Protein and Vegan

[Veeee]

If one is trying to keep a vegan way of eating and would like to monitor the macros. For example 138g carbs, 103g protein and 46g fat a day. What kind of vegan foods would providethe protein because they are mainly carbs.

[Hidden]

Good morning Veeee, this is a very important and pertinent question, I eat quinoa everyday in small quantities (in home made gf bread) because it is a complete food in that all the food that we eat is broken down into 23 base amino acids and our body makes 15 from the food we eat and the remainder have to come from food and quinoa contains all 23 essential amino acids, so it is a complete food. Worth bearing in mind is the Aztec warriors marched to war eating just quinoa and fat.

Here's a couple of links that may interest you with essential foods for vegans, so thanks for asking this important question. 😊

greatist.com/health/complet...

peta.org/living/food/comple...

[Veeee in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Jerry.

[Brightfeather in reply to Hidden]

Thanks Jerry

[andyswarbs Volunteer]

Eat sufficient calories in a varied vegan lifestyle for your body and you are guaranteed sufficient complete protein. Guaranteed.

It does not even matter much if your vegan lifestyle is an unhealthy one. You will still get enough protein. In fact I think getting a deficiency of protein would be a huge challenge!

If you want to prove to yourself that you are getting enough macros then get a free account at cronometer.com/ and enter your own profile and the foods you eat. Do that for day or two and you will see how easy it is to hit all major targets. An important rider is that your body does not need every nutrient every day. Yes, you do with things like Vitamin C, but for most nutrients you just need to check that average levels are great.

The only people who might want to check their protein intake are people who are body building. If interested take a look at Hench Herbivore's latest video youtube.com/watch?v=DJe7V1k...(Not working as expected?) and perhaps follow his channel for further ideas.

[Brightfeather in reply to andyswarbs]

Thanks Andy

[benwl Volunteer]

Hi Veeee,

My protein comes from beans, pulses, grain and amino acids from fruit. But let me digress a bit...

All of the doctors advocating a plant based diet (ornish, mcdougal, cambell, esselstyn etc) include at least one chapter in their books as to why vegans don't need to worry about protein.

Here is Garth Davis from his book proteinaholic:

"In all my years in medicine I have never, ever, seen a patient who was suffering from protein deficiency. I have searched the medical literature and cannot find a single case of protein deficiency in someone eating enough calories. In fact if you are getting adequate calories, I am not sure there is such a thing as protein deficiency"

I don't normally bother to count my macros anymore, but when I did I was aiming for around 70-80% carbs, 10-15% fat, 10-15% protein which is broadly what those doctors recommend. Which makes sense if you think of why we need these macronutrients. The vast majority of our macro intake is for energy, and carbs provide the best source of it, hence the 80% carb target. Fats and proteins are essential parts of our diet for lots of bodily functions, but we don't need nearly so much of them.

And don't forget that fruit is a great source of amino acids directly - thats where people who follow a fruit based diet get their "protein" from.

[Brightfeather in reply to benwl]

Thanks Ben