Lifestyle

Vegan Protein

If I had a nickle for every time somebody told me that vegans don’t get enough protein I might actually be able to get the rent paid on time once in a while. And if North Americans were as obsessed with whole grains and fresh vegetable as they are with meat maybe we wouldn’t be faced with near epidemics of obesity and diabetes.

Honestly, none of these athletes look like their missing any protein from their diets and a gorilla’s diet consists of about 67% fruit, 17% leaves, seeds and stems while only 3% is (animal protein) termites and caterpillars.

*The RDA recommends that we take in 0.8 grams of protein for every kilogram that we weigh (or about 0.36 grams of protein per pound that we weigh)

In beans, 25% of the the calories comes from protein and 5% from fat, while in steak, 20% of the calories is from protein and %80 from fat.

A cup of cooked brown rice has 5 grams of protein. Two tablespoons of peanut butter has 8, a cup of baked beans has 12 and a cup of Tempeh has 41!

Plant, fruit, vegetable nut, seed and legume sources of protein include:

Garbanzo beans, Kidney beans, Lentils, Lima beans, Navy beans, Soybeans, Split peas, Barley, Brown rice, Buckwheat, Millet, Oatmeal, Quinoa, Rye, Wheat germ, Wheat, hard red, Wild rice, Artichokes, Beets, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green peas, Green pepper, Kale, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Mustard green, Onions, Potatoes, Spinach, Tomatoes, Turnip greens, Watercress, Yams, Zucchini, Apple, Banana, Cantaloupe, Grape, Grapefruit, Honeydew melon, Orange, Papaya, Peach, Pear, Pineapple, Strawberry, Tangerine, Watermelon, Almonds, Cashews, Filberts, Hemp Seeds, Peanuts, Pumpkin seeds, Sesame seeds, Sunflower seeds, Walnuts, Hemp seed and many many more.

Spirulina and chorella (blue-green algae) contain all of the essential amino acids and are over 60 percent protein!

There are some excellent vegetarian protein charts here, here and here.

*Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine. Dietary Reference Intakes for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Cholesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2002.

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3 Comments on “Vegan Protein

    1. Jane has spoken people.
      Go check out her link on her awesome blog, No Boring Food. It’s full of helpful information and some of the yummiest vegan recipes ever!

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