Protein and vegetarianism
daniellaritson
Posts: 2
Hey!
Iv'e been a vegetarian for almost 8 years now and have always struggled to get my protein up to my requirements. Some days I'm on around 30-40g max, unless I have a protein shake after the gym, or eat eggs for every meal and a whole tub of greek yoghurt. Since I decided to make the change from obsession with weight loss to a healthy focus on fitness; I've been struggling to get the sufficient amount of protein in my diet that I need in order to progress. Being a student, I don't really have the money to fund fancy supplements for non meat eaters or extra fancy food from holland and barrett. On the days that I've been training its been exhausting trying to get the right amount of protein and it seems to be taking over my diet to the point where I'm not really getting to eat the same things that I usually do and enjoy.
So, any vegetarians out there have any suggestions or tips on how to increase protein without it taking over your whole diet? I would really appreciate it!
Iv'e been a vegetarian for almost 8 years now and have always struggled to get my protein up to my requirements. Some days I'm on around 30-40g max, unless I have a protein shake after the gym, or eat eggs for every meal and a whole tub of greek yoghurt. Since I decided to make the change from obsession with weight loss to a healthy focus on fitness; I've been struggling to get the sufficient amount of protein in my diet that I need in order to progress. Being a student, I don't really have the money to fund fancy supplements for non meat eaters or extra fancy food from holland and barrett. On the days that I've been training its been exhausting trying to get the right amount of protein and it seems to be taking over my diet to the point where I'm not really getting to eat the same things that I usually do and enjoy.
So, any vegetarians out there have any suggestions or tips on how to increase protein without it taking over your whole diet? I would really appreciate it!
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Replies
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Bump because I have the same problem.Hey!
Iv'e been a vegetarian for almost 8 years now and have always struggled to get my protein up to my requirements. Some days I'm on around 30-40g max, unless I have a protein shake after the gym, or eat eggs for every meal and a whole tub of greek yoghurt. Since I decided to make the change from obsession with weight loss to a healthy focus on fitness; I've been struggling to get the sufficient amount of protein in my diet that I need in order to progress. Being a student, I don't really have the money to fund fancy supplements for non meat eaters or extra fancy food from holland and barrett. On the days that I've been training its been exhausting trying to get the right amount of protein and it seems to be taking over my diet to the point where I'm not really getting to eat the same things that I usually do and enjoy.
So, any vegetarians out there have any suggestions or tips on how to increase protein without it taking over your whole diet? I would really appreciate it!0 -
Quinoa and kidney beans or most beans and chickpeas are a good source of protein and fairly cheap...0
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A quick look at your diary shows that you're very dependent on carbs like cereal, bread, and pasta. It'll be easier to reach your protein goals if you switch things around a little.
Make sure you get a good amount of protein at every meal - tofu, tempeh, seitan, lentil loaf. Vital wheat gluten is super cheap and it's easy to make seitan with it. If you're vegetarian, you're eating eggs and dairy, so that'll add up as well. TVP granules are very cheap and you can make a fantastic "meat" sauce to pour over pasta. Ditch the cereal and bread for breakfast and center the meal around some protein - it'll keep you fuller longer anyway.
Buy some cheap protein powder from amazon or truenutrition and add a scoop to shakes, morning oatmeal, whatever. It makes a good snack for in between classes, too.
Plus, if you incorporate fresh veggies with higher protein content - broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms, all which you can get for cheap cheap cheap at Aldi - it'll all add up and you shouldn't have to exert much effort to meet your goals.0 -
Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?0
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Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?
Why would a vegetarian eat fish lol0 -
Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?
Why would a vegetarian eat fish lol
I've heard a fair few, and seen a lot on here, of pescetarians describing themselves as vegetarian.
A few times I've seen vegetarians eat chicken... smh0 -
Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?
Why would a vegetarian eat fish lol
I know a lot of people who call themselves vegetarian and eat fish.... Not sure why you found that funny though?0 -
Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?
Why would a vegetarian eat fish lol
I know a lot of people who call themselves vegetarian and eat fish.... Not sure why you found that funny though?
That's called a pescatarian
Vegetarians do not eat animals. But for some reason people don't consider fish an animals. Blows my mind.1 -
I'm a vegetarian, try beans, lentils, cheese and eggs - they will help your protein levels.
