From where do i get my Protein?
There really is a before and after in so many different aspects, when it comes to transitioning from eating a Standard Diet including meat, dairy, and starch products (pasta, rice, potatoes) to live on fruit & vegetables. Before I became Raw Vegan, nobody cared about what I ate, or drank for that matter. I could eat whatever sh*t I wanted, and it was no problem. Nobody told me what I needed to be eating, what was good for me. If I was getting enough of…well anything. Nobody ever asked me if I was eating a varied diet. If I was getting all the nourishments that I need. Now the number one question I get asked today is: “…but from where do you get your protein?” NOBODY cares about your protein intake before you become vegan. Nobody! One friend of my mothers, who is a registered school nurse even asked me “but from where do you get your VITAMINS?” Of all the questions she might have had in her head, really, that’s the one who popped out? Vitamins? My vitamin levels are rising of the charts, lady! Registered school nurse? Vitamins? *SIGH* So, allow me to ask a counter question – What is Protein? First of all, all proteins are made by plants! You don’t have to eat MEAT to be healthy, to build muscles, to grow. If you think that, just look around you. Watch animal planet, for gods sakes. All of the largest, strongest mammals on earth are vegans! Then again, WHAT is protein? Proteins are large, complex molecules that are critical for the normal functioning of the human body. They are essential for the structure, function, and regulation of the body’s tissues and organs. Proteins are made up of hundreds of smaller units called AMINO ACIDS that are attached to one another by peptide bonds, forming a long chain. You can think of a protein as a string of beads where each bead is an amino acid. So what people really should be saying, is that we need amino acids, not that we need protein. And we definitely don’t need to eat animal tissue to get protein. Only plants have the ability to take nitrogen from the air, break those molecules apart and incorporate that nitrogen into amino acids and then make protein.Any protein you get from an animal is recycled protein….If we look at the daily recommendations for protein, its 0,8g per kg (0.4g per pound). So for a woman that’s around 46g and for a man 56g of protein intake each day. There is of course a margin for error. Most people would be just fine with less than that 😊, but that’s a good recommendation. Let me show you an example.If I’m eating 2000 calories a day and all I had was:- Broccoli My protein intake would be 146 grams- Lentils 157 grams- Corn 79 grams- Oatmeal 62 grams- Carrots 49 grams- Blueberries 48 grams- Brown Rice 43 grams- Potato (skinless) 42 gramsNow, I don’t recommend you to just eat like that, and I don't recommend lentils, oatmeal, brown rice or potatoes since Im promoting a RAW Vegan diet. But it gives you a good idea of that you don’t need to consume meat of any kind to get enough protein (amino acids) as long as you’re eating enough calories. And we all need to start somewhere, some need to transition slowly. Try to be a vegetarian or vegan, to start with if you need. But remeber, there is plenty of protein in fruits and vegetables to not only be sufficient, but to thrive!