I’ve been vegan for over 30 years, and during that time have rarely thought about protein. It’s not a topic that ever concerned me- although other people seem VERY concerned FOR me. Whenever I-or any other vegan in the world- tell someone I’m vegan, they inevitably ask “But where do you get your protein?”
Ah, we vegans chuckle and roll our eyes gently. Protein is in everything! Broccoli has protein! Fruit has protein! Not to mention rice, beans, tofu, peanut butter…. and, well, everything. Have you ever met anyone who had a protein deficiency? It’s almost impossible to do. No need to worry about protein.
When I was pregnant with my son, my midwife asked me to write down everything I ate for a week, just to make sure I was getting enough. I didn’t change anything, wrote down exactly what I ate, and my protein intake was well within the recommended amount. I grew an entire new person with the protein I ate normally- TWICE! That was proof that this whole “protein obsession” was silly.
Then, two things happened. I got older, and got lazy about my diet.
Unlike my pregnancy days, where I ate plenty of healthy food, in recent years I’ve gotten in the habit of skipping lunch when I’m too busy. Guess what- if you skip a meal, you just got 0 grams of protein. Sometimes I would eat a handful of pretzels instead of lunch, which gave me a whopping 3 grams of protein.
Here’s an interesting fact- pregnant women are advised to eat .8 grams of protein per kilogram of their body weight daily. Post-menopausal women are advised to eat 1-1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Post-menopausal women need MORE PROTEIN than pregnant women? Apparently, yes.
My son- who’s also vegan and recently started working out- has become very aware of how much protein he’s eating, and he advised me to do the same. It turns out that I was nowhere near the recommended amount, especially since I’m lifting weights and trying to increase my muscle mass.
Since my word for 2023 is “Nourish” I decided to make sure I’m nourishing my body with enough protein. It really isn’t hard- it just took some awareness and a few tweaks to my diet.
First of all, I got a protein powder (pea and rice protein) and will make myself a quick protein shake if I don’t have time to eat right after a workout. I don’t think anyone should rely too heavily on protein powders, but it’s a great supplement if you’re trying to bulk up your intake.
Then, my meals. I now aim for around 25 grams of protein per meal (plus a snack.) If I’m having oatmeal, sometimes I’ll add a scoop of protein powder, or I’ll make it with soymilk instead of water, and/or I’ll add nuts or peanut butter.
For lunch, I make sure I have SOMETHING. If I’m really too busy to eat at work, I’ll have a bar to tide me over. I had been eating a plant-based keto bar (I’m not keto but I don’t eat sugar, and regular bars can be very sugar-y) and I discovered it only had 5 grams of protein! I now pay 50 cents more per bar to get one that has 20 grams of protein.
One of my favorite “lazy” dinners is chickpea pasta with broccoli and marinara sauce. Let’s see…. the pasta has 12 grams of protein. The sauce has 3 grams and the broccoli has another 3. That’s not terrible, but now I add some frozen peas while the pasta is cooking and sprinkle nutritional yeast over the top, giving myself a good 25 grams of protein.
Other little changes were easy to make- soymilk has more protein than oatmilk. Peanut butter has more protein than almond butter. If I’m making a stir fry I can add chickpeas AND tofu (when in doubt, add tofu, is my new motto.). As I said, it isn’t hard to get enough protein if you just make a little effort.
Since this is new for me, I can’t show any results yet. But I feel good, and I’ve also cut down on junk food snacking. I mean, I’ll have pretzels if I want them (because pretzels are salty and delicious!) but now that I’m aware of how little they’re nourishing me, I don’t want them as often.
Part 1 of the Nourish Project is going well- next up, sleep. This one could be tricky.
Do you track your protein intake or think about macros? Do you notice a difference in how you feel if you eat more or less protein?
38 Responses
This was so fascinating to read! And I can imagine that it would be extremely wearying to have to answer, “but what do you do about protein???” 80 million times.
Protein seems like SUCH a watchword these days. I find it slightly confusing. Like… does everyone need to consider how much protein they are getting, or is it just people who are exercising a significant amount or trying to bulk up muscle (or people in special situations, like pregnancy/post-menopause/etc)? Based on your post, it seems like all it takes is eating a healthful, varied diet. I follow a lot of people on instagram who post about nutrition and/or weight loss, and they ALL seem to be focused on protein above all. I suppose it is more filling than empty carbs and is, obviously, a vital macronutrient. But… does the average person really need to be concentrating on protein-protein-protein all day long? Clearly I need to look into it more specifically, instead of simply observing this trend. 🙂
Looking forward to your post about sleep!
