Where do vegans get their protein?

Where do vegans get their proteins.

Iron, OK. B12, OK, but barely nobody knows about it. BUT PROTEINS ! Why do people always ask vegans where they get their protein ? That's something I do not understand. At all.

Okay, it can exist. For me, it has never been possible, as I have eaten tofu since I was a child, and I am really (really) interested in nutrition. You know, when you become a vegan, many people think you're giving up on everything. That's right. You give up on everything you have known since now.

You won't eat cheese, eggs, fish or meat anymore. These « foods » are source of proteins, that's why if you just give up on them and end up eating fruits, veggies and carbs, you might have a protein deficiency (RIGHT?). But veganism is not about giving up. It is all about changing and introducing new foods to your diet. It is about adding, not taking away.

As I told you, I have been grown in a healthy way, eating meat once a week, enjoying tofu and beans during all my childhood. And when I went vegan, I knew I had to just replace dairy proteins with beans, legumes and tofu.

Easy.

But not for everybody.

Here are the protein sources that I use almost everyday and often use in my recipes.

Red lentils are my favourites, because their are really high in proteins an iron, and are quick to cook. I use them in lentils dahl, lentil soup (or add them in regular vegetables soup) or simply in a lentil salad with quinoa (their cooking time is almost the same).

Chickpeas. How I love chickpeas! I use them to do falafels, hummus, chickpea buddah bowl, cheesy pasta sauce and so on. Mmh, just thinking about doing a whole recipes post avbout them...

I add chia seeds to my smotthie bowls, on top of my salads or to my oatmeal. Chia seeds are really high in Omega-3 fats, fibers and proteins. You can also do a chia pudding and flavour it as you like.

Tofu. Tofu. Tofu. Flavourless? Not with spices. I cook it almost in any way. With sesame seeds and tamari sauce, with barbecue spices in a pan, I just fry it with some oil and salt and add it on top of my salads. I use it to do vegan mayo sauce or thai soup. Add it to my buddah bowl, cook it with loads of veggies, add some curry and lots of soy cream and enjoy with basmati rice. It can suit everybody's tastes.

If you do not like legumes, you can hide them in a vegetable soup, or add lots of veggies and spices that you like.

Proteins are really important for cell building. They help you being strong an healthy. They help your immune system, are needed to build muscles and cells.If you have a balanced diet, you do not risk a deficiency at all. But many people go vegan and just give up foods, instead of introducins new foods. Other peoples give up on becoming vegan because they think they won't get enough protein. That's wrong. Totally wrong.

Because we are not used anymore to eat properly, and we have been raised with meat and dairy products for most of us, we don't really know how to eat healthily on a vegan diet. It can be easy to have deficiencies if we only give up on some foods without eating a good variety of whole foods.

But the protein deficiency will never be a problem for vegans (the only people in this world who have a protein deficiency are undernourished people).

Just eat what you like, don't forget to have a bit of beans, tofu or lentils every now and then and you'll be all right.

Love // Maggie