6 Tasty Vegetarian Sources of Protein

We all need protein to survive. But there's a common misconception that we need all our protein from meat, milk, and other animal-based sources. Past studies have shown that relying too heavily on red meat as a source of protein can impair your vision and shorten your lifespan, and new research published this week out of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland has found that it can also increase your risk of colon diseases.

According to a different study, also published this week, choosing vegetarian sources of protein can help you lose weight. Belgian researchers studied the diets of just over 3,000 adults and found that men and women who ate more plant proteins had lower BMIs and smaller waist circumferences.

Adults need about 1 gram of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, and it's pretty easy to get your protein requirements from the following plant sources:

1. Edamame

Containing 28 grams of protein, a single cup of cooked soybeans contains the same amount of protein as a three-ounce steak. Whole soybeans have more than three times the protein of tofu and soymilk, so you're better off finding interesting ways to cook the beans rather than resorting to more processed versions of soy. For instance, edamame, the Japanese snack, is a form of salted, boiled soybeans, but you can also mash up the beans for a mashed edamame and pita sandwich or to use in edamame hummus.

2. Quinoa

Quinoa, the ancient South American grain that's getting more popular lately, has the most protein of any grain—10 grams per cup. Not only is it a good source of plant protein, but, along with soybeans, quinoa is also one of very few non-meat "complete" proteins, meaning that it contains all nine essential amino acids. Plus, it has lots of whole grain fiber. Technically a seed rather than a grain, quinoa can be used in place of rice or mixed with dried fruit and nuts for an easy breakfast.

3. Other beans and legumes

While soybeans are the best in terms of protein content, other beans and legumes, including white beans, black beans, chickpeas, lentils, and peas, aren't far behind. Their protein content ranges from 14 to 19 grams per cup. Interestingly, dried beans have higher protein contents than canned, so avoid the hormone-disrupting BPA that usually accompanies canned food by purchasing dried beans will provide you with more protein. Another benefit to beans and legumes is that they're high in healthy complex carbohydrates, making them a good addition to a moderate carbohydrate diet because they're beneficial to the colon.

4. Green veggies

Vegetables don't pack quite the power punch that beans and whole grains do, but you can still get a good amount of plant-based protein from them. Spinach, collards, and other leafy greens contain around 5 grams per cup, cooked, while other green vegetables like broccoli, brussels sprouts, and asparagus contain slightly more, about 6 grams per cup, cooked. Medium artichokes have about 4 grams of protein, and they're starting to come into season now. The easiest way to enjoy artichokes is to steam them whole and dip them in melted organic butter for an easy appetizer or afternoon snack.

5. Mushrooms

Add a few sautéed mushrooms to your leafy greens to up their protein content even more. A cup's worth of white mushrooms will add 3 grams of protein to any dish you're making, and shiitake mushrooms will add slightly less than that. And since it's that time of year again, consider growing your own mushrooms in a backyard garden. It's easier than you think!

6. Peanuts

All nuts contain protein, but the amounts vary widely depending on which type you pick. Fortunately, peanuts are some of the tastiest and they have the highest protein levels, at 8 grams per ounce (that's two tablespoons). Grab a handful as an afternoon snack, and you'll wind up with nearly as much protein as a piece of fish.

A Guiltless, Meatless Diet

By: Jennifer lee

I refer to the column A Year of Veging Out (Life!, Jan 6) by Stephanie Yap.

Like Ms. Yap, I am concerned about animal welfare, but I loved meat and hated vegetables too much. In the past years, I made a number of failed attempts to go on a vegetarian diet by cutting off meat consumption completely. Everything felt wrong then. I felt hungry after meals and deprived of meal options. I felt like a drug addict undergoing rehabilitation, but I have come to realize these are mainly psychological effects of a bodily change.

I took a different approach last year, by cutting out one type of meat from my diet at a time, at a pace I could manage.

I started boycotting cruel an unsustainable dishes including foie gras, shark’s fin and blue-fin tuna. Next, I cut off beef and pork. Chicken was next to go. I went on pescatarian diet for a few months before I embraced the vegetarian lifestyle.

The new diet has changed me physically, emotionally and mentally. I stopped feeling guilty about what I eat. My tummy deflated, my bowel and menstrual systems regulated themselves, and my complexion took a turn for the better.

