At Sewall House we provide mindfully prepared vegetarian food for our guests. It’s simply our belief in the health and environmental benefits of vegetarianism that inspires us to offer those foods to the guests that come to our retreat, where wellness is our priority.
The purpose of this article is to explore and address one of the biggest fears and misconceptions around eating a vegetarian diet, “how do I get enough protein?” In order to understand the pros and cons of protein and vegetarianism, it’s important to understand what protein is, how our bodies obtain it, what foods provide protein and to what extent we need to eat them in order to get enough.
Guests who are not vegetarian and open-minded to try may learn from the experience. Some guests are curious about what leaving meat off the plate every once in a while is like, or even how to do it. Our hope is that in this article you’ll find the confidence and tools to incorporate plant-based proteins into your diet in a knowledgable way and delight in the health benefits.
To begin, here are some important facts about protein:
- 20% of your body is made up of protein
- Your body doesn’t store protein, so you need to get enough each day
- Once in the body, protein breaks down into amino acids
- Amino acids are classified as essential and non-essential
- There are 9 essential and 11 non-essential amino acids
- Your body can produce non-essential amino acids
- Essential amino acids must come from food
- Protein sources vary in the types of amino acids they contain
- Animal proteins are similar to the proteins in your body and tend to contain a good balance of all the amino acids we need, making them generally “complete”
- Many plant-based proteins are considered “incomplete” because they lack one or more of the essential amino acids
It’s crucial to understand that your body doesn’t need every essential amino acid in every bite of food of every meal you eat. You just have to make sure you get all of your essential amino acids each day. “Most dietitians believe that plant-based diets contain such a wide variety of amino acid profiles that (even) vegans are virtually guaranteed to get all of their amino acids with very little effort.”
For the average sedentary adult, women should eat about 46g protein per day and men should eat about 56g worth of protein. These numbers vary depending on your activity level. Below is a list of some of the most popular ingredients we use in the Sewall House kitchen and how many grams of protein they provide:
DAIRY
1 EGG = 6G
1 SLICE CHEDDAR = 7G
3 TBSP COCONUT MILK =1G
1 CUP WHOLE MILK = 8G
1 CUP ALMOND MILK = 1G
1 CUP SOY MILK = 8G
NUTS
1 CUP PECANS = 9G
1 TBSP ALMOND BUTTER = 3.4G
1 CUP ALMONDS = 20G
1 CUP WALNUTS = 12G
1 CUP CASHEWS = 24G
1 TBSP PEANUT BUTTER = 4G
SEEDS
1/2 CUP SUNFLOWER SEEDS = 15G
1/2 CUP CHIA SEEDS = 16G
1/2 CUP SESAME SEEDS = 12G
1/2 CUP OF FLAXSEEDS = 12G
LEGUMES
1 CUP COOKED BLACK BEANS = 15G
1 CUP COOKED KIDNEY BEANS = 15G
1 CUP COOKED CHICKPEAS = 15G
1 CUP COOKED LENTILS = 24G
1 CUP COOKED MUNG BEANS=14G
GRAINS
1 CUP COOKED BROWN RICE = 5G
1 CUP WHEAT FLOUR = 13G
1 CUP COOKED BASMATI RICE =5G
1 CUP COOKED COUSCOUS = 6G
1 CUP DRY OATS = 12G
2 TBSP COCONUT FLOUR = 5G
1 CUP COOKED PASTA = 7G
VEGETABLES
1 CUP AVOCADO = 3G
1/2 CUP COOKED SPINACH = 3G
1 POTATO = 4.3G
1 ONION = 1.2G
1 CUP BUTTERNUT SQUASH = 1.4G
1 CUP PEAS = 8G
FRUITS
1 CUP BLUEBERRIES = 1G
1 APPLE = 0.5G
1 BANANA = 1.3G
1 CUP CHOPPED DATES = 3.6g
If your favorite vegetarian food was left off the list, you can easily type in to google “how much protein in ____” and find what you’re looking for. Packaged foods will list this information for you. Remember, when eating vegetarian you must be conscious of eating a variety of foods throughout the day to ensure you’re getting a diverse and complete amount of essential amino acids. Below are some examples of vegetarian foods and food pairings that provide all 9 essential amino acids:
Amaranth
Barley + Lentils
Buckwheat
Chia Seeds
Eggs
Ezekiel Bread
Greek Yogurt
Hemp
Hummus + Pita
Lentil Soup + Whole Grain Roll
Oatmeal + Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter Sandwich
Pumpkin Seeds
Quinoa
Rice + Beans
Rice + Chickpeas
Rice + Lentils
Seitan
Soy
Spinach Salad + Sunflower Seeds
Spirulina + Grains
Spirulina + Nuts
Tempeh
Whole Wheat Toast + Nut Butter
Sewall House Yoga Retreat has a great resource for its guests to continue their vegetarian experience when they go home, the cookbook A Taste of Sewall House at Home by Ravi Kirin. Her recipes are loaded with plant-based nutrients and protein. One of the biggest fan favorites, the Spicy Potato Curry provides about 10g protein per serving. The French Lentil Soup comes in at 10g per bowl, the Black Bean Soup has about 15g per serving, the Raw Lime Pie has 4g per slice, Apple Pear Crisp has about 7g per slice and the famous Trustworthy Seedy Bread has 5g per slice.
To walk you through a day of eating at the retreat, here is a simple sample meal plan with a total of 63g protein and all of the essential amino acids:
Breakfast
2 eggs + 1 piece of seed bread + peanut butter and a banana
22g
Lunch
Cheddar grilled cheese on seed bread + lentil soup
27g
Dinner
Spicy potato curry
10g
Dessert
A slice of raw lime pie
4g
We hope that this information leaves you feeling confident and excited to try out a vegetarian diet during your stay at Sewall House Yoga Retreat or at home. There are so many resources out there to support any questions you have about leaving your meat behind, even if just for a few days. Below is a list of resources we pulled from to write this article and more that will serve you well if you want to research the benefits of vegetarianism even deeper:
On environmental benefits of eating a vegetarian diet:
https://www.downtoearth.org/go-veggie/environment/top-10-reasons
http://time.com/4266874/vegetarian-diet-climate-change/
On the difference between animal and plant-based proteins:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/animal-vs-plant-protein
On plant-based foods with complete proteins:
https://www.rd.com/health/healthy-eating/complete-protein/
https://greatist.com/health/complete-vegetarian-proteins
On health dangers of eating meat:
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/carbon_monoxide_report_apr_2008.pdf
https://www.ecowatch.com/5-dangerous-substances-big-ag-pumps-into-your-meat-1881903038.html[/fusion_text][/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
Enjoy!
