Did you know that it’s possible to get more than enough protein from a plant-based diet?
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Let’s stress on the importance of protein a little bit here. Protein is not only important to your body; it is essential to life and a vital substance for all living organisms.
Protein plays a massive role in all cell functions and it is found in every cell in the human body. Fact: your hair and your nails are mostly made of protein, and tissues and muscles are as well made from proteins.
When you want to build tissue, you need protein. When your body needs to repair tissue, it needs protein. So yes, protein is the building block of basically everything in your body.
Not enough protein in your cells and guess what happens? You start feeling tired all the time; you start losing muscle; you get sick a lot; you constantly crave food; you get ridges in your nails; you feel light-headed, especially after hitting the gym due to protein deficiency in vital blood tissues etc. etc. etc.
So here comes the question of, are you getting enough protein from your diet? And, did you know that you can get more protein from certain plant-based foods than from meat?
Believe it or not, but even athletes of the elite sport practice meat withdrawal or are vegans 100%.
And you wouldn’t tell they’re vegan by looking at them.
People have this misconception that vegans look or must look like skinny yogis and yoginis, when in fact some of the world’s class athletes who are also vegans are well-built and strong-looking. Judging by their accomplishments, they are definitely also strong-strong. Even the skinnier ones.
Some of these athletes are martial artists. Others are ultra marathon runners. They are also skiers, wrestlers, bodybuilders, strongmen and women, fighters, Olympic sprinters, power lifters, figure skaters, surfers, field athletes, boxers, racing drivers, and snooker players.
What this goes to show is that people don’t have to eat meat to perform and thrive.
The argument that humans need meat to survive no longer stands valid as even leading health experts acknowledge that the body can get enough protein from a plant-based diet.
There is another misconception about protein, that we need a lot of it when actually we don’t need all that much. If we ate some protein with each meal, that would suffice.
You don’t need to eat pounds of concentrated plant-based sources of protein to meet your daily needs.
What often happens when people take the plunge into a plant-based life is that they cut out all meat, dairy and egg products from their diet at once and don’t know what to add for health and balance and how much to eat.
Some vegan products can be just as unhealthy as non-vegan foods and vegans can suffer from unhealthy eating too, and if their diet is lacking in nutrients and it starts showing, then vegan diets get the blame.
If you’re vegan with a protein deficiency, then it’s your diet that’s the problem. Not so.
It’s what you are not eating that causes the protein deficiency. What you should be eating are foods with higher concentration of protein, such as seitan, nutritional yeast, spelt, hempseed, and spirulina.
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And remember that you don’t have to be vegan to be eating these foods. Each one of them contains different nutrients, vitamins and minerals that will only contribute to health.