The growing attention surrounding factory farming and unsustainable seafood has brought more people on the route to responsible eating.

As Chinese New Year approaches, it would also be respectable if companies and individuals can take into consideration the removal of controversial dishes such asfoie gras and shark’s fin from their lo hei menus.

PS. If every one of us inspired ONE person to go meatless imagine the difference we could make in ten years time. I am going to collect inspirational vegetarian/vegan stories to share with everyone. If you think your story will inspire others, please share with me by sending it to info@veglov.com. I will post your stories on this www.veglov.com blog. I believe everyone has his/her own story, I think it must be great when we can share our stories and inspire others. Let’s make the world a better place. ~ Xiao Kang.

The Challenge of Going Vegan

From Bill Clinton to Ellen DeGeneres, celebrities are singing the benefits of a vegan diet. Books that advocate plant-based eating are best sellers. But is eliminating meat and dairy as simple as it sounds?

As countless aspiring vegans are discovering, the switch from omnivore to herbivore is fraught with physical, social and economic challenges — at least, for those who don’t have a personal chef. The struggle to give up favorite foods like cheese and butter can be made all the harder by harsh words and eye-rolling from unsympathetic friends and family members. Substitutes like almond milk and rice milk can shock the taste buds, and vegan specialty and convenience foods can cost two to three times what their meat and dairy equivalents do. And new vegans quickly discover that many foods in grocery stores and on restaurant menus have hidden animal ingredients.

“The dominant social-cultural norm in the West is meat consumption,” said Hanna Schösler, a researcher in the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, who has studied consumer acceptance of meat substitutes. “The people who want to shift to a more vegetarian diet find they face physical constraints and mental constraints. It’s not very accepted in our society not to eat meat.”

Still, the numbers are substantial, according to according to a 2008 report in Vegetarian Times. Three percent of American adults, 7.3 million people, follow a vegetarian diet, and one million of them are vegans, who eat no animal products at all — no meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, even honey. (And 23 million say they rarely eat meat.)

No one knows how many people have tried and failed to switch to vegan or vegetarian diets, but the popularity of books like “The China Study” and the “Skinny Bitch” series suggests that interest is growing. New vegans often cite Robert Kenner’s 2008 documentary “Food, Inc.,” which offers an unsettling view of corporate farming and the toll it takes on animals, the environment and human health.

Megan Salisbury, 33, a social work student in Phoenix, says she prefers plant-based eating but can manage it only about 75 percent of the time. The vegan options at the campus cafeteria are limited and often expensive, and she has to drive 20 miles to find stores with vegan specialty foods for cooking.

“I really enjoy eating the way I do,” she said. “But even a box of Gardenburgers is $4 — which doesn’t seem expensive, but when you compare it to the meat counterparts, it’s so much more.”

Frustrating, too, is the lack of social support. When Ms. Salisbury baked vegan doughnuts to share with her family, “they said things like, ‘I’m going to go eat some eggs now,’ ” she said. “They were very condescending. They don’t understand and don’t make any effort to understand.”

New vegans say it’s hard to give up favorite foods and adjust to the taste of substitutes for butter and dairy products. For Linda Walsh of Wilmington, Vt., who was a vegetarian for 30 years before recently switching to a vegan diet, the toughest thing was giving up cheese. “I have become vegan anyway,” she said. “But I think a great vegan cheese alternative will make for many, many more converts.”

Giving up favorite foods is never easy, food scientists say, for it means overriding taste preferences imprinted on the brain during a lifetime of eating. “In most American adults, meat intake has been associated since childhood with pleasurable nutritional effects,” said France Bellisle, an eating behavior researcher in Paris. “Liking for meats has been learned and reinforced over years. Any substitute would have to mimic the total sensory experience elicited by meats.

“It always takes more motivation to change any type of behavior than to go on with old habits,” she added.

Dairy products are particularly difficult to replace, says Daniel Granato, a researcher at the Federal University of Paraná, Brazil, because the intrinsic attributes of dairy foods come from proteins and fats that are difficult to mimic in a nondairy substitute. And because people start consuming these foods in infancy, the taste preference is deeply ingrained.

“Usually dairy products made with milk fat are softer and present a very pleasant viscosity and texture,” Dr. Granato said. “Consumers do feel the difference between milk-based and soy-based products. And once their first reference is milk-based products, they tend to reject plant-based products made with oat and soy or other vegetable-based food.”

