6 Plant Based Protein Rich Foods
I must admit, I’ve been quite resentful of protein in the past. When I was recovering from my liver transplant, the doctors and the resident nutritionist told me I had to eat 90 g of protein a day. That made me resentful of them, too. You see, I had been a vegetarian for 6 years by that stage and to then push red meat and turkey sandwiches on someone in order to help them heal felt like torture. Not to mention, I was already dealing with 24/7 nausea and trying to stomach meat products was not at all appealing.
Friends and family tried to help by making slow-cooked stews that made it easier to chew and digest. One of my friends even travelled from Brooklyn to the Upper West Side with Tupperware full of delicious spaghetti bolognese to try to help me in my plight. My aunt delivered organic turkey slices and gourmet chicken salad to try to lure me into it.
I never quite got used to having to eat so much meat in order to get in my daily allowance of protein. I don’t have a problem with meat and I’m certainly not a vegetarian evangelist. I may end up eating meat again one day, depending on the needs of my body. But I found that a necessary removal of my gall bladder resulted in an inability to easily digest fatty foods, which returned me to vegetarianism as soon as I could ease up on the protein intake.
My experience helped me to form my own ideas about protein. It pushed me to gather information about sources of protein beyond the standard meat-eating diet. The truth is, meat doesn’t work for everyone and our need for protein will shift depending on our age, activity levels and environment. But protein is important to incorporate into your diet. If you’re vegetarian or vegan, that will mean putting a little extra effort in - but it’s completely doable. Our skin, bones, muscles, hair, nails, and cartilage are mainly made of proteins which makes it a vital part of us and means we should make it a vital part of our diet. Most enzymes and hormones in our bodies are also proteins.
Here are some high-quality vegetarian protein sources:
Quinoa
Legumes (beans, peas, lentils)
Seeds (hemp, chia, flax)
Nuts (almonds, walnuts, cashews)
Nutritional yeast
Spirulina
Organic soy products (edamame, tofu, tempeh)
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