How do vegeterians get their proteins?

Question

I am 13 and was thinking about being a vegeterian but how can i get my protein?

Answer 1

The healthyest way to get protein is by eating a wide variety of good foods like fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, legumes, seeds. If you don't understand how you could possible get enough protein by eating these foods alone then let me explain.

First of all most people from the US, Canada, The UK (other countries as well) eat 2 to 5 times the amount of protein needed for their bodies. If the think eating lots of extra protein is a good thing, then you may want to think again. You know how your body stores fat when you eat too much fatty foods, too many carbohydrates, and junk food right? Ever wonder what your body do with all the extra protein you eat that it doesn't need? Unlike fat protein can't really be stored, and when you eat too much it becomes acidic in your body, it is hard on your liver and kidneys. To neutralize the toxic acid your body is wise enough to use the calcium from your bones. Over years and years of this happening you just might end up with osteoporosis or other health problems. Did you know that the countries who consume the most animal products (meat, milk, eggs) which are high in protein, fat, cholesterol and other harmfull things also suffer from the most Osteoporosis, heart disease, cancer and many other health problems? We are lucky to have a fairly good health care system (=

It is a myth that you need to eat whole protein for your body to get protein. Protein is made out of amino acids, there are 23 amino acids in a protein cell. Your body produces 15 of those amino acids, but the other 8 must be eaten in food. And guess what foods are rich with those other 8 amino acids? Fruit, vegetables, grains, nuts, seeds, legumes, and many of those foods contain 8 amino acids or even all 23. Like a lego construction your body puts together the amino acids to form a whole protein. Every animal has a slightly different variation of protein but is still made from amino acids. A cows protein would look different than a humans, a pigs protein would look different than a chickens etc
To digests foods that contain complete proteins like (meat, milk, eggs, nuts, beans like soy) it has to digest longer to break it down into amino acids before it can absorbe them, and then reconstruct them into human protein.

The time in your life when your body needs the most protein is between the ages of 1 day to 180days old, because in the time you double your birth weight. Human breast milk is made with only 5% protein. Now lets take a cow on the other hand, it produces milk that is rich with 21% protein, a baby cow grows much faster than a baby human. It doubles its birth weight in only 46 days. Here is another thing to think about how do such large and powerfull animals like horses, cows, elephants etc get enough protein to grow and rais their young, when all they eat is grass and some other plants? A calf for example weighs about 70lbs at birth and in less than 3 years it will weigh about 800 to 1500lbs, now that take a masive amount of protein to grow like that! Good thing, like all plant foods that grass is rich with amino acids (= Here is a video to do with a vegan bodybuilder who takes no protein supliments http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvEH7W_w1NA

I have been a vegan for 9 weeks and before that I was a vegetarian for 7 years, I used to eat eggs, and dairy sometimes.
But I feel great, and never felt better! I love lots of exercise and do some muscle building as well.

So as long as you eat lots of health foods and balance them out you should should stay very health indeed! do some research on google and you can find tons of great recipes. If you still wish to eat dairy products, eggs, and processed soy foods just remember moderation or not at all is the key (:

Answer 2

There is plenty of protein in veggies themselves. Look at some of the biggest animals on the planet - who eat nothing but veggies! Elephants. Cows. Buffalo.

There are legumes. Which include the soy bean and our trusty friend the Mighty Tofu. There is also grain protein and our other friend Seitan the Magnificent.

Tofu is a white "meat substitute" that is made from soy milk the same way cheese is made from cow's milk. 3 to 4 batches of soy milk are made. A coagulant is added. The the "milk protein" forms solids which are skimmed off and pressed.

Seitan comes from the vital gluten of wheat. Gluten comes as flour. It is formed into a dough then boiled. It's very meaty. Try Primal Sticks for an idea. Seitan has twice the protein and half the calories (with virtually NO fat!) to the same amount of steak.

http://www.primalspiritfoods.com/1oz_bar.htm

They're a dollar fifty or so each. Depending on where you buy. I've seen them for two fifty at really small health food stores.

