’s sake, like the olive oil I used for my chickpea wrap and rice and beans. What’s the deal with coconut oil? is that better for you? I’ve heard good things about it. Do you use it in place of olive oil? I also left out the vitamins I take every day, folic acid, Vitamin D and Vitamin B-12. I’ve heard that B-12 is really the only vitamin vegans need to take a supplement for, because it is only found in animal protein. Do you think I should start taking a multivitamin? Also, I am def. going to add more yummy avocados into my diet.
ilovefeta – Hi fellow Raleighite! I love your blog
I think it’s great that you get your eggs from local organic farms. I would do that if I ate eggs, too.
I think it’s worth mentioning here (because I don’t go into it too much on my About Me page) that I decided to go vegan after trying for years to cure my IBS type issues. I went to tons of doctors, GPs, butt doctors
, and the like, but I decided to try veganism and see if it worked. And it totally cured me. Like within days. So I know that the vegan diet isn’t for everyone, and I wholly respect non-vegan diets. This is just what works so well for my body, and I know others who have had similar experiences.
Thanks so much for your comments!!
about 1 year ago
Ohh I see – well we gotta do what we gotta do right? I’m glad you found something that works for you!!
about 1 year ago
Hi Hilary!
Coconut oil isn’t better than olive oil, it’s a different type of fat. A very stable fat, good for cooking. Both are good, esp without any animal fats. But the funny thing about buying into coconut oil is that you have to buy the argument/evidence that dietary saturated fat doesn’t cause heart disease (which I think there is plenty of evidence for). This would then apply to saturated fat of all kinds (like animal foods) and some people use this reasoning to avoid these foods (avoidance of sat fat)
I don’t know of any non-animal food sources of vitamin D (besides the sun!) or vitamin A or the other I mentioned above. Folate is the natural source of folic acid and is found in the highest quantities (most nutrients per ounce) in chicken liver but it is also in plant foods. There are studies linking folic acid to some cancer, so if possible look for a supplement of folate (or eat a lot more kale) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/health/research/01regi.html?_r=1&emc=eta1
I don’t take any supplements because I feel like our diet should provide all that we need and otherwise we are relying on industry and technology over nature. I also think there is a lot we don’t know about how nutrients, vitamins etc work synergistically in the body and so imbalances can happen with synthetic forms when those same nutrients (in a more usable form) are always in the right balance in natural foods.
I assume you tried a good pro-biotic and eat lots of fermented foods for the gut issues.
Mark Bittman raised the protien issue in today’s NYT given the meat-centered holiday.http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/tough-week-for-meatless-monday/?smid=tw-bittman&seid=auto
I really think this is an outdated/oversimplified argument for eating animal based foods. For me it is more an issue of ensuring that you are getting all the right nutrients in the right forms and amounts, along with all the other things those nutrients need (like fats) right in whole foods that weren’t made in a lab.