Higher protein vegetarian sources

Thorbjornn

I've recently decided to give lacto-ovo a shot again, mainly for religious and personal ethics reasons. I may include seafood occasionally. Eventually I hope to eliminate that. However, I don't see myself eliminating eggs, and I'm not so sure about the occasional seafood. For now I've eliminated mammals and birds. Insects were never even in the equation. :noway: In the past when I've tried veg. diets, I've found them to be kind of carb-heavy. The typical grains and legumes. Even quinoa really doesn't have that much protein compared to its carbs. A typical beans and rice serving has a ratio of roughly 80% carbs 20% protein. I have my macros set to 40% protein, 170 g; 30% carbs, 149 g; 25% fat, 47 g; 1700 calories for about .5-1 lb/week weight loss. I'm considering grains and legumes a carb source. So apart from tofu, whey protein, cottage cheese, yogurt, whey protein, eggs, is there anything I might be missing as ideas for vegetarian protein?

Carnivor0us

Chia seeds with some coconut creme. The chia seeds are pretty good in terms of protein for a plant source. They have some carbs, but a lot of it is fiber.

jwdieter

Protein powders come in many varieties, including pea, rice, and hemp.

Not sure what you think whey protein is made of

lynn1982

Hemp seeds. Not sure about the carb count, but I've been told it's a complete protein. I get a lot of protein from lentils too, but that might be too carb heavy for what you're after.

drinknderive

Avocado, broccoli, spinach, tempeh, hemp seeds, hemp milk, amaranth, lentils. All full of protein.

HappyElizabeth

I add hemp protein to everything. It's high protein and got a great amino acid profile, as well as essential fatty acids. It tastes terrible by itself, but when it's added to things, you don't notice it.

Thorbjornn

Thanks for the quick replies.

I'll look into chia seeds, especially for the fiber. I like lentils; I make lentil soup with rice. But I do consider that a carb source. Whey protein powder is distilled down and dried from the whey remnants of cheese making. In fact, ricotta is made from whey after parmigiano-reggiano cheese is made. Ricotta means re-cooked in Italian. Low fat or non-fat ricotta is an option also. Is hemp easy enough to find? Other than at a hardware store and chewing on a rope. :laugh:

Jul158

I've been trying to give up seafood as well. I don't love that it's more 'processed' than other sources but protein powder has been life saving. I use an organic brand with ingredients I'm familiar with to the best of my knowledge. Greek yogurt is also huge and I also rely on vegetarian burgers (boca vegan and gimme lean sausage). Again, the one downside of vegetarianism for me is relying on processed food. Beans, lentils and quinoa are great but I've avoided them since dabbling in Paleo. Conclusively, I still eat fish (salmon and shrimp mostly) a couple times a week to keep my protein intake up : )

Thorbjornn

I make a veg. chicken burger parmigiana. It's not bad. A little tomato sauce, some mozzarella on the patties, in the oven and fake chicken parm.

So maybe I'm not so far off, and just need to use more of the aforementioned protein sources to get the amount up

tackie8383

I think edamame is pretty high in protein relative to carbs

crista_b

Here's some:

Some more listed here: http://greatist.com/health/7-alternative-proteins-meatless-mondays/



Also, not sure if you know about it since you're fairly new to the site, but a search of the forums will give you lots of previous posts on the topic as well.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/898502-vegetarian-proteins
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/889093-vegetarian-protein
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/851345-inexpensive-vegetarian-protein-suppliment-shake
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/821192-vegetarian-protein-options-please-help
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/755399-vegetarian-protein
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/633789-vegetarian-protein-source
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/938842-looking-for-vegetarian-protein-options
Those are all from just the first page of a search for "vegetarian, protein" :flowerforyou:

jwdieter

Thanks for the quick replies.

I'll look into chia seeds, especially for the fiber. I like lentils; I make lentil soup with rice. But I do consider that a carb source. Whey protein powder is distilled down and dried from the whey remnants of cheese making. In fact, ricotta is made from whey after parmigiano-reggiano cheese is made. Ricotta means re-cooked in Italian. Low fat or non-fat ricotta is an option also. Is hemp easy enough to find? Other than at a hardware store and chewing on a rope. :laugh:

Sorry misunderstood your objectives - with lacto-ovo, not without derp.

Whey protein is the tastiest imo, and easiest to work into other products. Hemp protein is pretty crazy (in a good way) from a macro perspective, but not cheap, if that's a concern. Can pick up at organic-focused markets and online. Hemp hearts are tasteless but pack a hell of a punch from a macro perspective.

klappeh

I just want to say congrats on giving veg a chance again! I also do it for ethical reasons and I commend you.

I also have this problem actually and I know you are doing whey protein but if you ever want to try, they have plant protein powders which I try to get in every day or so. I use Lifetime brand Life's Basics plant protein powder. It has hemp, chia, pea, and rice protein.

Everyone else has given good examples. Good luck!

themedalist

I'm a long term pescatarian and will be until salmon becomes a land animal.

Edamame is a good protein source. Roasted in the oven with a dash of olive oil and salt and they are great. 10 grams of protein per 2/3 cup.

Pumpkin seeds also. 10 grams protein for 1/4 cup.

