High Protein Sources In A Raw Diet

A raw diet consists primarily of uncooked plant food. Rawists, those who eat raw a minimum 75 percent of the time, believe that heating food above a temperature of 116 degrees Fahrenheit destroys enzymes essential to proper digestion and nutritional absorption. Many rawists are also vegan, meaning they eat no animal products. Finding adequate sources of protein on a raw diet is not as challenging as it may seem.

Significance

Protein is an essential macronutrient present in almost all human tissue. Protein is necessary for cellular repair and growth explains Medline Plus. Protein is primarily found in meat, fish, eggs, dairy and soy. Many of these foods cannot be eaten raw, making finding a complete protein while on a raw diet challenging.

Types of Protein

Proteins may be complete or incomplete. Complete proteins are usually animal-based and contain all nine essential amino acids that the body cannot produce on its own. Plant proteins are usually incomplete, meaning they lack one or more of these essential amino acids. Combining plant protein sources can result in a complete protein--for example, beans and rice or peanut butter and whole grain bread. Many of the proteins rawists take in are incomplete.

Options for Rawists

A raw diet relies heavily on nuts and seeds for protein. Hemp protein powder and hemp seeds contain all 21 amino acids, including the ones that are not produced by the human body. Some rawists who eat raw only 75 to 85 percent of the time indulge in cooked animal or vegetable proteins occasionally to meet their protein needs. In the book "Raw Food, Real World" by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melnagailis, the authors advocate dark leafy greens as a good source of protein as well as other important nutrients like folate, calcium, iron and beta-carotene.

Requirements

The World Health Organization says that people need protein amounting to about 5 percent of daily calories, while the U.S. Department of Agriculture 6.5 percent. The Raw and Living Foods website points out that vegetables contain 20 to 50 percent of their calories from protein while sprouted seeds, beans and grains contain 10 to 25 percent protein. If you include a variety of raw foods, you will most likely obtain enough protein. Rawists also argue that heat destroys much of the protein in animal products, rendering it unusable by the body.

Considerations

Rawists, like Kenney and Melnagailis, challenge the belief that we need to obtain protein from animal sources. They note that a lot of the propaganda surrounding the necessity of animal protein comes from the meat, dairy and egg industries. Americans generally consume twice as much protein as is needed for health daily says the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics website.