Protein forms the building block of every tissue in your body. Because this nutrient has such a strong association with meat in particular, you may wonder where vegetarians -- and particularly vegans, whose diets do not include any animal foods -- get their protein. Fortunately, many plant-based foods have adequate stores of protein. Provided you eat enough of these foods and enough calories, you should not have any problems meeting your protein needs.
Animal Proteins vs. Plant Proteins
While you can meet all of your protein needs by eating plant foods, animal foods do have one advantage -- each source contains all the essential amino acids in the proper proportions. Proteins are made of amino acids, but your body cannot make all of them; it can only get certain amino acids from the foods you eat. Plant-based proteins as a whole contain all the essential amino acids as well, but one particular food might might have lower amounts of a particular amino acid than you require. For example, the Vegetarian Resource Group notes that whole grains are lower in lysine, while legumes have lower amounts of methionine. If you are a vegetarian who consumes dairy and eggs, you will likely have no problem meeting your protein needs. If you follow a strict vegan diet or eat dairy and eggs infrequently, you must make sure you eat rich sources of plant proteins to ensure adequate intake.
Rich Sources of Plant-Based Proteins
Reed Mangels, R.D., Ph.D, writing for the Vegetarian Resource Group, says that soy, quinoa and spinach represent high-quality sources of plant protein that contain all of the essential amino acids. The American Heart Association notes you could just eat soy products and meet all your protein needs. This might not be the best solution for everyone, however; soy represents one of the most common allergens. Some controversy also exists about whether or not certain soy products are healthy. Other rich sources of plant-based proteins include oatmeal, brown rice and other whole grains, lentils, chickpeas, pinto beans, kidney beans, nuts and seeds.
Combining Plant Proteins
Because a particular food containing plant protein might have inadequate amounts of one or more amino acids, you may have learned that you must combine plant proteins at each meal to ensure you get all of the necessary amino acids at once in the proper amounts. This idea has been refuted, however. Dr. Joel Fuhrman, writing for his website DrFurhman.com, explains that the amino acids join together in the protein pool in your body, meaning that it is not necessary to eat them at the same time. Eating a variety of legumes, whole grains, seeds, nuts and vegetables will ensure you get all of the essential amino acids in the proper proportions.
Intake Recommendations
As important as protein is for various purposes, you actually do not require as much as you might think. Mangels states on the Vegetarian Resource Group website that for every 10 calories you consume, only 1 calorie needs to come from protein, which equates to about 10 percent of your diet. The common recommendation is about 0.8 to 1 g of protein per kilogram of body weight. Provided you eat the amount of calories appropriate for your energy needs, you should not have any worries about protein deficiency.
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