Vegan ingredients and cooking techniques can be overwhelming for beginners, even if the changes are relatively small. Substitutes like vegetarian margarine and nutritional yeast can impart an unaccustomed nutty or cheesy flavor. Another method for making vegan foods creamy or cheesy involves soaking and blending cashews.

“The one I found weird was miso paste,” Ms. Salisbury said. “I used it in stuffed shells, but I haven’t really mastered what it’s for, but I think it’s to help consistency.”

Despite the challenges of plant-based eating in a meat-based world, would-be vegans say they will keep trying. Mary Bandrowski, 50, of Bainbridge Island in Washington, says she has been eating mostly vegetarian for years, but in the past few weeks has been moving to veganism after reading “Eat to Live,” by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. She is also trying to push her family to eat fewer animal foods.

“I think my whole family should do this because I think it’s better for them,” she said. “But my husband is the Midwest meat-and-potatoes man. Coming home to vegetable-stuffed green peppers doesn’t turn him on as much as a steak and baked potato would.”

An Apple a Day May Help Fight Obesity

A compound found in apple peels called ursolic acid may protect against obesity, a new study in mice suggests.

In the study, mice that ate a high-fat diet over several weeks that included ursolic acid developed more muscle mass, and more calorie-burning brown fat, than mice eating the same diet without the chemical.

"Since muscle is very good at burning calories, the increased muscle in ursolic acid-treated mice may be sufficient to explain how ursolic acid reduces obesity," said study researcher Dr. Christopher Adams, an associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Iowa.

However, the increase in brown fat — an unexpected finding — may also help protect against obesity, Adams said, noting that researchers don't know how the compound might exert this effect on brown fat.

Previous studies by these researchers showed that ursolic acid increased muscle mass and strength in healthy mice. In the new study, they tested the compound in mice likely to develop obesity and metabolic syndrome. In people, having metabolic syndrome means having at least three major risk factors for heart disease, such as too much abdominal fat, high triglycerides and high blood pressure.

The researchers found that the mice that consumed ursolic acid gained less weight and were less likely to develop conditions similar to pre-diabetes and fatty liver disease, despite the fact that they ate more food than the mice that did not consume the compound. There was no difference in physical activity between the groups, the researchers said.

The researchers have not tested the compound in people, and research in rodents often doesn't produce the same results in humans. "We don't know if ursolic acid will benefit people," Adams said.

Still, he said, it's possible that the compound could someday be used as treatment for muscle wasting, which occurs in healthy people during aging, and also in some conditions such as cancer.

Some studies have linked increased levels of brown fat with lower levels of obesity, and healthier levels of blood sugar and fats, according to the researchers. The researchers measured the mice's energy expenditure, and found that those fed ursolic acid burned more calories than mice that didn't consume the chemical.

Some evidence suggests brown fat may be helpful in preventing obesity and diabetes.

"Brown fat is beneficial and people are trying to figure out ways to increase it," Adams said. "Our next step is to determine if ursolic acid can help patients."

The study was published June 20 in the journal PLoS ONE, and was funded by the Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center at the University of Iowa, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the University of Iowa Research Foundation.

The Beneficial Journey

By Saman Tahmasbi

Hey,My name is Sam and I am a 24 years old boy from Iran.I’ve inspired one of my friends to become veg. It was just a simple story, we went together to a three day journey, and all through that we were forced to go to different restaurants for our meals.So he observed the way that I did and he found out that its not as hard as he always imagined (of course its harder than most of the other regions in the world in my country because you’ll have less than half a dozen options.)

After the trip when we were coming back to Tehran he asked me "Why do you do it? What is it all about?" and I replied him with something like this "That`s something peaceful and you can`t imagine how its like unless you’ve experienced it and if you do that for a time period you will find out about the results in yourself, both body and soul". So he decided to do that for a time period and the time period is becoming longer and longer day after day, just as I expected! Now he is one of the veggies, loves his lifestyle and is glad of himself and the decision which has been made.

You may connected with Sam through his facebook : http://facebook.com/smntnms

"That`s something peaceful and you can`t imagine how its like unless you’ve experienced it and if you do that for a time period you will find out about the results in yourself, both body and soul".