There is plenty of protein in avocado and mushroom. As well as nuts. I'm very fond of veggies dishes topped off with nuts. Yum Yum. Cashews. Pecans. Walnuts. Almonds. Pine Nuts. Mix it up a bit. Try not to get your standard can of Plantars roasted salted. Go for more organic natural nuts.

Answer 3

You can get your protein from plenty of things besides meat. I am a vegetarian and have been for one year. One thing is to make sure you get enough protein as a vegetarian, but this is easy. We tend to think that plants don't have enough protein. Unfortunately people are taught that you can only get protein from chicken, streak, or any other meat, but this is complelelty false. As a thirteen year old right now you only need 41.2 grams of protein a day, which can obtained from eating almonds, spinach, beans, tofu, broccoli, eggplant, whole grains, peas, lentils, chick peas, etc and much more. This is a list that i found from a website that tells you the amount of protein grams in each food source. Item Serving Protein Carbohydrates 1. Soy Beans (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 29g 17g 2. Ricotta Cheese 1 Cup 28g 7g 3. Low Fat Cottage Cheese 1 Cup 28g 6g 4. Lentils (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 18g 40g 5. Bulgur (unprepared) 1 Cup 17g 106g 6. Split Peas (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 16g 41g 7. Oat Bran (unprepared) 1 Cup 16g 62g 8. Red Kidney Beans (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 15g 40g 9. Large Lima Beans (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 15g 36g 10. Rice - White Long Grain (parboiled) 1 Cup 13g 151g 11. Cowpeas (boiled without salt) 1 Cup 14g 36g 12. Yogurt (plain with skim milk) 8 oz/1 container 13g 17g 13. Potatoes (Gratin with butter) 1 Cup 12g 28g 14. Soft Tofu 1 Piece 8g 2g 15. Dry Roasted Peanuts (without salt) 1 oz/28 units 7g 6g The best thing also to make sure you get enough vitamins, and take supplements, such as a multiple vitamin, and omega oils, and calcium. If you complete all these things, you be fine with protein. Hope this helps out. If you go into barnes n nobles, you can find great cookbooks or even recipes online for vegetarians, that all provide great meals with plenty of vitamins and protein.

Answer 4

Protein is relativly easy to get, eapsecially if you are an ovo-lacto vegetarian (meaning you eat eggs and dairy) but here are some sources of protein

Soy and ALL soy products (including premade veggie foods like burgers and veggie dogs and tofu)
eggs
milk
cheese
nuts
Peanut Butter
beans (kidney, pinto, ect.)
Asparagus
Avocados
Bamboo shoots
Bananas
Barley
Broccoli
red cabbage
Cauliflower
spinach
Zucchini
green peas
Oatmeal
Brown Rice
and much more

Answer 5

Protein is the easiest thing to get. Most people eat too much of it. Follow the vegetarian food pyramid and you will be fine! I eat some soya and quorn products, whole grain pastas and breads, veggies, fruits,nuts, beans and since I am lacto-ovo, I also eat organic eggs and animal rennet free cheese.

Answer 6

Hello as a vegetarian you can get it from milk, eggs, cheese and yoghurt. 'Fake meats' refered to as analogs ie quorn which comes in mince, pieces, portions, sausages, burgers, ham flavour,turkey flavour, chicken style etc,etc, vegemince redwood fake meats i.e. cheatin' chicken, 'sos mix' and tofu. Mushrooms, beans, pulses and nuts are great non-animal sources of protein. Some people who eat fish will tell you that they are a vegetarian and they are not vegetarians per the vegetarian society eat neither fish nor flesh nor fowl.

Answer 7

You can take sufficient protein from soy bean food such as Tofu, beans, etc. Fish is also an excellent source of good protein. Protein from these are much better for your health than that from meat.

Answer 8

Peanuts, nuts and legumes have a lot of proteins.

Answer 9

Well you NEED whole protiens
Peanut butter with WHOLE WEAT bread
Or soy with another protien.
Also VITAMINS VITAMINS VITAMINS!

Can't even stress that enough.
without daily vitamins it can be hard to get everything you need

Personally I use GNC'S Mega Multii Vitamins

Answer 10

Nuts, beans, cheese if you do dairy