Need more protein

[Tyness]

I am just starting, and I cannot seem to get much protien in my diet. I know that certain nuts and beans have protein, I just dont know what to do with them. Thy get kinds blah pretty fast. I have low blood sugar, and when I do I must eat protein (even before I was a veg. this was hard considering I hated the taste of most meat!). I need something quick and yummy. Help?

[PTree15]

Peanut butter will give you a good quick boost.

[imagineaa]

I know that certain nuts and beans have protein, I just dont know what to do with them. Thy get kinds blah pretty fast.

If beans and nuts are blah, as Napoleon Dynamite would say, you're doing it wrong. j/k

Seriously, have you tried adding different spices to your beans? There is SO much you can do with them--curried chic peas, Mexican-flavored refried beans, jerk-seasoned black beans, put them in patties and fry, add spice and dehydrate for a crunchy snack, make a dip by pureeing the beans with garlic, sprinkle them on salad, add them to salsa, eat cannelini beans to tomatoes, onion, olive oil, and salt for a nice salad.........and on to infinity.

Nuts and nut butters taste great on their own, but if you're bored with that, you can add them to smoothies, cookies, breads, salads............

[Mrrple]

Lentils, rice, beans, soy, oats.

[Malcontent]

Tofu, tvp, tempeh, seitan, soy milk, soy yogurt, nut milk, veggie burgers (not the bread crumb and few shredded carrot kind) and veggie dogs are all good sources of protein. And they could be put together into a meal fairly quickly or eat as they are.

[Eco_Veggie]

Eating corn and beans together creates a protein believe it or not

[Gita]

I really don't know why food needs to be exciting. There are so many bean recipies that you could eat beans with different textures every day of the week. Split pea soup, lentil stew with vegetables, Falafel or hummus, or garbanzo bean curry, chili, white beans with ranch dressing sauce, pickled 3 bean salad, baked beans, refried bean tacos, Cajun red beans and rice, black bean soup, bean burritos, navy beans... Beans are the all purpose food. You can smash them, spread them, stew them, spice them, soup them, sauce them, make them into patties and grill them. Nope, I don't see anything bland about them.

[Mr. Sun]

If beans and nuts are blah, as Napoleon Dynamite would say, you're doing it wrong. j/k

Seriously, have you tried adding different spices to your beans? There is SO much you can do with them--curried chic peas, Mexican-flavored refried beans, jerk-seasoned black beans, put them in patties and fry, add spice and dehydrate for a crunchy snack, make a dip by pureeing the beans with garlic, sprinkle them on salad, add them to salsa, eat cannelini beans to tomatoes, onion, olive oil, and salt for a nice salad.........and on to infinity.

Nuts and nut butters taste great on their own, but if you're bored with that, you can add them to smoothies, cookies, breads, salads............


I really don't know why food needs to be exciting. There are so many bean recipies that you could eat beans with different textures every day of the week. Split pea soup, lentil stew with vegetables, Falafel or hummus, or garbanzo bean curry, chili, white beans with ranch dressing sauce, pickled 3 bean salad, baked beans, refried bean tacos, Cajun red beans and rice, black bean soup, bean burritos, navy beans... Beans are the all purpose food. You can smash them, spread them, stew them, spice them, soup them, sauce them, make them into patties and grill them. Nope, I don't see anything bland about them.

I was going to suggest hummus but you two came up with so much more, lol. Yeah, I think westernized food can be boring but when our minds are opened up to how other cultures prepare a certain food (like beans) the possibilities are endless.

[MrsKey]

I am just starting, and I cannot seem to get much protien in my diet. I know that certain nuts and beans have protein, I just dont know what to do with them. Thy get kinds blah pretty fast. I have low blood sugar, and when I do I must eat protein (even before I was a veg. this was hard considering I hated the taste of most meat!). I need something quick and yummy. Help?

If you have blood sugar issues I strongly recommend two books:

Dr. Neal Barnard's program for Reversing Diabetes (http://pcrm.org/shop/neal/diabetes.html) and Food for Life (http://pcrm.org/shop/neal/food_life.html), also by Dr. Barnard.

Protein is not the only thing that people with blood sugar issues (both hyper- and hypoglycemia) need. Complex carbohydrates that rate low on the Glycemic Index are also important. Possibly even more important to long term blood sugar regulation than protein.

Both books discuss hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia and how to eat for those conditions on a vegan diet.

The default position "OH you're hypoglycemic you need protein" stems from the belief that carbohydrates are uniformly "bad" without making any differentiation between the type of carbohydrates. This approach equates sweet potatoes with sugary soda and makes no attempt to address the vast difference between refined simple carbohydrates and the complex carbohydrates found in whole foods.

Please read one or both of those books. It will be eye opening, to say the least.

[MrFalafel]

I would ask you: how much protein do you think you need per day?

[Tyness]

I really dont know what the amount of protein I need in a day. When I was little and started to feel sick my mom would say go get a spoonfull of peanut butter. I think I get a good amount, just sometimes I need something quick and right now when I feel sick.

[TheKiwi]

Here are some things I love:

- yogurt (soy yogurt or dairy)
- hard boiled egg (if you eat them)
- nuts
- hummus dip on veggies
- peanut butter or almond butter

Get a vegetarian recipe book. It'll give you plenty of non-boring recipes to make.