When someone is vegan, they don't eat meat, eggs, or dairy. While some people may think this limits their sources of protein, there is still a lot of vegan-friendly protein that they can eat.
When someone is vegan, they can't get their protein from the same places as someone who eats meat. When someone is an omnivore, she or he eats both animal and non-animal food items.
Many plant-based sources of protein can be eaten by vegans, so this isn't the only way to get protein. Nuts, grains, and legumes are all sources of protein, and they also have other nutrients that are good for the body. Some vegetables and seeds also have a lot of protein in them.
Here, we'll talk about how much protein a person should get, why it's important, and which vegan foods are good sources of that protein.
In order to get enough protein, what do people need to do?
People have different needs for protein based on things like their age, gender, weight, and how active they are.
It's important to get enough protein every day, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA). These are the daily amounts for different groups of people:
These RDAs are only guidelines. People may find that their own needs are different from these RDAs. In general, the RDA for a young and healthy person who doesn't do a lot of exercise is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day (g/kg/d).
It may be more protein-rich for someone who is very active or who wants to build muscle to eat more each day. An article in the Journal of the International Society of Sports NutritionTrusted Source says that strength athletes should eat 1.6–1.7 g/kg/d, and endurance athletes should eat 1.2–1.4 g/kg/d, which is about the same amount.
Pregnant people, on the other hand, will need to eat more protein each day. An article in the online journal Nutrients says that pregnant or nursing people should eat more protein every day by 10%.
Plant-based sources of protein
Vegan protein comes from a lot of different foods, but some of the best sources are:
Whole grains are what we eat.
A whole grain is a grain that has the whole grain kernel inside of it, which means the grain is whole. A lot of whole grains are good sources of protein, such as:
Quinoa
When quinoa is cooked, it has 4.38g of protein per 100gTrusted Source. When quinoa is made, it has 7.45 grams (g) of protein in a cup of it.
Raw oats have a lot of protein in them, with 13.2g of protein in every 100g. There are 10.7g of protein in a cup of raw oats, but they are not cooked. However, a person should soak oats before eating them to make them easier to break down and eat.
Seitan
If you don't want to eat meat, you can make seitan with wheat gluten. This means that seitan is not good for people who are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease, because it has a lot of gluten in the form of gluten.
fried seitan has 11.28g of protein in every 100 grams, which is about the same as a chicken breast or steak.
A source that you can trust.
Spirulina
Spirulina is a type of blue-green algae that is very high in protein, and it comes from the sea. When you eat one tablespoon of spirulina, which is about 7 grams, you get 4.02 grams of proteinTrusted Source, which is 57.5 grams per 100 grams.
Vegetables
A lot of vegetables are good sources of protein, like:
Broccoli isn't very high in protein on its own, but when it's part of a meal, it can add more protein. Raw broccoli has 2.82g of protein per 100g Trusted Source, and 2.84g per 100g when cooked in oil. A cup of raw broccoli only has 2.54g of protein, but a cup of cooked broccoli has 4.54g. This means that raw broccoli has less protein than cooked broccoli.
Mushrooms
When mushrooms are cooked with oil, they have 3.74g of protein per 100g, and 5.98g per cup.
Also, mycoprotein is a source of protein that comes from fungi. A lot of people use mycoproteins to make food like meat that isn't meat at all. Mycoprotein has 11g of protein in every 100g.
However, some products that have mycoprotein also have egg in them, which makes them non-vegan, so they are not vegan. The ingredients in a mycoprotein dish should be checked before a person eats them.
Peas and legumes
They can be good sources of protein, such as:
Lentils
The amount of protein in 100g of boiled lentils is 9.02g per 100g.
A source that you can trust. For every half cup that is boiled, there is 8.95 grams of protein in the food.
Each 100g of chickpeas, also known as garbanzo beans, has 8.86g of protein, or 8.86mg of protein per 100g.
When boiled, this is a good source. Each cup of boiled chickpeas has 14.5g of protein.
People eat chickpeas in a lot of different ways, like in curries and hummus, but there are many more. There are 8.18g of protein in every 100g of hummus, making it a good source of protein as well. A source that you can trust.
Peanuts have a lot of protein in them, with 25.8g of protein in every 100g. An ounce of peanuts has 7.31g in it.
Also, peanut butter has 22.5g of protein in 100gTrusted Source, and 7.2g in a 2 tablespoon serving.
Soybeans
The soybeans in soybeans are used to make a lot of things, like tofu and tempeh. These products can be used to make a lot of dishes that are high in protein.
Soybeans have 12.95g of protein per 100gTrusted Source when they're raw, or 16.92gTrusted Source when they're cooked. In raw soybeans, there is 16.6g of protein in half a cup, but there is 15.65g of protein in half a cup of cooked beans.
Fried tofu has 18.81g of protein in every 100gTrusted Source, and 5.34g per ounce, so it's good for you.
When tempeh is cooked, it has 19.91g of protein per 100g, which is about one serving.
The nuts and seeds
Many nuts and seeds, like:
The seeds of Chia
Chia seeds are very high in protein, with 18.29g per 100gTrusted Source. A serving of 20g has 3.65g of protein in it.
Almonds
It has 20.33g of protein per 100g, and 5.76g per ounce of raw, unsalted almonds, which are another protein-rich food.
20.96g of protein is found in every 100g of almond butter, and 6.71g of protein is found in every two tablespoon serving of almond butter
Hemp seeds are a good source of protein, with 31.56g of protein in 100g of hemp seeds. Three tablespoons of hemp seeds have 9.47g of protein in them.
Protein is important because it helps your body build and repair itself, and it helps your
Protein is an important nutrient that can be found in many foods. Protein gives the body energy and is important for:
The right way to grow and grow
body cells, tissues, hair, nails and other parts of your body are made and repaired. This includes everything from your hair to your skin to your nails to your muscles to your bones to your blood.
The question is: Do all proteins have the same value?
Proteins are made up of strings of smaller units called amino acids. The order of the amino acids determines how the protein works and how it looks.
Twenty types of amino acids fall into two groups:
These are amino acids that the body needs but can't make itself. It can only get nine amino acids from food.
When the body eats essential amino acids, or breaks down body proteins, it can make non-essential amino acids, as well.
Also, the proteins that different foods take in are broken down into different groups:
These foods have all of the necessary amino acids in the right amounts. It's good to eat foods like quinoa, soy products, and mycoprotein if you want to get enough protein.
These are foods that only have some of the nine essential amino acids. Nuts, beans, seeds, and vegetables don't make up a complete meal.
If you eat them together at a meal or over the course of the day, they will provide all nine essential amino acids. These are called "complementary proteins." When people eat peanut butter with whole wheat bread, they get all the nutrients they need to stay healthy.
Is it possible for someone to eat too many proteins?
It is possible for someone to eat too much protein in their food. A lot of people might have long-term health problems if they eat more than 2g/kg/day.
They may have the following symptoms if they eat a lot of protein.
discomfort in the intestine
the blood has too many amino acids, too many ammonia, too much insulin, and not enough water.
People who get sick or have diarrhea, liver or kidney failure
fatigue
headaches
seizures
increased risk of heart disease
overeating protein can also raise a person's risk of getting:
diabetes \scancer \sosteopenia \sosteoporosis
Summary: A vegan can get a lot of protein from a lot of different sources. People need to eat a good mix of protein sources. The amount of protein a person needs can change based on their age, sex, and level of activity, among other things.