After my article about a successful triathlete who eats only plant foods, I received many letters asking the same question: What diet would be suitable for a physically active person who gave up animal products?
I don’t think there is a one-size-fits-all recipe. We must adjust the baseline recommendations based on age, lifestyle, goals, health status, place of residence and other subjective factors. Therefore, take the daily menu offered below as a possible basis that should be adapted to your needs.
Another important point: this menu is not for bodybuilders preparing to perform, and not for professional athletes, but for those who lead an active lifestyle and care about their health. If you are faced with the task of preparing for the Olympic Games, then you should treat nutrition differently.
And one more disclaimer: I am not urging you to become vegan: no one has the right to do this, because the needs and body of each person are very different. I myself do not eat only plants. The purpose of this article is to show that veganism (if practiced correctly) can be a completely healthy and complete diet. And most of the stuff on my blog aims to promote unprocessed plant foods as the primary means of preventing health. That is, I urge to eat more plants, not only their.
Protein in a vegan diet
The main question that opponents of plant nutrition ask is where to get protein. “Quality protein is only found in meat,” they say. Once (after the message that I do not eat meat) I even heard the following: “You gave up protein, how do you feel now?” In short, in our view, “protein” is identified with animal food, if you do not eat animals, you do not eat protein. This is one of the myths that is deeply embedded in the minds of most people.
Protein is certainly an essential element that plays many key roles in the functioning of our body, but nevertheless, we do not need huge amounts of this substance. Protein should be the source of only one tenth of all calories consumed (World Health Organization recommendation). Vegan athletes, especially in the early stages of training, may need more protein than vegans who exercise at a moderate pace or are not very active.
How much protein do we need and where to get it for vegans
The recommended protein intake is 0,8 grams per kilogram of human weight. This recommendation is for most people with a traditional diet. The table below also contains recommendations for athletes:
If we tweak these recommendations a little, taking into account that some plant proteins are digested slightly differently than animal proteins, we get a different figure – 0,9 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. Based on this pThe recommended amount of protein for a 70-kilogram adult male vegan is about 63 grams per day; for an adult vegan woman weighing 55 kilograms – about 50 grams per day.
In the following table, I’ve compiled a sample daily menu that shows how easily a vegan diet can meet protein needs.
This table shows the protein content of some plant foods:
If you have given up on animal food in favor of exclusively white rice, pasta, bananas, beer and candy, then this “plant-based” diet will bring you to the hospital. Generally, the diet of health-conscious vegans is very varied, and if it contains vegetables, beans, grains, nuts and seeds, then there is rarely any difficulty in getting the required amount of protein (provided that the diet contains enough calories to maintain weight) …
Protein quality: which plant foods contain essential amino acids
The next point is the quality of the protein. We are talking about amino acids, which are the building blocks of protein. In fact, they are what we need! The human body is unable to produce 9 out of 20 amino acids, so these 9 amino acids are called essential. We must get them from food.
Some people believe that only eggs, cow’s milk, meat and fish are sources of high quality protein, that is, they contain a large amount of all essential amino acids. However, soybeans, quinoa, and spinach are also considered high quality proteins. Other non-animal protein sources generally contain all of the essential amino acids, but one or two of these amino acids may be negligible. For example, grains are not rich in lysine (an essential amino acid), and legumes contain less methionine (another essential amino acid) than the high-quality protein sources listed above.
This table lists the essential amino acids with the recommended daily intake and some plant foods with the content of these essential amino acids:
As a last resort, even if you only consume one type of grains, legumes and vegetables as a source of protein, but still get enough of these foods, your protein and amino acid needs will be met. But such a diet is rather monotonous, and you risk losing other nutrients.
Here are just a few examples, you can see more details about any product on your own on the sites that I indicate as sources. Of course, I keep repeating that it is better to eat a variety of foods throughout the day: unrefined grains, legumes, seeds, nuts, herbs and vegetables. Then, if one of the foods does not contain enough of a specific essential amino acid, the other will be able to make up for this deficiency.
Sources:
Committee on Dietary Reference Intake, Dietary Reference Intake for Energy, Carbohydrate, Fiber, Fat, Fatty Acids, Colesterol, Protein, and Amino Acids (I highly recommend this 1300-page work to those deeply interested in nutrition !!!!)
Position of the American Dietetic Association, Dietitians of Canada, and the American College of Sports Medicine: Nutrition and athletic performance.
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, 2008. Nutrient Intakes from Food: Mean Amount Consumed per Individual, One Day, 2005-2006
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Nutrition Data