How Can I Get Enough Protein Without Eating Meat?

[Fauxmage]

There seems to be widespread panic about the potential protein deficiency brought on by excluding dead animals as food sources. The real problem is that people are largely ignorant about where protein comes from, exactly how much protein they need to be healthy, and how much they are actually consuming every day.

Here is a list of protein RDAs in grams of protein per day, according to age and gender:

Infants
Up to 5 months ~ 13 grams
5 months–1 year ~ 14 grams

Children
1–3 years ~ 16 grams
4–6 years ~ 24 grams
7–10 years ~ 28 grams

Males
11–14 years ~ 45 grams
15–18 years ~ 59 grams
19–24 years ~ 58 grams
25+ years ~ 63 grams

Females
11–14 years ~ 46 grams
15–18 years ~ 44 grams
19–24 years ~ 46 grams
25+ years ~ 50 grams

Pregnant ~ 60 grams

Lactating
first 6 months ~ 65 grams
second 6 months ~ 62 grams

You can also follow the percentage of calorie recommendation of 10% of your daily calorie intake coming from protein. This means that if you eat 2000 calories of food, 200 should come from protein. Since there are 4 calories in a gram of protein, 50 grams of protein yield 200 calories coming from that protein, which is the recommendation for females over 25. Males over 25 generally consume more than 2000 calories in a day, so sticking with the 10% recommendation will ensure that you will be consuming the correct quantity of protein.

Now that we know how much protein we are supposed to be eating, how do we know we are getting enough?

I have made us an account at Fitday.com (http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/DayFoodsTab.asp).
The login is: The_Naked_Vegan
PM me for the password, if you want to play with the software

I entered statistics for a female who is 5'10", 150 pounds, 25 years old, and active. You can ignore that info, as I had to enter something in order to open the account.

We can use this to help people see exactly how much protein there is in the foods we eat. I have added what I ate for breakfast today, to illustrate just how much protein I got from nothing but fruit and greens.

Public Journal (http://www.fitday.com/WebFit/PublicJournals.html?Owner=The%5FNaked%5FVegan)

As you can see, I have already eaten 20 grams of protein, nearly half of my daily requirement, at breakfast, without eating any grains or legumes, let alone any bacon and eggs, or chicken fried steak. :rolleyes:

Now no one has any excuse for being ignorant of where protein comes from, or how much protein they are actually eating. All they need to do is plug their food intakes into our Naked Vegan Fitday account and see for themselves.

[Gliondrach]

Good idea. I'll have a look later. Even though I am an enormously strong beast I don't worry about protein.

[thevegantwins]

For those who are worried about getting enough protein while pregnant, I was told I should have consumed 125mg of protein daily when I was pregnant with the twins. I probably got around 70-80 on average considering how much I vomited and as everyone here knows, the kids are healthy and fine.

[Soynut]

I have a yearly check ups with some blood tests done and it showed that I had optimal levels of calcium, magnesium, protein, iron, and B-12..... hopefully, it's reliable enough for me not to worry. I generally care about what I eat, but I'm not as obsessed and worried as I used to be when I first started out as a vegan.

I use a common sense approach to eating: if I haven't eaten enough calcium during the day, I'll have a glass of soy milk or a bowl corn flakes. One of my friends is surprised that it is THAT easy! The days of food combining and cooking beans days at end are over for the modern vegan.

My sources of protein usually are:

- beans
- almond and peanut butter
- soy meats
- quinoa
- veggies
- nuts
- lentils
- hummus
just eating enough in general

[Oracl]

My sources of protein are usually:

......... just eating enough in general
I think that is the key to getting enough protein! :)

[Gliondrach]

And, if you crave the tasted of foods that aren't vegan you could find somehthing in this thread http://thenakedvegan.net/showthread.php?t=14

[Stormy]

Great info here :)

I have to say having had two children myself, we have never had any problems with protein. My children are incredibly healthy and energetic and very bright (but I am biased :D) and through an informed choice they have never had vaccinations either :)

In fact I think as vegans we get way plenty as we eat/drink pulses, nuts and seeds, after all this the bulk of a vegan diet, and apparently so it hs been said there is more protein in a tin of baked beans than some meat.

When breast feeding you have to make sure you have plenty of protein though to ensure a good milk supply.

[bobbycoxs]

Great advice, also if you are looking for convenience there are some great faux meat products high in protein that you'll be able to cook with like your traditional ingredients.

MatchMeat (http://www.matchmeats.com/)

Field Roast (http://www.fieldroast.com/products.htm) (great Chipolte and Italian sausages)

[Bowwowmeow]

Never heard of MatchMeat before. Love Field Roast though!