Vegetarian protein?

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mrsdjordan
mrsdjordan Posts: 16
in Food and Nutrition
I never seem to be able to get enough protein. I eat some Quorn, eggs, whole meal bread/pasta, brown rice, beans, small amount cheese. Don't drink cows milk and our house is nut free due to my older sons allergy.
Any ideas what else I can eat to up my protein?
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Replies

  • maddyk91
    maddyk91 Posts: 193 Member
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    Yogurts, beans, vegetarian meat substitutes like Morning "sausages" (which are PHENOMENAL, btw), and you could also get straight-up protein powders.
  • Ke11er
    Ke11er Posts: 147 Member
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    Beans, eggs, cheese are already great sources. To add to the good ideas above....also oats, edamame pods or dry roasted edamame, peas, and seeds like sunflower or pumpkin.
  • mam479
    mam479 Posts: 20 Member
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    Quinoa and chia seeds are packed with protein. 1 cup of quinoa has 24 g and 2 tbsp of chia seeds have 4 g (and are packed full of other nutrients too). Sprinkle some chia seeds on your oatmeal or cereal or add them to smoothie. Thee internet is teaming with quinoa recipes. I recently made this: http://pinchofyum.com/creamy-chicken-quinoa-broccoli-casserole which you can easily modify to fit your dietary requirements (no bacon, quorn instead of chicken and soymilk for cow's milk). It makes 7 servings and each serving is 330ish calories with 34 g of protein.

    Also if you are a cereal eater, many cereals such as Kashi and even special K have protein packed cereals.
  • Meerataila
    Meerataila Posts: 1,885 Member
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    I get more than enough from beans (garbanzo beans are great), nuts, and seeds and a little here and there from leafy sources that just add up. I manage fine even on less than 1400 calories a day most days.
  • mollyann34
    mollyann34 Posts: 33 Member
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    I'm vegan, but I struggle with protein too. I'm not sure if you can have PB2 in your house with a nut allergy but it's been helping... I add it to everything. I also use nutritional yeast in place of cheese and it has a lot of protein. I recently just bough Jarrow's protein powder to add to smoothies (15 grams!)

    I don't hardly eat soy so that's difficult, but I do second the beans/chickpeas... Can you not have any nuts or just peanuts? I eat loads of raw almonds as well. Even leafy greens add up (broccoli, zucchini, kale, cooked spinach).
  • JBearsMom21
    JBearsMom21 Posts: 90 Member
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    Beans, hemp seeds, quinoa, freekeh, edemame, tofu, tempeh and good old protein powder. I use nutribiotic plain rice protein and the Vega One Nutritional line. I don't really eat dairy so it is a little bit more difficult for me but definiately doable. Since your vegetarian, you can also have greek yogurt.
  • softblondechick
    softblondechick Posts: 1,276 Member
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    You eat eggs, can you eat fish? I eat a lot of salmon. Tofu, and I add protein powder to smoothies.
  • littlekitty3
    littlekitty3 Posts: 265 Member
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    Seitan hands down.
  • Rlavigne93
    Rlavigne93 Posts: 119 Member
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    Greek yogurt and beans. Quest bars are pretty phenomenal, packing 20g of protein per bar, but they're pricey. And most if not all have nuts in them, but they're all individually sealed if that makes a difference.
  • moxiecowgirl
    moxiecowgirl Posts: 291 Member
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    You eat eggs, can you eat fish? I eat a lot of salmon. Tofu, and I add protein powder to smoothies.

    Fish are animals. That makes fish pretty much an epic fail as vegetarian protein.
  • MouseFood
    MouseFood Posts: 169 Member
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    humous, chickpeas, beans, protein bars
  • MouseFood
    MouseFood Posts: 169 Member
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    You eat eggs, can you eat fish? I eat a lot of salmon. Tofu, and I add protein powder to smoothies.

    Fish are animals. That makes fish pretty much an epic fail as vegetarian protein.

    I love this lol ;)
    As someone who has only been a veggie for a year and a half, I still find it really funny when people think eating fish means you're still a vegetarian.
  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
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    I never seem to be able to get enough protein. I eat some Quorn, eggs, whole meal bread/pasta, brown rice, beans, small amount cheese. Don't drink cows milk and our house is nut free due to my older sons allergy.
    Any ideas what else I can eat to up my protein?

    MFP might have your protein goals too high.
  • cdoesthehula
    cdoesthehula Posts: 141 Member
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    After a lifetime of not drinking milk, I have recently started drinking soya milk. Tastes nice and quite a good source of protein. Get the unsweetened one though; a lot of them are packed with sugar.
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
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    I snack on cottage cheese to help boost my protein. You have a lot of other good suggestions on here.
  • VonJesserz
    VonJesserz Posts: 10
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    chocolate soy milk! I personally don't believe any of the anti-soy stuff going around, I enjoy tofu and tempeh on occasion and we love chocolate soy milk ( i use almond milk mostly but soy sometimes with protein shakes for added protein). it's also a complete protein, as well as quinoa and hemp hearts :)
  • mrsdjordan
    mrsdjordan Posts: 16
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    Wow some great ideas here, foods I'd totally forgotten about! Thanks!
    Quinoa, saitan (mock duck?) both on my shopping day list :) may look into some hemp protein for a breakfast smoothie. I drink koko milk which doesn't have any protein unfortunately.
  • mrsdjordan
    mrsdjordan Posts: 16
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    I never seem to be able to get enough protein. I eat some Quorn, eggs, whole meal bread/pasta, brown rice, beans, small amount cheese. Don't drink cows milk and our house is nut free due to my older sons allergy.
    Any ideas what else I can eat to up my protein?

    MFP might have your protein goals too high.

    It may, but unless I make a conscious effort, I'm deffo too high on carbs (fruit sugar, honey or real sugar on a bad day) and too low on protein in general. Maybe I'm just a sugar addict and need to go cold turkey!
  • sistrsprkl
    sistrsprkl Posts: 1,013 Member
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    Also, these are yummy. I had one for lunch today. Lots of protein.

    http://www.drinkorgain.com/
  • _HeartsOnFire_
    _HeartsOnFire_ Posts: 5,304 Member
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    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/926789-protein-sources

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