Archive for April 11, 2012

Arguably one of the most frequent questions I (and vegetarians in general) get is “where do you get your protein?” I have found, in my 1.5 years of experience, that with a little planning it’s not terribly difficult to get enough protein. There’s protein in pretty much everything! You just have to be willing to branch out a bit. Continuing to eat the typical american diet of sugary cereal, iceberg lettuce and french fries will get you nowhere fast.

So. To demonstrate, I documented a day of eats and now I’m about to list the protein content of everything*. Ready? Here’s what I ate yesterday..

breakfast:
popped amaranth (1c = 28g)
walnuts (1c = 4g)
rice milk (1c = 1g)
maple syrup (nada)

snacks:
greek yogurt (6oz = 15g)
protein bar (1 bar = 10g)
greek frozen yogurt (1c = 12g)

lunch:
rainbow rice salad:
wild rice (1c = 6.5g)
black beans (1 c = 14g)
corn (1c = 5g)
peas (1c = 8g)
peppers (1c = 1.5g)
carrots (1c = 1g)

dinner:
hummus (1c = 12g)
pimento cheese (1c = 25g)
whole wheat pita (1 pita = 6g)
cabbage (1c = 1g)
mixed greens (1c = 0.5g)
balsamic dressing (nada)

other favorite sources:
hard boiled eggs (1 egg = 6g)
quinoa (1c = 24g)
lentils (1c = 18g)
peanut butter (1c = 64g)
any other type of nut/seed butter (35-50g)
nutritional yeast (1c = 85g)
chickpeas (1c = 12g)
white beans (1c = 19g)
any other kind of bean (1c = 10-20g)

This by no means is a comprehensive list! As you can see, there are many excellent, healthy, tasty sources of protein. It’s all about finding a balance and what works for you. While peanut butter is an absolutely wonderful source of protein, it’s also unfortunately a more excellent source of fat. I wouldn’t recommend downing a cup of peanut butter daily but a few tablespoons here and there are not only delicious but an excellent way to sneak in protein!

What are some of your favorite sources of protein?

*note: serving sizes listed don’t reflect my actual servings. I normalized everything to around one cup for comparison purposes. Although I probably could down a cup of pimento cheese if I didn’t believe my arteries would immediately clog.