Karen says I don’t get enough protein

Almost every week I get messages from the same person insisting that I don’t get enough protein or that it is impossible to get enough protein on a vegan diet. To save this person from public shame, I’ll call them Karen.

Karen has no real argument against veganism and she uses the “no protein” excuse because she’s too lazy to do any real research.

But I digress…

As I’ve done in a previous blog post, I decided to record all of my food for a week, plonk it in Cronometer and then calculate whether I was getting enough protein or not.

But let’s get a bit more specific. At the moment I weigh around 60 kilos (which, according to Google, is 9ย stone, 6.3ย lb) and therefore I should get around 47.5g of protein per day (according to this website). So I customised my protein requirement in Cronometer, making sure that it was set to 47.5g of protein per day.

Fun fact: I couldn’t even cheat and pick protein-rich meals for the week as Wonderful Husband had already written out the shopping list. Beware, it’s one of the junkiest food weeks we’ve had in a long time. Wonderful Husband blames me for this.

Who wants to eat a salad when it’s cold though?

So get ready for a list of the meals I had and how much protein I got. By the way, don’t lose your mind when you don’t see the words ‘mock’ or ‘vegan’ in front of every single food item, it’s not necessary because you know I’m vegan already.

Friday 6th of November

Breakfast: I’m too cool for breakfast
Lunch: Duck with peanut sauce, rice noodles and salad
Dinner: Pizza and chips
Snack: A pomegranate

116%. Karen, can you believe this?

Saturday 7th of November

Breakfast: I have a life to live!
Lunch: Jacket potato with cheese, chicken and mayonnaise
Dinner: Spaghetti bolognese
Snack: A pomegranate and a persimmon

It’s like I’m the president of protein.

Sunday 8th of November

Breakfast: Crumpets with peanut butter
Lunch: Mushroom clay pot (I hate this dish)
Dinner: Chicken stir-fry with rice
Snack: Bread with cheese

I’m so protein deficient right now.

Monday 9th of November

Breakfast: Oats with banana
Lunch: Cauliflower and lentil soup with brown bread
Dinner: Pizza and chips
Snack: ‘Twas the day of no snacks

Karen, are you jealous of all my protein?

Tuesday 10th of November

Breakfast: Oats with banana
Lunch: Cauliflower and lentil soup with brown bread
Dinner: Chicken burgers and chips
Snack: A persimmon

I’m not sure I can handle all of this protein!

Wednesday 11th of November

Breakfast: Crumpets with peanut butter
Lunch: Pasta with cheese and pesto
Dinner: Cashew pot pie
Snack: Left over cauliflower and lentil soup

Only 105% of my daily protein needs. How will I survive?

Thursday 12th of November

Breakfast: Toast with peanut butter
Lunch: Cashew pot pie with brown bread
Dinner: Pasta with cheese and pesto
Snack: Left over cashew pot pie

And there we have it. Every single day I got a fantastic amount of protein and over the week I averaged around 130% of my daily protein needs.

So the next time Karen wants to message me about my protein intake, I’ll have this blog post ready. Maybe she’ll come up with something a bit more exciting against veganism next week.

If you want to become a protein-deficient vegan like me then feel free to reach out and message. I’d love to hear from you and give you my support.

Thanks for reading ๐Ÿ’š

22 thoughts on “Karen says I don’t get enough protein

  1. Sam says:

    Great post yet again. Your food diary (minus the nuts!) sounds so delicious!! I hear this โ€˜argumentโ€™ a lot from people who think that vegetarians are protein deficient because of the lack of meat / fish in the diet. So as a vegan, you must battle with defending yourself 100 times more!!

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Eric Gamble says:

    Well looks like you found a way to supplement your protein for sure. Now this is an honest question…just like with everything we know that all protein is not equal in quality or effect on the body. The reason I bring this up is that certain proteins like soy, pea, or some hemp style proteins have often caused me gastric distress even whey protein causes me issues. Thus, if you were trying to build muscle you would have to up your grams to almost 1 gram per pound of body weight. Of course this may not be your goal, but if it was, what would you recommend cause that is a ton of nuts!! (I joke but I am sincerely asking)

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Geddy says:

      You don’t need to “supplement” – it’s just a part of the diet. A lot of the listed foods are more processed but simple healthy foods already have all the protein you need. Quinoa, lentils, beans, spinach, tempeh – I just had all of these things in a bowl for lunch. Tons of protein in all of those ingredients. You don’t need 1 gram per pound of bodyweight, that’s an insane amount of protein unless you’re a massive powerlifter who needs to eat crazy amounts of calories anyway and are just trying to flood your body in protein.

      Also, there is soy in _tons_ of products that aren’t marketed towards vegans so if you’re allergic to soy it’s more complicated than just eating non-vegan foods.

      Liked by 2 people

      1. The Crumby Vegan says:

        That’s a really good question, Eric ๐Ÿ™‚ Geddy has a good answer (thanks Geddy) and he is right, that there is so much protein in regular plant foods that are unlikely to mess up your belly, like quinoa. If I did want to gain a crazy amount of muscle, then I wouldn’t listen to someone like myself and instead I would normally watch YouTube videos by someone like Vegan Gains. I hope this helps! ๐Ÿ’š

        Like

  3. amayszingblogs says:

    Your food diary sounds delicious and very healthy it gives me an idea to improve my daily diet meal. Love this eating too much meats is not good for our health!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Michele @ ourredonkulouslife says:

    I dislike it when people say that without doing their research. When I mentioned to my fiance that I wanted to start eating less meat his response is always “You won’t get enough protein”. Just do your research or ask someone who is vegan. “hey could you explain how you get enough protein?” and I am sure they would be more than happy to explain.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. The Crumby Vegan says:

      As always Michele, you’re very right! I’ve not known a single vegan to not get enough protein, it’s almost unheard of (or maybe they are keeping it a secret lol). A well-planned diet should be fine for everyone. I hope you were able to prove your fiance wrong ๐Ÿ˜‰ ๐Ÿ’š

      Like

  5. Hooda says:

    People should start minding their own business. Why would this person even say anything to you?! He/she probably does not have a life. Be vegan if you want to be. You have nothing to prove to anyone ๐Ÿ™‚

    Liked by 1 person

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