"Where do you get your protein bro?" is a question I get asked all the time by guys when they find out I'm vegan.
Because of great propaganda in the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, people are still sure that in order to get enough protein you have to eat animal products.
Just to be clear, our body needs as little as 0.4 grams of protein per kilogram to sustain all the processes in the body and 0.8 grams of protein is more than enough for athletes and people that live a highly active life.
I'm 190 cm (6 ' 3) and 90 kg (200lbs) and I workout for at least an hour every day, so I need 0.8 * 90 to get my body to recover from, this means I need 72 grams of protein per day.
To get this amount of protein on a vegan diet is pretty simple if you regularly eat black beans(21g of protein in 100g), chickpeas(19g of protein in 100g), mung beans( 24g of protein in 100g) and buckwheat(6g of protein in 100g).
The list of high protein vegan foods is long and most of the vegans that eat a balanced diet get more than enough protein.
The supplement industry together with the fitness industry and the animal products industry, have created several myths -
- Meat, dairy and eggs are the only products with enough protein.
- Only animal protein has all the necessary amino acids.
- We need to consume at least 1.5 grams of protein if we do intense physical activity.
I would really like to point the mistakes in each of those claims, so that my fellow vegans that hear the same Bs claims I hear can feel safe.
Like I already wrote two paragraphs up, plant foods have more than enough protein to support the human body, moreover you can easily you can get much more protein simply because plant foods are easily digested and you can simply eat and digest more food.
Any mix of plant foods like rice and beans creates a perfect protein and contrary to animal products doesn't contain high amounts of harmful amino acids like methionine.
This is a claim made by the supplement industry to increase sales of protein powders and BCAA's, this amount of protein is relevant only to bodybuilders or othet professional strength athletes and doesn't promote better recovery.
Fellow vegans, don't get discouraged by the claims of you animal product eating friends.
Remmember vegans live longer.
Thank you for your time.
With love.
Eugene