I almost included this topic in my post (clearly I should have.) I was also confused about the emphasis on protein, all the time. What about carbs and fats? Why do we isolate one component of food and make it more important than the others? I’m going to have to do a follow-up post!
As a nutrition coach and a vegetarian my whole life (now I am a pescatarian) I can confirm it is very hard to get enough protein as a vegan and a runner. I also strive for 25-30 grams a meal and it takes planning I could not do it without dairy and eggs. It is good that you are taking steps to nourish-I like it!
I wouldn’t say it’s “hard” to get enough protein… but for me, it’s just taking a little more effort and awareness. And a little planning.
But if you had a dime for every time someone has asked you how vegans get protein just think about how much money you would have;-)
I think you’ll benefit from these changes. Obviously I don’t know you IRL, but I get the sense that your baseline is a good, healthy diet but you’re also very busy and rushed so you might skew toward not eating enough AND you’re also a lot more active now that you were last year when you were sidelined by injuries.
I’m in a different place because the only food philosophy that’s ever worked for me is eating what I want to eat and not eating what I don’t want to eat. One of the reasons why working with a dietitian was such a disaster is because it was a wild swing from “what I want” to “rules”. Trying to eat 100 grams of protein a day meant eating things that I didn’t have an appetite for when I wasn’t hungry, and it just really messed up my relationship with food. I’m back to a good place of “what I want with limits” and there’s no reason to poke the bear by tracking macros or protein.
No, it sounds like what you’re doing now works for you (and you have the disastrous experience with the nutritionist to prove it.) One thing I’ve noticed is that, sometimes I’m “not hungry” but I know I haven’t eaten in hours, so I just have my little protein snack or lunch anyway. That works for me because then a couple hours later I don’t find myself eating some junky snack because I’m starving. I don’t know.. this is definitely a work in progress!
I loved how you broke the stereotypes often given to vegans and their protein intake – and shocking how much protein women need, especially post-menopause! I am currently working with a nutritionist because I really struggle with protein intake; I’m allergic to whey protein and tree nuts and often feel stuck in what I have available to me. It’s been really beneficial to learn about how much protein I can get from sources outside of what I had in my head (meat and eggs) and be able to better fuel myself for my workouts and life.
Yes, it is interesting to find protein in unexpected places. I would be interested to hear what the nutritionist has to say, and if you feel like they’re helping you.
I neither track my protein intake nor think about macros. If I think too much about things like that, it is very bad for my mental state. So, I don’t. But I feel great and energetic, and I do eat a lot of things like nuts, beans, edamame, peas, tofu, etc. I also put nut butter in my morning spinach smoothie and I do have a protein powder smoothie at lunch as well. I eat 95% vegan. Over the past five years or so, I have added in a small amount of dairy each week: a little feta or Parm on my salads. And if someone makes me a meal, I don’t ask if it’s vegan. I’d never eat meat – everyone knows that – but if someone gave me a slice of cake I wouldn’t grill them about possible egg or dairy. I have found that this has been vital to my mental well-being. For me, too many strict rules puts me into an obsessive spiral and I just don’t have space for that in my life, you know?
I used to get the protein question a lot from meat-eaters, but I don’t think anyone’s asked me that in years! But I used to get the question all the time. I guess plant-based diets are so much more common now.
Nicole, you’re probably getting plenty of protein. Just like when I was pregnant, you’re eating a variety of healthy foods, you feel great, you’re not getting injured… my problem was that I wasn’t eating enough (sometimes) and instead of healthy meals I was snacking on junk. Now that I’m making more of an effort, my diet sounds a little more like yours (minus the small amounts of dairy.)
I’ve talked a bit about how I’ve made the switch from obsessing what goes in my body (partly to help with some health issues, but I’ve done MANY elimination diets) to intuitive eating. I still have a mixed relationship with food but, overall, it is SO much better for my mental health to eat what I want when I want.
That said, I’ve noticed that since eating intuitively…I eat a lot fewer items with protein. I used to eat a lot of eggs and fish. Since making the switch to “intuitive” eating, I’m much less mindful about the nutritional facts about what I’m consuming. It’s a double-edged sword. Being so careful about what I ate was just not healthy for me mentally (and I’m sure that stress had physical ramifications, too)…but the flip side is, now that I’m not monitoring things as closely, I’m not eating as much of a well-rounded diet.
I’m muddling through in my mind next steps, but I was actually eyeing some protein powder just the other day! Might be time to take that leap and, now that I’ve been eating intuitively for a while, perhaps I can handle reintroducing a framework (NOT RULES) around what, when, and how I eat?
