The Importance of Protein | Plant-Based

Protein Protein is important in the diet for the repair and growth of cells and tissues, maintaining fluid balance, synthesizing hormones, energy, transporting nutrients in the blood, and the list goes on. Every tissue and organ in the body is made from protein. Protein is made up of a chain of amino acids (AA) linked together and there are 22 in total; 9 of which are considered to be essential. These 9 essential AA cannot be made in the body and therefore must be obtained from the diet.

How Much You Need As a minimum, you should aim for 0.8g of protein per kg of body weight. That can look like: 6 eggs, 2 cups of tofu, beans or lentils. Other good sources of protein include tempeh, nuts and seeds, brown rice, broccoli, etc. Not eating enough protein, which can be common among people who eat plant-based, can result in muscle loss, anemia and fatigue. A super effective and simple way of getting more protein in the diet is using protein powders. Adding protein powder to oats, a smoothie, yogurt or chia pudding for breakfast or as a daytime snack, will ensure you are meeting your daily protein requirements. Adding protein powder to bowls / smoothies is a great tool, especially for vegetarians and vegans who might not always reach their daily protein goals if they aren’t paying close attention to the quantity they consume. 

Complete Protein Food that has all the 9 essential amino acids at roughly equal amounts. Sources include animal proteins (like eggs) and soy. Some vegetarian sources of ‘nearly’ complete protein sources include quinoa, buckwheat, amaranth, ezekiel bread, spirulina, hemp seeds, chia seeds, and nutritional yeast. Incomplete proteins: protein sources that are missing or low in one or more essential AAs. Sources are plant proteins, like beans and lentils.

Protein Combining In order to make incomplete proteins complete, we can combine foods that are low in one AA with one that is high in that AA. For example, lentils are low in the AA methionine and grains are high in methionine, so if you combine them together, you will have a complete protein! This is important for vegetarians and vegans as most plant proteins are incomplete proteins. If the supply of any of the 9 essential AA runs out, the body will not be able to effectively make new protein, which is necessary for supporting life.