All the nut butters.

I keep individually wrapped cheese bars on hand as well. At 50 calories and 6 grams of protein it's a good deal.

But I honestly don't think you can beat a high quality protein bar. I love the Quest protein bars for days I'm low on protein or out of the house running errands. My favorite, the chocolate chip cookie bar, is delish and has 21 grams of protein and 170 calories.

Garlicmash

try soya protein mince and chunks if you can eat soya.
I use the dry ones which you soak for a bit first before adding to you're cooking.
I'm Pescetarian and have a hard time finding the right balance of protein in my diet.
If you are intending to include seafood then that will be a Pescetarian diet you will be following but this doesn't mean seafood has to be a regular thing

micheleb15

Edamame is a great source of protein.

crista_b

But I honestly don't think you can beat a high quality protein bar. I love the Quest protein bars for days I'm low on protein or out of the house running errands. My favorite, the chocolate chip cookie bar, is delish and has 21 grams of protein and 170 calories.

Be careful with the bars though. I was looking for some to increase my protein intake since I'm lacto-ovo and have started lifting, but a lot of the ones I could find have collagen/gelatin in them which isn't vegetarian.

katgirl007

Hi I've been veggie all my life and have had to go gluten free in the last couple of years.

I don't do much beans and rice. If I do beans I do it with a taco salad (minus chips) that gives me a lot more nutrition for my calorie than does grains. The biggest grain I eat is oatmeal. Then I get my complete proteins from things like eggs (almost every morning), quinoa, yogurt or other foods with complete proteins. I also eat nuts on my salads or as a small snack. Or if I'm dying for sugar I'll have a piece of fruit and a measured amount of peanut/almond butter.

I will do a protein shake as well. Whey should do just fine since you are doing veggie and not vegan (from what I read) but there are plenty of them out there that are derived from plant sources. I was using a hemp protein because the one I have is a whole food vs isolates and it is how I prefer it. I'm not sure how that comes out in drug testing so I've stopped in preparation for Navy Officer Development School but it worked for me while it lasted.

Good luck! I have good male friends that are ripped and vegetarians so it might take a little work to figure it out but it works! They aren't on here unfortunately.

Check out

http://www.nomeatathlete.com/

It has a lot of stuff for endurance athletes but I think he has some links for other people too and I think it's worth a good look.

Thorbjornn

Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I know Bill Pearl was vegetarian in his bodybuilding days, so I know it can be done. It's just a matter of getting it "dialed-in". I have to be gluten-free too, or as minimal gluten as possible.

lynn1982

Thanks for the quick replies.

I'll look into chia seeds, especially for the fiber. I like lentils; I make lentil soup with rice. But I do consider that a carb source. Whey protein powder is distilled down and dried from the whey remnants of cheese making. In fact, ricotta is made from whey after parmigiano-reggiano cheese is made. Ricotta means re-cooked in Italian. Low fat or non-fat ricotta is an option also. Is hemp easy enough to find? Other than at a hardware store and chewing on a rope. :laugh:

I tend to use pea protein powders, but, as someone else mentioned, you should be able to also find hemp protein powder. I usually toss a couple tablespoons of shelled hemp hearts into my salad at lunch time. I buy it at my local health food store. (I think I use Manitoba Harvest brand.) It's expensive, as someone else mentioned, but a little bit goes a long way. I've been trying to up my healthy fat intake with the hemp hearts, but I think 1 tablespoon has about 3 grams of protein.

And you are right, lentils are a carb source. As non-meat protein, I find them to be relatively high in protein and low in calories. I have a dairy allergy and I don't eat animal protein except eggs and the odd fish here and there. (Although it seems like I might need to change that...but I'm trying to avoid it.)

Alphastate

If you're looking for high protein faux meat, Gardein is hands down the best. They have a ton of different products, some have sauce packets like teriyaki or bbq to spice it up. I like the mandarin orange chik'n with lightly buttered and garlic noodles or couscous. If you want a non-soy based product, Quorn is great too. I get both brands from Target.

katgirl007

The hemp powder I used was from Nature's Way and says EfaGold on the label, no sugar added so you'd need to put it in something. I wouldn't eat it raw, but I'd throw it in smoothies and with oatmeal and I thought it was the best of anything I've tried for not giving everything a weird flavor. It was inexpensive and at some random local to CO health food store (Natural Grocer's in case you have them).

Beats chewing a rope!

Thorbjornn

Thanks folks. There's a Target and Trader Joe's near me. I don't know what Trader Joe's has that would fit in w/veg, but farther away is a Whole Foods. I could check them out too.

crista_b

Thanks folks. There's a Target and Trader Joe's near me. I don't know what Trader Joe's has that would fit in w/veg, but farther away is a Whole Foods. I could check them out too.

Whole Foods is a wonderful source of veg options, but it can get pretty expensive so try to check Target first.

Carnivor0us

Thanks folks. There's a Target and Trader Joe's near me. I don't know what Trader Joe's has that would fit in w/veg, but farther away is a Whole Foods. I could check them out too.

I buy Trader Joe's brand of chia seeds.

Thorbjornn

Great info, thanks. I'll definitely check out Target and TJ's.