And I do NOT track what I eat. That would be a hugely triggering action for me at this stage. Maybe sometime, if I needed to for health purposes, but for now, I think it would send me back into a spiral to track food (though, ironically, I track just about everything else in life!)
Elisabeth, this can be highly triggering for me as well. You’ll notice I didn’t say anything about tracking my carbs, fat, or calories. That could lead me to a very dangerous place. I also have to find a balance- if I’m too rigid about what I eat, I’ll end up with an eating disorder. If I’m too lax, suddenly I’m eating pretzels for lunch every day. I think it’ll always be a balancing act. Right now just counting grams of protein seems like a fun game, but if I start to get to obsessed with it I’ll just pull back, throw some extra beans into my meals, and try not to overthink it.
I generally don’t think about macros or track what I am eating unless I am trying to reign things in a bit – then I will track my eating because if I have to track it in an ap, I make different decisions. I’ve been on the weight watchers program several times and their points system is macros based, so higher protein/lower fat foods have lower points. So you are kind of naturally steered to eat lower fat/higher protein foods or you will run out of points very fast! I don’t love tracking but it’s the best way to get back to my ideal weight.
I also paid very close attention to carbs and protein when I was pregnant as I had gestational diabetes with both kids due to one of my RA meds raising my blood sugar. I had no idea that carbs were in so many foods. Like beans! I had to show my husband the label of a can of black beans to show that they actually are a bigger source of carbs than fiber. Overall, the gestational diabetes diet was easier for me than the average person since I am gluten intolerant so eat fewer carbs in general. I try to mostly eat things that are naturally GF w/out being modified so that results in a low carb diet. But it was still kind of defeating at times to follow the GD diet and what really pizzed me off was when I would eat the exact same thing but my post-meal blood sugar was higher. I want things to make sense and sometimes they don’t. But it often felt like I was rolling dice when I checked my blood sugar. I would have NO freaking clue if it’d be just right or too low.
Ugh, you do have some complicating factors! Hopefully that was just during pregnancy and you don’t have to worry about carbs-protein anymore.
I know a lot of people who have had great success with weight watchers. It seems like the best thing about it is, you really understand just how many points that donut is- it’s usually not worth it.
Since we eat mostly vegetarian (not vegan), this has been a problem for my husband. He drinks a lot of kefir (which isn’t an option for you!) and protein shakes. We do eat a lot of beans, particularly chickpeas and black beans, but so far we haven’t really hit on a tofu preparation that is GF AND doesn’t make him queasy with texture issues and that’s unfortunate because it would be such a great substitute for the quick protein fix of some chicken. It’s a constant struggle and I really don’t know how vegans do it because we end up eating a lot of yogurt and eggs. 🙁
Yes, it’s too bad he doesn’t like tofu because it’s a great option. Hmm… if I think of any solutions for you guys I’ll let you know.
I was vegan for 3 years and then stopped, mostly for convenience when traveling and then because of this concern on protein. it’s hard to get as much as protein as vegan so I’ve started to add eggs back to my diet, and fish sometimes. I haven’t tracked my protein for a while, and plan to do so for a week to see how I am doing. I’m reading dr. stacey sim’s book NEXT which is targeted for female athlete or active women nearing menopause, and I’m getting convinced how important is to get enough protein, which is much higher than 1g per kg weight.
I need more plant based ideas with protein focus, please share more.
Coco, I read that book and it’s partly what made me look more closely at my diet. I’ll do a follow-up post soon to show more of my dinner options- coming up this weekend is bean and tempeh enchiladas.
“Guess what- if you skip a meal, you just got 0 grams of protein.”
This right here is something I’ve been pondering lately. I was just thinking how when we switched from a work day with two rehearsals and a meal break in the middle to just one rehearsal period in the middle of the day, I tend to just not eat. The less structured my days are the more likely I am to skip meals. I might have a small snack, but nothing substantial. (I often think that the best thing about being in rehearsal is that someone hands me a schedule every day and I know when I can eat, sleep and exercise; I don’t have to figure it out for myself.) So yeah, the first step for me towards a balanced diet is to make sure I eat in the first place.
I don’t track the amount of protein I eat, but I do like to write down what I eat – I find it helpful to remind me what things have worked well. Otherwise, there are so many food options out there that I always want to try something new. We do eat meat, but I’ve been trying to have more plant-based meals in rotation for a host of reasons. But yes, they tend to have a protein component – beans and tofu mainly. (I like tempeh but I’m the only one the family who does.). I find I stay full longer when I do have protein, which is why I also tend to pack nuts or beans or veggies and hummus, or boiled eggs for my work snacks.