I don't eat chicken or fish
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Buy and make beans a main protein, beans are literally $1 a pound. I bought them in college all the time. You can make burritos, soups, salads, ect. Yes beans have carbs but they are high in protein fiber and iron. Try making a big batch of vegetarian chili. Yum!0
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Boca vegan burgers are a good option. 80 calories and 13g protein, if memory serves. Tofurky brats are about 30g protein for 270 calories. Gardein has several good option (I like the mandarin chick'n personally). Stir fried tofu is always a good option as well. If you keep an eye out, there are a number of high protein options.0
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As upthread, leafy greens are pretty good. I do a lot of bean chillis with black eyed, haricot, chickpea etc,
I use quorn slices in salads at lunchtimes, quorn chicken style pieces. Personally I prefer Cauldron sausages, rather than quorn. Paneer in curries0 -
Also a vegetarian here. I struggle with the same issue. Without supplements, I usually can get up to 80g of protein eating lentil, black beans, quinoa, broccoli, eggs, edamame, and Greek yogurt. To push higher, I have to add a supplement.
p.s. I'm a non-fish eating vegetarian0 -
i have the same issue! i've been vegetarian/sometimes vegan for 24 years. for the past several months i've been having greek yogurt with about a half ounce of almonds and some fresh berries for breakfast pretty much every morning, which starts my day protein-heavy (i still don't get enough protein, but i'm getting closer, i guess...!). lately i've also begun throwing chia seeds into my yogurt and other foods (not sure they have much protein but they're healthy). i toss seeds or nuts on a lot of things that i eat (salads, oatmeal, etc.) and should make soups more often than i do (lentil soup, vegetarian chili, etc.). i love bean and cheese quesadillas (heavy on the beans), which are cheap and easy to make. i'm going to check back because i'm also looking for ideas from others - thanks for posting!0
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I've been vegetarian for 14 years now and although it has been a struggle hitting my protein at first (130g +-) I learned how to eat to hit my goals. Feel free to check my diary for inspiration, although you will find chicken like once a week when I'm too lazy to cook two meals (my partner is a meat eater). In a nutshell it's a lot of cheese, eggs, cottage, quark, Quorn every now and then etc. Beans & chickpeas are good too but a bit carb heavy to eat all the time.. Plus I have 1-2 scoops of whey daily, I get mine from myprotein.com it's the most student budget friendly source..:)0
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Ignore protein. It is the biggest myth in all of nutrition. It is near impossible to not get enough protein if you are getting enough calories.
A human baby will grow 300% in its first two years of life consuming only mothers milk. Human breast milk is around 4.5% protein by calories. Never in your life will you need more protein then in your first two years of life.0 -
Ignore protein. It is the biggest myth in all of nutrition. It is near impossible to not get enough protein if you are getting enough calories.
A human baby will grow 300% in its first two years of life consuming only mothers milk. Human breast milk is around 4.5% protein by calories. Never in your life will you need more protein then in your first two years of life.
This post is just ridiculous.0 -
Ignore protein. It is the biggest myth in all of nutrition. It is near impossible to not get enough protein if you are getting enough calories.
A human baby will grow 300% in its first two years of life consuming only mothers milk. Human breast milk is around 4.5% protein by calories. Never in your life will you need more protein then in your first two years of life.
This post is just ridiculous.
Would you like to provide an intelligent rebuttal?0 -
Would you like to provide an intelligent rebuttal?Ignore protein. It is the biggest myth in all of nutrition. It is near impossible to not get enough protein if you are getting enough calories.
A human baby will grow 300% in its first two years of life consuming only mothers milk. Human breast milk is around 4.5% protein by calories. Never in your life will you need more protein then in your first two years of life.
This post is just ridiculous.
I think that might be on you. Incredible claims are often the ones that require evidence.
I was a vegan for five years, worked out and exercised every day on a protein deficient diet and while I was "healthy" I looked like I had AIDS and or was undergoing cancer treatment.
Not sure I could jump into the camp of protein being a myth without some facts to support it.0 -
Would you like to provide an intelligent rebuttal?Ignore protein. It is the biggest myth in all of nutrition. It is near impossible to not get enough protein if you are getting enough calories.
A human baby will grow 300% in its first two years of life consuming only mothers milk. Human breast milk is around 4.5% protein by calories. Never in your life will you need more protein then in your first two years of life.
This post is just ridiculous.
I think that might be on you. Incredible claims are often the ones that require evidence.
I was a vegan for five years, worked out and exercised every day on a protein deficient diet and while I was "healthy" I looked like I had AIDS and or was undergoing cancer treatment.
Not sure I could jump into the camp of protein being a myth without some facts to support it.
Numerous studies by the WHO have determined that 97.5% of the adult population need only around 2.5% calories by protein. They doubled this to cover 99% of the adult population. They then doubled it again just to be safe. 10% protein by calories. It is almost impossible to get less than 7% or 8% protein by calories eating just fruits and veggies.
And I should mentioned they don't list it as % of calories. They list it as a protein/kg of body weight. .66 grams per kg of bodyweight is their recommendation for an adult. For a 70kg adult, that comes out to 184.8 (.66 x 4 x 70) calories of protein per day. It that 70kg adult is a 25 year old male of 178 cm in height, then their RMR is around 2,000 calories. So, for this adult male, the recommendation is 9.25% protein by calories for a sedentary individual. If that person is very active and they burn an extra 1,000 calories in a day, then it would drop to 6.2% protein by calories.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/WHO_TRS_935_eng.pdf?ua=1
My anecdotal experience is the opposite of yours. I lost nearly 100 pounds eating a high card, low protein, low fat diet, and then added on over 30 pounds of muscle. Actually, I am close to 40 pounds of added muscle now.