PS. If every one of us inspired ONE person to go meatless imagine the difference we could make in ten years time. I am going to collect inspirational vegetarian/vegan stories to share with everyone. If you think your story will inspire others, please share with me by sending it to info@veglov.com. I will post your stories on this www.veglov.com blog. I believe everyone has his/her own story, I think it must be great when we can share our stories and inspire others. Let’s make the world a better place. ~ Xiao Kang.

The one week vegetarian challenge

Hi, my names Hannah, I am 17 years old and Live in England. I have been vegetarian for 2 years.

I became a vegetarian simply because Icouldn't win a battle as a meat eater against a Vegetarian Friend.

I used to be practically a carnivore, I'd eat meat all the time, every day, and even now, ashamed to say, I get craving on the odd day (I have never acted upon my craving since becoming vegetarian). I hardly ate/eat any vegetables but I'm not overweight.. So..I was arguing my case all fired up and competitive in a little friendly debate and suddenly I paused for a moment or two.. I thought, what this guy is saying is true, I can't really be siding against him, what he's saying is understandable. I have always adored animals ever since I can remember and now that I was old enough to make my own decisions in life why couldn't I become a vegetarian? So I gave in to him, told him he was right and the debate subsided.

I then decided to try being vegetarian for a week, I think I called it 'Veggie for a week' challenge.

I was doing well until I gobbled up a few mini marshmallows, not for a split second thinking they could have gelatin hidden inside there squishy appearance.

So I tried again, but as a pescetarian. So the only creature I was eating was fish for about 6months until I saw a TV comedy show where they killed one.. In which I cried my eyes out for hours.. :( Poor fish! I've had my gelatin slip ups/accidents I admit, feeling extremely guilty! But I press on.

I've tried being vegan but as a teen in a family struggling to pay even the rent it was hard to buy special food and expensive to constantly buy healthy foods all the time and I felt bad for my mom, putting extra stress on her even though I'm independent and cooked my own food. I got quite poorly because of those reasons so I decided it would be better for ME to stay as a vegetarian.

I am passionate about being a vegetarian and trying to care for the planet/global warming and if we can TOGETHER as VEGETARIANS/VEGANS inspire even one person to change their diet to meat free then at least its a step closer to a happier world.

PS. If every one of us inspired ONE person to go meatless imagine the difference we could make in ten years time. I am going to collect inspirational vegetarian/vegan stories to share with everyone. If you think your story will inspire others, please share with me by sending it to info@veglov.com. I will post your stories on this www.veglov.com blog. I believe everyone has his/her own story, I think it must be great when we can share our stories and inspire others. Let’s make the world a better place. ~ Xiao Kang.

Newly-Vegan Mom

By : Rose Sevilla

I was a vegetarian for over 20 years. No meat, no poultry, no fish nor seafood, no gelatin--basically no product that stemmed from needing to kill an animal ever entered my body. I saw veganism at the time as extreme and unhealthy (my attempts at going vegan in my late teens were uninformed choices that did in fact make me weak and terribly thin). I justified not making the leap from vegetarian to vegan by telling myself and others that I consumed dairy and eggs because it didn't hurt the animals. Then, I saw Earthlings.

What struck a tremendous chord for me was the fact that male calves of dairy cows are usually slaughtered almost immediately. I have no idea why I hadn't sought this knowledge before! As the mother of 3 young boys, I was horrified. Not that a female calf's fate is any better, destined to spend her life confined and riddled with infections such as mastitis (having gone through that, I wish it on no creature. It is an extremely painful thing to endure while trying to nourish your offspring).

Earthlings opened my eyes and my soul to the suffering that goes on not only through the consumption of animal flesh, but rather through all animal products. I am now quite proud to call myself a vegan, and often point those who wonder why I made that choice toward Earthlings. I proselytize almost daily, not by telling people what they should and shouldn't eat, but rather by example. My three sons are thriving examples of this compassionate lifestyle as well.

PS. If every one of us inspired ONE person to go meatless imagine the difference we could make in ten years time. I am going to collect inspirational vegetarian/vegan stories to share with everyone. If you think your story will inspire others, please share with me by sending it to info@veglov.com. I will post your stories on this www.veglov.com blog. I believe everyone has his/her own story, I think it must be great when we can share our stories and inspire others. Let’s make the world a better place. ~ Xiao Kang.