I might be reading to much into this, but there seems to be something slightly patriarchal about people’s obsession with protein, as if protein’s importance stems from hunters/gatherer days what with men being the ones who went out and hunted meat, so of course it *had* to be the most important part of a meal. But I can see the patriarchy in just about anything, really.
Wow- that’s an interesting take. Especially since meat eating and an obsession with protein is associated with masculinity. I have to think about this and I may have to do a protein post, part 2.
I have no problem getting my carbs. And fats. Protein is always a bit more tricky. But it’s been ages since I tracked it.
I was not aware that women after menopause need more protein than pregnant ones. Crazy.
You are taking on the nourishing. thing one step at a time. So amazing. I am looking forward seeing your tweaks and ideas about sleep.
Yes- I doubt anyone has trouble getting enough carbs and fats! And i definitely have some ideas about sleep- coming up.
I don’t track any of my food intake, but I should. I know I’m probably eating (and drinking) more sugar than necessary (as if sugar is a necessity, LOL). You’ve given me something to really think about.
Kim, I’m a recovering sugar-holic. I just not one of those people who can enjoy sugar in moderation, sadly.
I tried vegan food some year ago and I found it really stressful to have to worry about the protein. Also eating vegan or even vegetarian, didn’t make me feel particularly good, after a while I started having some major stomach/GI issues, but can’t confirm it was because of the food, and with some adjustments I would probably have solved the problem, but I just didn’t think it was worth the trouble at the time.
Recently I’ve read about how there’s protein in a lot of plant based foods other than the usual suspects (chickpeas, lentils etc) but I would still find it hard to get enough for muscle building unless you add some supplement.
I would prefer eating more plant based but I have enough stressors in my life right now so I’ll stay with chicken and eggs since we have good access to good quality suppliers here. But if I’d try vegan again I’d get a pea protein powder or a pea/rice mix, I’ve seen several that seem good and both are said to be full protein with all amino acids, and I’ve also seen vegan BCAA supplements.
One of my main fitness goals is to build muscle so I try to track my intake as much as I can and also stopped eating unnecessary sugar (only some honey in coffee and yoghurt) after Christmas – I absolutely don’t miss it. I use unflavoured protein powder and make some delish drinks with it. I take protein shakes, after training and one before bed, it’s possible I’ll add one in the afternoon too.
Good luck with your nourish project, very good focus of the year!
Yes, having a good quality protein powder really helps. It also helps if you like tofu and tempeh (which I do) but there really is a lot of protein in all sorts of plant foods. I just needed to focus my attention on it a little more.
You lost me at “sometimes I skip lunch” lol 🙂
Seriously though, I’m vegan too and never worry about protein. Agree with you, I’ve never known anyone with a protein deficiency! I once read something from a medical doctor saying all Americans get enough protein, even anorexics. The only people who don’t are stage 4 cancer patients. That really stuck with me!
Yes, no one has an actual deficiency. And if you have a normal healthy diet, i’m sure you don’t need to worry about it. I was definitely cheating myself by skipping meals and snacking on junk good.
This is a great reminder to double check your nutrition. I avoid tracking my food because it sends me into a spiral, but I think I will take a look at my protein intake. It’s always easier to snack on carbs — vegan or not – even if those easy foods aren’t very nutritious.
Yes, I think most people would reach for a carb snack. I don’t normally track my food, but this has been really good for me.
Love the protein/patriarchy link in the comments above. As a rhetorician, I think this is fascinating.
I do too! I’ve been thinking about it ever since she left that comment.
Funny you bring this up, because I just recently started paying more attention to protein… I’ve been tracking my food (just for fun) for a few years now but I never really paid attention to macros, but looking at my history, I can see that my intake definitely has large variability. Some days are fantastic,others not so much. I generally aim to “even out ” over the course of the week now with everything ( general calorie intake and macros), but I am not at a point where I am really consciously making changes to my diet/meal plan.
You’re probably doing pretty well, and the fact that you’re now aware of the discrepancies might just solve the problem without you having to do anything else.
Thanks so much for sharing this information! While I’m not a vegan, I don’t like to eat too much meat. Now that I’m focusing on getting in more protein, it’s making me think about non-meat sources for my protein and you gave me some additional sources to look into to. When i need quick protein, I love Vega protein powder, GNC Total Lean drinks and Barbell protein bars.
I’ll continue to share ideas when I can. It’s funny that we both decided to focus on this right now.
I would love to know what your protein powder is, Jenny, if you’re willing to share? In the same boat here… Thanks.
Anne, the brand is UpNourish. I get the chocolate flavor (there’s no sugar) and I buy it from Amazon. I really like it, but I know there are a lot of good ones out there.