Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
The next time you look in the mirror, check out your muscles. You’ve got protein to thank for the muscle mass you have and continue to build through exercise. As a vegan, you know your protein sources are somewhat limited. Is it possible to eat less protein and still be healthy? How much do you need?
For every 100 calories of food you eat as a vegan, a woman should ingest between 2.3 and 2.8 grams of protein and a man 2.2 to 2.6 grams. In other words, per pound of your body weight, that’s 0.41 grams of protein, which is roughly 10 percent of your daily calories.
Do vegans need more protein than meat-eaters or less? What happens if you don’t eat enough protein? We’ll answer all those questions and more in this article, so make sure you keep reading!
What Is Protein and Why Is It Important?
Let’s talk about protein, as it’s one of the most vital macronutrients you can feed your body whether you’re a vegan, a vegetarian, or a meat-eater.
Protein acts as a source of fuel and allows us to build tissue and muscle. It comprises part of our body weight, about 15 percent. When we ingest protein, for each gram, that’s the equivalent of roughly four calories.
The chemical composition of protein is amino acids. Our body breaks down the protein we receive through our dietary choices and uses it to sustain and build our muscle mass.
Besides that main purpose, protein can keep you fuller longer, sort of like fiber. We discussed this in our recent blog post on vegan foods for satiety.
Another lesser-known purpose of protein is supporting your immune system. When we ingest protein, it doesn’t go to one specific cell, but every cell that needs it, especially muscle cells. Our skin cells use protein, as do our hair cells and our various body organs. We can’t develop blood cells without protein.
The amino acids that comprise protein can be used in areas such as cellular repair, hormone regulation, and producing co-enzymes and nucleic acid when they’re broken down.
If the above doesn’t make it clear, in other words, no protein, no life!
How Much Protein Does a Vegan Need?
Now that you have a better understanding of protein, you want to prioritize its inclusion in your vegan diet. Per the rules of that diet, that means eschewing animal-based proteins, which are animal products and byproducts.
Your body does not process animal proteins and plant-based proteins the same way. Animal proteins are far easier to digest, and the process happens quickly. Since animal proteins pass through your system in less time, you need to replenish them more often. This can cause meat-eaters to have to consume more protein.
An average person with a carnivorous diet should eat 50 to 175 grams of protein a day. That’s roughly 200 to 700 calories, which is between 10 and 35 percent of their diets.
Plant proteins are digested slowly, remaining in your system longer. Vegans should need less protein. If you’re an adult woman and a vegan, for every 100 calories you eat, between 2.3 and 2.8 grams of it should be from protein. For adult vegan men, it’s between 2.2 and 2.6 grams of protein, also for every 100 calories.
The Vegetarian Resource Group or VRG says that, for each pound of body weight, vegans should ingest 0.41 grams of protein. In other words, roughly 10 percent of your daily calories should be protein-based.
That’s the lowest percentage of protein non-vegans are recommended to consume in a day. VRG says as much as 14 to 18 percent of their calories can come from protein, whereas for vegans, it’s as much as 12 percent.
What Happens If a Vegan Doesn’t Eat Enough Protein?
As a vegan, you’re well aware that your food choices put you at a higher likelihood of developing certain nutrient deficiencies. An iron deficiency is one of the more common ones, but just because it’s not talked about as often doesn’t mean you can’t have a protein deficiency as well, as you certainly can.
If the calories from protein in your daily diet are anything less than 10 percent, you’re considered deficient in protein. Vegans aren’t the only ones who have to worry about underdoing it on the protein. Those with serious illnesses such as cancer might not eat enough protein. People with eating disorders or who follow extreme diets can also end up with deficiencies, as can the elderly.
As you recall from earlier, cells throughout your entire body use protein. Thus, the effects of a deficiency can be just as widespread. Here’s what you have to look out for.
Frequent Illnesses
It’s one thing to fall ill when it’s cold and flu season, but it seems like you just can’t catch a break. Even in the spring and summer when everyone is relatively healthy, you come down with whatever sickness is circulating at the office or in your household.
Without protein to sustain your immune system, your body lacks the strength to fight off foreign invaders.
