Plant-Based Protein
‘Wait...but what do you eat that has protein in it?’
To all my vegetarians, vegans or primarily plant-based individuals, raise your hand if you’ve been asked this one hundred times. You guessed it, today's topic is PROTEIN.
Debunk myths: The truth of the matter is, unless you are an extreme athlete, we probably don’t need as much protein as we think we do!
On average, Americans eat around 100g of protein per day. When the recommended amount is actually between 40-60g.
Myth debunked #2: We are probably digesting a lot more protein from our fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc. than we even realize. For example, protein accounts for 50% of the kcals in spinach (.7g per cup).
More often than not, when someone is craving protein, they have a desire for satiation more than anything else. When going about a plant-based lunch or dinner, let’s discuss the components we can put together for taste, satiation, and digestion.
For starters, sauté low glycemic vegetables (kale, broccoli, cabbage, mushroom, onion, lettuce, cauliflower, tomatoes, carrot, sweet potatoes, eggplant, celery, bok choy, zucchini, peppers) with olive or avocado oil. The veggies lower on the GI index are far less likely of spiking your blood sugar levels and causing a crash or craving later on. From there, I recommend a focus on FATS and foods rich in fiber.
Let’s add in some tomatoes. Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, which reduces cancer risk and cardiovascular disease. With that, Dr. Steve Gundry mentions that tomatoes are high in plant lectins. He recommends to skin them and take out seeds if a person were to eat them (also included in this list is peppers). These lectins inflame gut lining and inhibit absorption of nutrients (some people can handle more lectins than others).
When eating tomatoes, I love to pair them with avocado. Fats (aka avocado) make the lycopene more bioavailable. Finish with some chopped almonds or pecans and you have yourself a low glycemic, fiber rich, and satiating meal.
My final recommendation for my plant-based friends is to rest easy knowing you can receive all 22 amino acids if you take a supplement to support your diet. Overall, plant-based eating can be incredibly filling, a great way to lose weight, reduce autoimmune disease symptoms and amazing for your microbiome!
Our plant-based expert, ABBIE BEAR
Abbie studied nutrition at Chapman University from 2012 until 2016 and became a certified yoga instructor in 2015 at Ra Yoga. After having her own health struggles, Abbie credits yoga and her nutrition education to saving her -- body and mind. Through her experience of recipe testing in Los Angeles and working at a holistic cancer center, her drive to understand and educate herself on nutrition only continues to grow. She currently advises in nutrition and teaches yoga in Orange County.