I don't get enough protein (vegetarian)?!


Question: I was wondering what were some ways to get more protein. I eat nuts, granola, oatmeal, some tofu, a lot of beans, rice, salads, and occasionally eggs. Everyday I make it to about half of my protein requirements. What are some good low calorie shakes/bars I can try? I feel fine. Are there any protein filled things that I am missing?

PS. I don't eat wheat gluten for the most part (mom's celiacs and I can't eat too much of it). I also avoid milk(hurts my tummy) and cheese (makes me fat - i lived on cheese sandwiches for several months and it didn't end well).


Answers: I was wondering what were some ways to get more protein. I eat nuts, granola, oatmeal, some tofu, a lot of beans, rice, salads, and occasionally eggs. Everyday I make it to about half of my protein requirements. What are some good low calorie shakes/bars I can try? I feel fine. Are there any protein filled things that I am missing?

PS. I don't eat wheat gluten for the most part (mom's celiacs and I can't eat too much of it). I also avoid milk(hurts my tummy) and cheese (makes me fat - i lived on cheese sandwiches for several months and it didn't end well).

I'm betting you have Type O blood. We don't do well with glutenous grains or dairy.

Stay away from soy/tofu... you can't access the protein in it and it will block you from absorbing nutrients from other foods.

Peanuts and cashews do not count... they are not nuts.
Roasted nuts are dead... no good for you.
You have to eat RAW nuts... almonds, pecans, macadamias, filberts, walnuts, brasil nuts, etc.
Eggs are excellent, but make sure they are organic eggs from chickens that are allowed to roam about in a real yard, and fed stuff other than grains.
Deep green veggies, as in salads are a good source of protein. One good way is the "green smoothie"...
Pick up the book "Green for Life" by Victoria Boutenko, who did a nice clinical trial of this... basically you put about 2 cups of water, 3 big fistfulls of your favorite salad greens, 2 bananas, and 1-1/2 to 2 cups of your favorite frozen fruit (I like berries) and buzz that in the blender. Drink a quart a day. This really fixed up my own gut. It really helps if you have a "high end" blender such as a Vita-Mix or a Blend-Tec because it won't heat the food up and kill the enzymes.

Calories are not the problem. Getting enough live foods packed with life-giving enzymes are the priority.

i live on quorn!

Supplement with protein power that gluten free.

Why don't you just go to the health food store and buy protein supplements. Its like a vitamin but with protein.

eat plenty of legumes like split peas, lentils, garbanzos
theyre great and will give you lots of protein and iron

you should try some protein bars. there is like a whole aisle of just healthy protein bars and shakes in stores like wal-mart that are loaded with protein. i've eaten body builder bars that have as much as 20g of protein in it. they also build muslce; i ate them for about a month everyday and noticed my legs looking stronger. and eggs are loaded too, so maybe eat those more often

Heres a great source of information for you as a vegetarian. I hope you'll check it out. I found great recipes, lots of information about nutrition and a lot of great people who are veggies or vegans.

BTW did you know that more than 50% of Americans are lactose intolerant? I suspect you are from what you've said.

Soya (Soy) milk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soy_milk

It has more protein than cows milk.

http://www.silksoymilk.com/

http://www.sogoodbeverage.com/

I think it tastes better than cows milk anyway!

beans ,broccoli , Multi. grain breads, vitimans,snacks - peanut butter and honey sandwitches ,yogurt and granola, black berries, cearal bars aka lunar bars and friut snacks

I think your suppose to have 25 grams of protein a day, start looking for syptoms of being low on protein, one is lose of your hair. Go to www.vegetariantimes.com, this website will give you great recipes for vegetarian eating. I'm vegetarian too but I don't find it too hard to get protein, I also eat oatmeal and lots of cereals.
Good Luck! ~CRG

http://www.pcrm.org/health/veginfo/vsk/p...

most local pharmacys have soy protein pills, that should help you get your daily proteins.

TVP, Quorn, Linda McCartney products all contain protein, nuts are good too for a boost but not on their own. If you are unable to eat these products because of coeliacs disease (haven't got the label atm so can't tell you if there is any wheat gluten in them - but I have IBS and have never had a problem and I am slightly sensitive to gluten.)

Quorn is esp. good because it is quick and easy to prepare unlike most TVP products on the market.

Quorn contains almost the same amount of protein as an average portion of meat too so it will be beneficial for you as you need more protein.

Eating protein with carbs also aids digestion of proteins so try things like beans on toast, or quorn mince with pasta and make a spag bol or something out of it, eggs are a good supply of protein if you are able to eat them.

Hope this helps, would have included more detail but I'm in work atm!

why do you think you don't get enough protein if you feel fine ?

Maybe 5 minutes reading this page on what protein is, what it does for us, and where veggies get it:

http://www.vegsoc.org/info/protein.html

If you feel fine, why worry ?

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/prot...

Oh, protein is in every living thing. Don't worry about it. You cannot avoid it.
Besides, we create protein in our bodies by combining amino acids. So, all of the whole proteins you consume is first broken down into amino acids before being used. So, obviously that takes a lot more energy to do that than if you were to consume amino acids that were not yet formed into protein. So, look up the foods that are high in amino acids... fruit, yams, sprouts,... well, it's a long list. Skip that dairy. You mentioned protein requirements -- what's that? You don't need to think about such silly things. As I've said before, I know people that live on pure junk food and somehow they get enough protein... they are alive etc. ... sure, they can't keep up with healthy people, but they are not worried about b12, protein, omega this and that... and they seem to get around fine. As long as you are eating well, that's all you need.

i would just try to eat more eggs. "raw" bars are good too.





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