Seeking Health

With weight loss goals in the air, protein praise is everywhere...

Though herbivores can easily get plenty of protein, here are 6 ways to ensure you don't have to worry about it:

1. Like the koala-fied star of the meme, aim for at least 3 hefty servings of leafy greens every day. One serving equals 1 cup raw or 1/2 cup cooked, so it is super easy to meet this goal by including a daily salad, soup, and side of cooked greens.

2. Consume at least 3 servings of legumes every day. One serving equals 1/2 cup of lentils, beans, peas, or soy foods. Throw beans over salad, whip up a batch of hummus (mmm...hummus), cook up a stew or soup with beans and/or lentils, and/or use beans to make a delicious oil-free dressing (see recipe ideas below).

3. Look how ubiquitous protein is in the plant kingdom with just some of the protein superstars and the amount of protein they contain per cup:

All beans (10-29 g)

All seeds (24-58 g)

Nuts/nut butters (20-64 g)

Tofu (11 g/4 oz)

Tempeh (41 g)

Seitan (31 g/3 oz)

Peas (9 g)

Lentils (18 g)

Soy milk (7 g)

Spinach (5 g)

Broccoli (4 g)

Pasta (8 g)

Brown rice (5 g)

Quinoa (9 g)

Veggie burger (13 g)

4. Remember that we only require approximately 10-15% of our calories to come from protein. The average woman needs about 46 grams per day and the average man, 56 grams per day, according to the Institute of Medicine. This can also be looked at in grams per kilogram bodyweight per day (g/kg/d), which looks like this by age:

--->

1.5 g/kg/day for infants

1.1 g/kg/day for 1-3 y

0.95 g/kg/day for 4-13 y

0.85 g/kg/day for 14-18 y

0.8 g /kg/day for adults >19 y

1.1 g/kg/day for pregnant (using pre-pregnancy weight) and lactating women

5. Include 1-2 ounces of nuts per day for a boost of protein along with healthy fats, fiber, vitamin E, L-arginine, and plant sterols. Also, including a sprinkle of seeds can provide protein packaged together with essential fats, vitamin E, fiber, trace minerals, and phytochemicals such as lignans, an uber-powerful health-promoting nutrient.

6. Simply ensure you are consuming adequate calories. I do not advocate calculating numbers, but make sure you are eating enough to meet your needs and preferentiating *whole* foods (not processed products, which are stripped of protein and other essential nutrients). You can monitor this by your energy levels, on the scale by weight, and by performance in workouts.