I am toying with giving up meat for at least a couple of months to see what effects it has on lifestyle, fitness and such. I’m a college student and am incredibly lazy when it comes to feeding myself but I do have some decent knowledge of dietary needs so I have to know, what is a quick source of protein for you vegitarians?
I am a vegetarian but not vegan. So I do eat cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. I occasionaly eat fish and at the holidays may have a small piece of turkey breast. I eat beans and tofu. I haven’t had red meat or pork in about 15 years. Just the last couple of years I have been using some protein powder but I can’t say I noticed any difference (except the wallet).
Aloha,
Larry
I don’t eat meat or dairy (exception of whey protein). I tend to eat a lot of beans, lentils, and soy products. I also add TVP (textured vegetabe protein) to pasta sauce and anything else that has a saucy consistency.
The quantity of protein you eat is less important than the timing of the protein you eat. Just make sure you get a hit of it within that first hour post-workout and you can avoid the steak at dinner.
I know i’m ignorant but not sure if vegetarians do eggs, if so there’s your protein… lots of egg whites. and lentil beans are great
I use a lot of whole grain cereals which contain 8-10g protein/serving. Soymilk also provides a fair amount.
Switching to a vegetarian diet can take a lot of planning. I also gave up eating meat while in college and did basically everying thing the wrong way; didn’t get enough protein, had problems with anemia, got mono, etc… so you have to be careful. Also the amount of protein that you need to take in will increase depending on how much training you are doing. I am training for IMMOO and eat some kind of protein 5-7 times a day-- sources include; boost or nouriche for a quick post workout protein/carb, beans, tofu, fake meat like boca burgers, cottage cheese, eggs, nuts, protein powder mixed with yogurt and fruit for smoothies, I do eat fish which helps… for someone who describes themself as ‘lazy’ 
I would really suggest that you plan in advance what you are going to eat for protein and make sure you have it on hand, to make things easier on yourself. Good luck! Alison
I would start by looking at what you eat now. People seem to focus on dairy products and beans for sources of protein, but rice, pasta, bread etc have a substantial amount. Unfortunately I can’t comment on the types of proteins involved, but at some level, protein is protein. I suspect that unless you are on a nearly all meat diet, you will get quite a lot of protein already that you may not have been aware of.
I think it’s been 7 years since I stopped eating meat. About a year ago I started eating fish again for a couple reasons, mostly related to laziness – it takes less time to cook than beans/rice (high quality/low effort) and it opens up some more fast food options which occasionally my job requires.
Andy
I’ve been a vegetarian for 15 years, most of my life. I don’t have a trouble getting the protein, other posters have listed just about every source of it above. Make sure that you get enough Iron, Iron helps your blood absorb oxygen, so if your not getting enough it’s the equivelant of driving a car with a clogged air filter. Iron supplements aren’t really recommended from what I hear. Spinach, and other leafy greens are great sources. My nutritionist explained to me that leafy greens is where animals get their iron, so it’s actually better to get it from the primary source rather than the secondary.
Triathlete magazine ran an article in this issue or the one before that discussed being a vegetarian triathlete. It’s one of the few articles from Triathlete that I’d recommend.
Jonathan
I’ve been a vegetarian for about five years now and I think everyone else has mentioned all the sources of protein. The main thing I can think of that’s worth mentioning is that everyone seems to take to it a bit differently. I believe anecdotally that it’s perfectly healthy for some people and maybe not as much for others. Somebody mentioned getting anemia, another emphasized iron. Three or so years into being a vegetarian, my blood was checked in a physical and found to have too much iron. Go figure. BTW there are many great books out there, one you might want to look into is called “The Student’s Vegetarian Cookbook” or something like that. Discusses vegetarian options for students (duh) with little time and money (and what your cafeteria might have that works).
Was raised a vegetarian but have sometimes drifted into and out of the fish/chicken realm. With a serious training regimen I have been trying to up my protein intake. These are some things that have worked for me
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Get a food protein content guide and track your intake for a week. You’ll quickly figure out how much of what you need to focus on to get enough. It is amazing how much protein we need while training.
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Whey protien in a smoothie every morning - simple and about 20g. Whey has a good mixture of amino acids - I think better than soy
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Throw a cup of TVP into anything you cook that is a sauce.
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Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah). This is a whole grain that apparenlty has an amino acid content that most closely resembles what we need. You can eat it as hot cereal or use it instead of couscous for making tabouli.
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Yeah - get a cook book. It takes alot of energy and planning to be a healthy vegetarian. There are a few good vegetarian mags (vegetarian times) that come monthly. Gives you variety, advice, and often enough recipes to make it through the month.
