Vegetarian protein

I am vegan and eat plenty of protein every day. It's a myth that it has to be hard.

Off the top of my head:
Chickpeas
Lentils
Beans
Loads of different vegetables
Tofu
Soya milk
Hummus

Lots more if I had more time to think.

Since going vegan my iron levels increased as proven by a blood test. I'm a size 8, have loads of energy, recently ran a half marathon and plank for 5 consecutive minutes every day.

Simnett nutrition has lots of good ideas if you need inspiration.

Completely agree. Most people don't realise that the gap between evidence and practice can be anywhere between 10 and 20 years (which is why there was a massive uproar about the quick introduction of Covid vaccine, if anyone still remembers it). Sometimes it's for a good reason, a lot of the time it isn't. I definitely wouldn't take nutritional guidelines as a given based on research over the last 10 years.

0.75 grams/kg is the minimum recommended amount and based on a sedentary adult. So not massively helpful. What does that tell us about what protein we need as an individual? Absolutely nothing.

Yes but it’s not individualised. Someone who lifts weights and exercises lots needs more. The elderly need more to mantain muscle mass. Men and women need different amounts.

Do we really want to accept that recommendations from 40 years ago that lump everyone together are still accurate? Have we not got more research now (we do). These guidelines are outdated. By all
means follow them. But there’s
newer research out there.

Are you counting all protein sources ?

2 eggs 13g and 2 slices multigrain bread gives another 10g

That's half my protein need in breakfast

7g from 50g uncooked rice before I add the beans in my curry, 2 for the mushrooms and I guess the other veg has sone too

Crème cheese in lunch buttie,

handful of nuts another 7g

Eggs, yogurt, a portion of peas has 5g so is handy for adding protein to a meal.

I eat around 50g per day which is really easy.

@Delatron (1) The 75g per kilo body weight per day comes from international authorities - nothing to do with the NHS (2) It is an up to date estimate. (3) It is an AVERAGE. Of course people in different circumstances (eg pregnant, bodybuilding) need more. Those websites say that. Even the NHS says that; for instance, after a major operation I was given a leaflet telling me to eat protein-rich foods plus lots of fruit and veg to help the body repair itaself. (3) If by 'do your own research' you mean 'set up a scientific study, to be peer-reviewed', then fine. But otherwise.....

I've been veggie now for over 35 years and have never worried about the protein content of my meals.

Most of or food is cooked from scratch and we have eggs, cheese, nuts and tofu as well as lentils, beans, pulses etc. Tonight ,for example, we are having a mushroom truffle linguine where the protein will come from the nuts and a cheese topping.

I've never had to supplement it.

I have been veggie all my life and do ok for protein but then I am a lentilweaver. 😁Definitely don't get 100 gm a day though. Never been anemic as I eat a lot of greens. I don't eat meat substitutes ever.
Daily protein usually includes
two eggs
lentils of some sort: chickpeas, daal, kidney beans or blackbeans
Greek yoghurt
Nuts
Paneer once or twice a week
I dont think that much about my protein tbh.

And yet scientific community largely disagrees with this. RDAs are based on needs of an average person without any health conditions. We do know that we require more protein as we age, if we have a chronic or acute health condition, if we are recovering from a surgery etc. (M. Phillips, et al, 2016)
Having said that, the target should be calculated based on lean body mass, rather than total mass which means that an overweight individual may well end up in the 0.45-0.8g per lb margin.

50 gram protein is very easily achievable - two eggs alone equals almost half that amount.

Very informative article and reliable tables of the amount of protein in foods from the British Nutrition Foundation, here:
https://www.nutrition.org.uk/nutritional-information/protein/

I'm not vegetarian but only eat meat two days per week (usually Saturday and Sunday). I hate tofu but eat lots of nuts, pulses, eggs, yogurts and PNB. I dont really think about my protein intake - maybe I should. I try to limit my cheese intake.

Mt sister is vegan and also doesn't eat any UPF. She runs marathons. She seems to be fine.

Why are you worried about your protein intake?

Sorry @TipsyKoala - cross- posted. Didn't mean to repeat what you said.

I think there’s lots of new research (not social media l) suggesting that this is inadequate. It’s also far more individual than we think. Men and women have different protein requirements. When we go through different stages of life we have different protein requirements.

Thats a very generic suggestion ‘all
adults need 0.75 grams’ what everyone needs the same amount? So someone exercising lots with an active job needs the same amount of protein as a sedentary person??

It’s obviously more nuanced than that.

It’s a contentious area that I will say. So I would recommend doing your own research (and not relying on outdated NHS recommendations).

Most studies with regards to protein were done on men for example.

Even if you are 'on the large side' you don't need vast amounts of protein.
British Heart Foundation has very good article about protein- says 0.75gram of protein per kilo bodyweight. They calculate that for an average woman that works out at around 45gram protein per day.
https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/protein

Across the pond, Harvard Medical School says we need very slightly more (0.8g protein per kilo bodyweight per day) - for an average woman that's 53gram protein per day.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-much-protein-do-you-need-every-day-201506188096

Both authorities say that more protein is not necesssarily good for us.

Beans, lentils and other pulses, cheese, eggs, nuts.
Green veg for iron
Buy a veggie cookbook - will be helpful

That’s a vast amount and completely unnecessary for most people. Most adults need around 0.75g of protein per kilo of body weight per day (British Heart Foundation). Don’t take notice of high protein social media fads.

I’m going off 1.8g per kg of body weight.

Why do you need 100g of protein daily? Is that a specific target for weight loss or training, or is it an estimate of what an average woman (age, weight, height, activity) would need daily?

I’m genuinely interested- and I’m
sure the OP is too, if people could list how they get to 100 grams of protein a day on a veggie diet. Without protein powders or bars. I just can’t do it. Or eat the volume of tofu and nuts etc required.

I literally said I've been using protein powders lately, this is because I'm doing a lot of weight lifting. I don't have any issues getting enough protein for regular life through a vegetarian diet.

Im vegan and have no issue getting over 80g, no protein powders/bars required!

I’m sure it’s possible but I do think it’s harder. Especially now we understand the old 1gram of protein per kg of body weight was wrong and insufficient. Women going through menopause need a good amount of protein.

But I accept I am not fully knowledgeable. I just know the days I eat veggie I do not hit protein targets and it’s far easier for me when like today I can have a can of tuna and hit about 28 grams without thinking.

I would love a breakdown of what 100 grams of protein on a veggie diet per day looks like.

For example Tofu has 8g of protein per 100g versus 27 grams for the same amount of chicken.

Also think about UPFs. If you are giving up meat for ethical reasons then fine. But from a health perspective replacing pure good quality meat protein (grass fed steak for example) with something like Huel which is ultra processed and full of emulsifiers and seed oils it’s not a healthy swap. And I was fooled by Huel until I read the ingredients list. Ditto some protein powders.

@Delatron I've been vegetarian for over 30 years, been in various states of fitness and weight over those years and never had an issue with not getting enough protein. I've never used protein powder.

I'd think that high protein powders, bars and so on would only be needed if you were doing some serious muscle building (or similar) for which meat eaters would need supplementing or significantly alter their normal diet.