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 9 stone, 6.3 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 💚
The Crumby Vegan 
Great post yet again. Your food diary (minus the nuts!) sounds so delicious!! I hear this ‘argument’ 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!!
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Hahah thanks Sam! Yea, the protein argument is a common one… It’s always fun to disprove these nonsense claims though 🙂 💚
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I love how you broke everything down! And it is silly to think that you don’t get enough protein just because you don’t eat meat.
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You’re right! 💚
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It is such a misconception that meat is the only way to get enough protein! Your meal plan sounds delicious!!
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Yes exactly! I definitely wouldn’t call what I wrote a meal plan but it is super easy to get protein on a plant-based diet 💚
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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)
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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.
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That’s a really good question, Eric 🙂 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! 💚
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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!
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I agree that eating animals can be bad for our health. I would hope that you would eat healthier vegan foods than I did this week though! 💚
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Haha, your food diary is pretty interesting. I think it’s an easy misconception to think that only meat has protein that’s it’s important to research as nd educate people
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I completely agree, thanks Roshanna 💚
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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.
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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 😉 💚
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Firstly, I don’t understand how your nutrition is other peoples’ business. And secondly, I’m really surprised that this is still an issue with all the vegetarian and vegan restaurants and produce.
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Hahaha I wish more people thought like you! Yes, you’d assume that veganism is so mainstream now that people would have let go of the weird assumptions about protein by now! 💚
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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 🙂
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Hahah thanks Hooda 💚
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Great info to educate those to learn more about nutritions
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Thank you, Ting 💚
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