Let’s clear up some of the crazy confusion regarding vegan protein. There are many myths out around that you might have heard of.
How much do I actually need?
Well, that depends what your goal is. If you just want to eat a healthy diet, or lose some weight, obviously your needs differ from someone who wishes to enter a bodybuilding competition.
Therefore the recommended amount of daily protein for most of us is 0.8g per kilo of healthy body weight.
Quick maths:
- You weigh 70kg but you should be around 60kg.
- Then use the latter number to come up with 60 x 0.8g = 48g of protein.
That is a good amount to aim for. Therefore look to consume around 50g -55g per day because some vegan protein doesn’t fully absorb due to our unique gut bacteria or even the high fibre content of our foods which remove some of the protein. Also; NO, you cannot get enough vegan protein by eating broccoli. One cup has 2.6g protein only. OR by sprinkling a teaspoon of spirulina into a fruit smoothie. Sorry. 10g spirulina has about 5.5g (depends on the brand)
Day of Standard Healthy Eating for Weight Loss
Here is an example of the vegan protein you could get in a standard healthy eating day for weight loss.
Breakfast:
- Let’s eat a generous 1/2 cup rolled oats mad into a bowl of porridge = 5g protein.
- Plus half a cup berries gives all up 6g protein for breakfast.
- 1 tablespoon of unsweetened defatted nut powder about 2g protein.
- Unless you use soya milk, other plant milks won’t offer any protein.
Midmorning:
- Celery and red pepper sticks and 2 TBS hummus = about 2g protein
Lunch:
- 2 cups mixed salad = 2g protein
- Let me add 1/4 cup cooked quinoa. That’ll add 2g of protein. It’s a good start.
- Let me sprinkle 1/2 cup red kidney beans onto your salad. That’s adding 8g
- Now let’s add 10g cashews. Good fat. That’s about 1.5g protein.
- Lunch gave you about 13.5g
Afternoon snack:
- An apple and 10g nuts = approximately 2g protein
Dinner:
- 1/2 cup of cooked spinach is 1.5g protein
- 3 tablespoons of cooked carrots is 0.4g
- 1 cup cooked broccoli is 2.6g protein
- 1/2 cup cooked brown rice 2.5g
- Let’s add a couple of lentil burgers which contain half a cup of cooked lentils, onions, some bread crumbs, herbs spices., 12g protein all up.
- Some mushrooms perhaps? 1/2 cup cooked = 1g
- Dinner was = about 20g
Evening snack:
- After dinner 1 date filled with a teaspoon almond butter…[it’s a little treat!] 2g protein
Roughly during the day we consumed about 48g of vegan protein.
Never an exact number, because there are seasonal variations of nutrient content in the food we eat.
However, can you see? We rely on tofu, lentils and beans to give us our concentrated protein hit. Nuts, broccoli or spirulina etc are the ‘supporting actors’ for our vegan protein.
For the past 25 years I’ve also added pure protein powders to my diet. Not those mixed powders with sweeteners, starches, oils and processed additives. Just pure plain pea and rice protein.
I add either a little amount to my oats, my soups and dips, or make a protein smoothie. Each full serving of powder gives me 20g. This means I never have to wonder if I’m lacking in protein.
If you would love to learn more about getting your vegan protein into a weight loss plan. Check out my programmes and cookbooks available in the shop. You may also find my other articles an interesting read, all vegan related!