Where do you get your protein?

One of the first questions I get asked when I mention we are vegetarian/vegan is, "Where do you get your protein from?".   It makes sense that this might be a concern for vegetarians and especially vegans because we have been taught that we get protein from meat and dairy sources.   Although meat is a great source of protein, all living things have protein in them and as such, plants have protein, too.  When you eat as many vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seitan (wheat protein) as we do it is very easy to accumulate the necessary protein intake to meet our body's daily requirements.   If there are days we don't think we have taken in adequate amounts of protein, we always the option of adding plant based protein powder to our daily smoothies.  

CLICK HERE to view an interesting article about protein in the vegan diet.

So, what is the true missing component in the vegan diet?   Answer:  B-12.    B-12 is mostly acquired from animal sources.   We have the kids eat cereals that are healthy and contain high levels of B-12, we choose children's multivitamins that have the highest B-12 levels and use nutritional yeast for B-12 supplementation.  Casie and I take sublingual (under the tongue) B-12 lozenges Vegetarians are less susceptible to the B-12 deficiency as they consume dairy products and eggs. 

CLICK HERE to view an informative article about B-12.

 

 

 

So, the next time you strike up a conversation with a vegan, don't bother asking where they get their protein.  Ask them where they get their Vitamin B-12.