I would ask you what your diet was like, and what kinds of exercise did you engage in.0 -
Bob's Red Mill makes pure whey powder - 10.99 for a package that makes 17 servings and has zero fat and 80 calories of only protein. I think you could add it to almost anything to bump up your protein healthily and effortlessly - mix into yogurt, cereal, milk (if you add ice, cocoa powder and stevia you could make a nice shake, just stir in the whey powder at the end if you blend it so it doesn't get too frothy). If you like vegetarian chili, add black and kidney beans. You could also try hummus and carrot sticks, chick peas on salad is pretty good too. I think they make bread with protein in it too. There is also a recipe for protein pancakes on the Red Mill package. 0
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Numerous studies by the WHO have determined that 97.5% of the adult population need only around 2.5% calories by protein. They doubled this to cover 99% of the adult population. They then doubled it again just to be safe. 10% protein by calories. It is almost impossible to get less than 7% or 8% protein by calories eating just fruits and veggies.
And I should mentioned they don't list it as % of calories. They list it as a protein/kg of body weight. .66 grams per kg of bodyweight is their recommendation for an adult. For a 70kg adult, that comes out to 184.8 (.66 x 4 x 70) calories of protein per day. It that 70kg adult is a 25 year old male of 178 cm in height, then their RMR is around 2,000 calories. So, for this adult male, the recommendation is 9.25% protein by calories for a sedentary individual. If that person is very active and they burn an extra 1,000 calories in a day, then it would drop to 6.2% protein by calories.
http://whqlibdoc.who.int/trs/WHO_TRS_935_eng.pdf?ua=1
My anecdotal experience is the opposite of yours. I lost nearly 100 pounds eating a high card, low protein, low fat diet, and then added on over 30 pounds of muscle. Actually, I am close to 40 pounds of added muscle now.
I would ask you what your diet was like, and what kinds of exercise did you engage in.
I was a vegan at the time so fruits and veggies with lots of grains. I ate pretty much all the time because it was a lot of plant stuff. I was running all the time, biking, martial arts six days a week.
I don't doubt that in America we eat FAR too much protein but my personal experience suggest to me that it IS possible to eat too little as well.
This is a pic I posted in another thread that I dug up a few days ago. Not by any stretch my lowest but it will likely give you an idea of what my diet led to for me. The funniest thing, because I didn't have a lot of upper body mass (even though I added heavy lifting in later), I still had a little bulge of fat in my midsection.
My body never evened out for me until I upped the protein which led to gains on the weights which stopped folks from asking me if I was dying or not.
When I was twiggy I was probably at 20 grams of protein a day at best and that was often a challenge on my diet. Not trying to disagree just to disagree, just have slightly different real world experience than you so its a fun topic to discuss.0 -
If you were only consuming 20 grams of protein, that means you were only consuming about 1,000 calories a day. You were calorie deficient, not protein deficient.
Eating more protein will not increase muscle mass. Especially if you are calorie deficient. Stressing your muscles to their peak and eating an excess of calories will. Running and biking are endurance exercises. When you perform endurance exercises, your body will want to shed fat, but also muscle that it isn't using. This is why endurance athletes are often much thinner than performance athletes.
Now you are trying to lose 100 pounds? You looked phenomenal in that photo. I think you were doing something right. You just needed more weight training and HIIT if you wanted to build muscle.0 -
Vegan here, I usually hit over 100 g/day using Morningstar products, protein shakes (Muscle Milk) and edamame. I only do 1/2 to 1 serving of the Muscle Milk and usually one serving of either the Morningstar Sausage Patties or Black Bean Burger, and snack on edamame. I also like to make an almond milk latte with just Blue Diamond unsweetened vanilla almond milk and a tiny bit of flavored coffee creamer heated for two minutes in the microwave. It takes some research, planning, and trial and error but I'm sure you can find some foods that work for you!0
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bump to read later.0
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No that was when I was in my 20's. Got a job and fat since then.
I was 20 grams of protein on about a 1800 - 2000 calorie a day diet which was still calorically deficient for my activity hence the continued weight loss throughout.
I guess you could be right in that the it was all just a calorie / fitness thing. I know when I added back in some lean meat I opened up a few more calories a day but I've always sort of put the body composition thing into the hands of protein. At the time, I definitely felt like it was the protein that reshaped things though since I did not gain more than a few pounds but looked worlds different once I upped it.0 -
bump0
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I'm 36 and been vegetarian since 17. If you are eating chicken and fish you are NOT vegetarian. OP, beans, eggs, yogurt, tofu, tempeh, and if you like, the occasional morning star farms prepared stuff to start with will get you going.Low fat dairy and beans, and fish if you eat it?
Why would a vegetarian eat fish lol
I've heard a fair few, and seen a lot on here, of pescetarians describing themselves as vegetarian.
A few times I've seen vegetarians eat chicken... smh0 -
Found these awhile back. Hopefully they are accurate. Also Quinoa.
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