Good luck…
BEANS- all kinds including black beans, garbanzos, lentils, green or yellow dried peas, soybeans- any and all legumes. Lots of iron also.
anything whole grain - whole wheat pasta, bread, brown rice. tastes better, too. peanut butter. lotsa legumes - chili, chickpea/garbanzo beans (and stuff that’s made from chickpeas like hummus), lentils. milk, eggs, cheese (unless you’re going vegan). tofu, tempeh. getting enough protein is not a problem unless you’re a bodybuilder or powerlifter (and even then, I think there are vegeterian bodybuilders - lots of soy protein shakes). as endurance athletes, we need a lot of complex carbs, which vegeterian diets are very good at providing. the high fiber content also slows digestion, making you feel more full and lowering the glycemic index of the meal (the one thing that the Atkins diet got right, imo).
…whey+soy protien/soy milk shake after every hard workout & one for breakfast, too.
an interesting string might be: Meat eaters, where do you get your fruits, vegtables, & phytochemicals?
The May issue of Vegetarian Times has a great table on protein sources. Here is how they stack up, with the grams of protein pertaining a 1 cup serving size:
low-fat cottage cheese - 29 g.; low-fat ricotta cheese - 28 g.; seitan - 26 g.; soybeans - 26 g.; lentils - 18 g.; TVP or TSP (textured vegetable or soy protein) - 16 g.; tempeh - 16 g.; split peas - 16 g.; navy beans - 16 g.; kidney, lima, black, pinto and great northern (white) beans - 15 g.; chickpeas and black-eyed peas - 15 g.; quinoa - 11 g.; soymilk (plain) - 11 g.; soy yogurt (vanilla) - 10 g.; veggie burgers and hot dogs - 10+ g.
The table in V.T. al;so has information on the pros and cons of each of the above foodstuffs.
In my own case, i get most of my protein from soy, chickpeas, tofu, and quinoa, with lesser amounts from seitan, tempeh, and other beans. I’m also not Vegan, so I use dairy and eat fish, although for the latter not too frequently. I am 56, and started vegetarianism (by my standards) in November '03. I had a very good year in triathlon last year, and ran Boston from a qualifier I did about three weeks after I became vegetarian. I don’t think that my performance suffered at all from eliminating meat products, and as last season was by far my best in multisport, I wonder if my performance was actually enhanced. It is hard work, though, requiring a lot of hours of cooking and a constant evaluation of what I’m eating. I have recently re-introduced lean chicken and turkey into my eating regimen, but only on a very limited basis (once a week or less). Perhaps as the season gears up I will eat more poultry just to see if there is any descernible difference in my performance with the addition of another source of protein. All of this makes for a very interesting journey, and I hope you enjoy and benefit from yours.
22 years a vegetarian, and it’s not harmed my performance at all. You do have to learn to balance your diet though, and you’ll have to spend more time learning about the protein sources etc. You can’t really just drop meat and replace with ‘something else’. It’s all about balance.
I’m not vegan, and a few years ago I started eating some fish because I worked at sea. With limited food stocks on board, being vege wasn’t healthy so I added tinned fish as protein and that worked. Now I eat it occasionally, but only wild caught fish, I’ve learned I can live with that.
Try to go more than a couple of months, think about a year, it takes a while for your body to get used to it, and longer for you mind to get used to not eating meat.
J.
all of the above are good. i eat lots of nuts, beans and lentils, etc. i also eat things like Boca burgers and Quorn (the best faux-chicken in the world, made from a mushroom-like fungus).
I’m not a vegetarian, but I love soy curls (www.butlerfoods.com). Same idea as TVP (textured vegetable protein), but much better, and supposedly healthier b/c they’re made with whole soy beans (more fiber, etc.). I like to rehydrate them with some soy sauce and curry paste added to the hot water. maybe a little garlic, chilli powder, cumin, whatever taste you feel like. let them sit for 5-10 minutes, brown them in a wok, and you’re good to go.
I like the taste/texture about as much as I do that of meat, and they’re a heck of a lot easier to prepare - no bones or tendons in soy curls. I use them in stir frys a lot.
I buy them in bulk direct from the web page (call the phone number). 12 lbs. for something like $60.
J
Loved eating Quorn when I was in England but I can’t get it in Japan. Whenever I go back I put a few packets in a chiller bag to bring back. The aircraft hold keeps it cold.
Mind you, I get a lot of good tofu here which is my main protein source. My standard lunch is Tofu and Soba - 60 g Carbs, 21g protein
Lots of variety is the key too.
Goose
Just got the latest issue of vegetarian times (May 2005). There is an article on best protein sources with a helpful table of the top 15. Although I am sure this violates lots of copyright laws, I will scan in the table tonight and post it.
jude
Dave Scott is a Vegetarian.
So is KRS1.