Vegetarian protein

[alwaysfactor50]

Been reading that as a middle aged peri menopausal woman I need to up my protein. I'm trying to go vegetarian (am nearly there) but am struggling to get enough protein in my diet.

Any tips gratefully received

Thought of 90gm of protein a day makes me nauseous. I like tofu, milk & eggs but not THAT much. I eat meat but I don't want huge portions. Hope you find a balance that suits you, OP.

They suggest dividing it between your three main meals, so 30gm a meal. That’s only just over an ounce, a v modest amount.

According to my fitness pal I have had 63g today.
I've 70 calories left so I may have a couple of nuts 🤣

Mmm just added it and it's only 2g of protein in my 11g of nuts 🤦🏼‍♀️

30 grams protein in each of
4 cups of milk (400 cal), almost 1 pint
5 eggs (400 cal)
400 g serving of tofu (310 cal)
110 g chicken (260 cal)
6 cups of peas (486 cal)
or 1 can of tuna (120 cal)

Every meal... very regimented. Just does Not Appeal to me. I want to enjoy my food. Don't care what others do.
Am curious what exactly Times article said, though.

As a vegetarian you should take a B12 supplement if you don’t already. I wouldn’t worry too much about adding protein - better to eat whole foods than processed protein.

Can you get Langley Farm cottage cheese in your area? It's amazing and a great source of protein.

For lunch I had puy lentils, LF cottage cheese, a sliced boiled egg with red pepper, tomato and cucumber. With a dash of chilli sauce. Sounds strange but healthy and delicious.

That's a weird way of looking at how to get 30g protein @lljkk - I'm not a veggie but eat a high protein diet with moderate carbs and fats. I wouldn't eat all those peas or eggs, but 110g chicken is not a large portion.

I remember reading years ago how the guidelines for protein were too high and that few people in the western world have a diet deficient in protein. I gave blood for years and the only time I was anaemic was when I was pregnant, so while your diet may be lower in protein, iron, B12 etc, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll need supplements. It's not just about what you consume, but also how efficiently your body processes it.Much harder to say that about a vegan diet. I think we all need to eat a wide range of foods in moderate qualities - I'm trying to eat less dairy, but it's probably my main source of protein.

Whey protein shake
Eggs
Tofu
Quinoa
Lentils
Nuts
Legumes
Feta cheese
Protein yoghurt
Protein milk
It's is so easy nowadays to get Protein as vegetarian

Protein milk?

Have you tried any meat substitutes? There's so much choice nowadays and they're usually made with soy, pea or wheat protein

Why am I suddenly getting ads for prime cuts of meat?

Seitan
Tofu
Tempeh
Pulses
Quinoa
Veggies~

Asparagus

Avocado
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Jerusalem artichokes
Kale
Spinach
Sweetcorn
Nuts

Teff

Buckwheat

The list is endless

I'm a vegan weightlifter. I have a vegan protein shake the days I train

Recent research is showing that too much protein is detrimental. Google is your friend

... and mostly ultra-high processed. I'm not vegetarian or vegan, but even if I were, I'd prefer to eat mostly recognisable food, such as beans/lentils/nuts/grains/seeds/vegetables.

@Carlycat but it was google that told me to up my protein 🤦🏼‍♀️

@deathofastrawberry I'm trying to avoid UPFs. I'll occasionally have some substitute but not often

They're less healthy than meat.

Depends on how much you like bowel cancer and high cholesterol, I suppose. Also completely irrelevant to the OP's question.

Another one! Not vegetarian but has to come into a thread about vegetarian food to tell us we're doing it wrong.

God love 'em.

I think they have a place and my whole family (including two committed carnivores) like the pieces in curry. I've recently used them for a soy and peanut butter noodle dish. Just don't want them every day

110g chicken 3x/day would be a lot of chicken. Or more chicken than I want daily, anyway. I imagine relatively expensive calories, too, although tbf not as expensive calories as true junk food.

Tesco 300g chicken for £2.25, 318 calories, or 71.5 pence per 100 calories.
That's much more expensive than say pence to get 100 calories of milk or bread.

I suspect if I worked out the pence per 10grams of protein that the chicken compares very well to tofu but still not as good as milk. Throw in micronutrient value and the chicken again > milk & >> tofu. Something like beans would win over all the others wrt environmental impact/100 kcal.

You may not have noticed but most people who eat animal products also eat other foods. My family eat loads of them and not that much meat or fish. The UHPF issue affects all of us, whether we eat meat or not.

Avonmore do a protein milk, it has 50% more casein than regular milk, but I'm not sure it's available in the UK.

I don't eat meat, but not fully vegetarian because I do eat fish occasionally for this very reason, also I hate tofu.

Eggs are an easy dinner or alternatively dahl with brown rice is great.

You don't have to eat it and neither does anyone else.

The point I'm making is that so many meat eaters feel they need to lecture vegetarians about it. Vegetarians don't eat meat. That's it. They haven't committed to a lifetime of impossibly high nutrition standards. Most eat a bit of processed crap just like anyone else.

Completely unnecessary of you to plop it into a thread where the OP a) didn't ask and b) has done her research so doesn't need to be patronised about what is and isn't healthy.

The best foods for protein to calorie ratio are-
Protein yogurts/drinks (I like ufit)
Cottage cheese
baby belle - low fat
Other cheese
Skimmed Milk
low fat yogurt
I also eat Edeme beans as they have high protein and lots of nutrients and fibre etc
If you still eat a bit of fish then grilled salmon or white fish is very good for protein