You’re Always Sick
Well, sometimes you’re not sure if you’re catching something new or if you’re still feeling the symptoms of that last cold you got. You spend more days out of the year being sick than you are well, which is no way to live.
Protein, besides supporting your immunity, also allows for easier nutrient absorption as well as digestion, both of which are processes that maintain your health.
Injuries Don’t Heal
If you fall and scuff yourself up pretty badly, you might expect it to take a few weeks for you to heal, but it’s been a month or two and that wound still hasn’t gotten any better. Besides cuts and bruises, strains and sprains can also leave you with nagging pain day in and day out.
Without protein, your blood can’t clot, which is why that scrape won’t develop a scab. You’re also not producing enough collagen for cell turnover to occur.
You’re Hungry All the Time
If your hunger never seems to abate, this is your body telling you that it needs protein. Even if you eat, you still don’t feel satiated because your body lacks the fuel it should receive through protein.
Fatigue and Weakness
You might try to chalk this one up to you not getting enough sleep, but that’s not what it is. Your muscles begin weakening as they go without protein, the effects becoming more pronounced the longer the deficiency lasts. By that point, your muscle mass could begin degrading, which makes you feel weak.
More advanced protein deficiencies can even give way to anemia, which is why you never feel rested no matter how much you sleep.
Weight Gain
The degradation of muscle mass causes another unfortunate side effect: your metabolism begins slowing down. Even if your metabolism was relatively fast before, now that it isn’t, you might pack on the pounds more easily.
Changes to Skin, Nails, and Hair
A protein deficiency can also manifest in the form of ridged fingernails, very dry skin, and thinner hair. If these changes seem to come out of nowhere, it’s time to reassess your diet.
Worsening Mood
It could be because you’re sick all the time, but your mood is always horrible. In a period of protein deficiency, fewer neurotransmitters reach the brain considering these neurotransmitters are made of broken-down protein amino acids. Without the neurotransmitters, your brain finds it harder to regulate levels of serotonin and dopamine.
You might feel cranky even though you’re having a perfectly fine day. You could also have depression.
Swelling
The last sign of a protein deficiency is swelling. You’ll notice this in specific places, including the hands, feet, legs, and abdomen. Although medical experts aren’t quite sure why your body begins swelling without enough protein, the prevailing theory is that your blood can’t circulate enough, so your tissues become full of fluid.
What Are the Best Plant-Based Sources of Protein?
Given its necessity in our day-to-day lives, protein is naturally found in a variety of foods. Some of them–such as eggs, chicken breast, cottage cheese, and milk–are not vegan-friendly, but many more protein sources are plant-based. Let’s examine the ones that should be a regular part of your vegan diet.
Ezekiel Bread
Full of whole grains like spelt, millet, lentils, wheat, or barley, Ezekiel bread is a much more healthful version of white bread that’s completely vegan-safe. For each slice, you get four grams of protein, so that’s eight grams of protein in one sandwich with just the bread alone!
Seitan
The glutinous seitan can be made even more protein-efficient by adding some soy sauce and cooking it. For each 1/3rd a cup, you’d ingest 21 grams of protein, which is quite a lot!
Potatoes
By far the most recommended vegetable for satiety, potatoes contain about 4.3 grams of protein per mid-sized spud. That’s roughly eight percent of your daily recommended value. A topping of hummus can increase the protein potential of the potato.
Hemp Seeds
The perfect snacking material, hemp seeds might not look like much, but they’re packed full of protein. For a tablespoon of hemp seeds, you’re eating five grams of protein, a significant amount. This snack will fill you up for a while without a doubt.
Quinoa
The beloved superfood quinoa is also a star in the protein department. By cooking a cup of the grain, you’d eat eight grams of protein. You’ll also find plenty of other minerals and nutrients in quinoa, including manganese, fiber, iron, and magnesium.
Conclusion
Vegans eat plant-based proteins, which digest slower than animal proteins. Thus, vegans can ingest slightly less protein than non-vegans, about 10 percent to a meat eater’s 14 percent. No matter your diet, make sure you prioritize getting enough protein every day so you don’t develop a deficiency!