How to get enough protein on a vegan diet

Gone are the days when people assumed protein only came from meat and eggs. As more of us are choosing to eat a plant-based or completely vegan diet, knowing how to get enough protein as a vegan has never been more important.

Whether you choose to forgo animal protein for health, performance, or environmental reasons, there’s never been a better time to follow a vegan diet. Vegan athletes across a range of sports are thriving without animal protein and we continue to understand the many benefits of eating more plant foods. Join us as we take a closer look at how vegans are getting enough protein in their diets.

HOW MUCH PROTEIN DOES A VEGAN NEED?

As a vegan, your protein needs are the same as a non-vegan with the same training goals. However, you need to consider the quality and variety of your food sources, including the bioavailability of amino acids.

If your goal is muscle gain, you should aim for 2g to 2.2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight to compensate for the lower essential amino acid levels in vegan food.

The main challenge facing vegans lies with separating protein from other macronutrients. Animal sources of protein are much higher in protein than vegan foods. It is therefore easier for a meat-eater to drill down into their macronutrient numbers and get specific.

Vegan foods tend to be combinations of proteins and fats (nuts, seeds) or proteins and carbohydrates (pulses, legumes). This isn’t a problem, it just means you’ll need to get more creative and pay closer attention to your macronutrient numbers if you track your nutrition.

CAN YOU GET ENOUGH PROTEIN AS A VEGAN?

Don’t listen to anyone who says vegans can’t eat sufficient protein. There is plenty of protein in plant foods, especially beans, legumes, pulses, grains, nuts, seeds, and some vegetables. Make sure you have a quality plant protein powder or blend to help you get enough protein in your diet and space your meals out every 3-4 hours to ensure you get regular protein on board. 

AMINO ACIDS IN NON-ANIMAL PROTEIN

The main consideration is not with total protein, but with amino acids(1). Whilst animal-based sources of protein tend to deliver a complete balance of amino acids, vegan protein sources usually lack some amino acids. This means you should combine food sources to make sure your body gets enough of all the amino acids to stimulate muscle protein synthesis (MPS). A great example of this approach is oats with a vegan protein powder, rice and peas, or a chilli made with various beans.

Plant-based foods usually contain all the essential amino acids, but rarely have a complete spectrum of essential and non-essential amino acids, and some may be present in low concentrations.

Look out for the amounts of leucine in your vegan diet as this key essential amino acid is often deficient without animal protein. Leucine is a crucial part of the body’s muscle building pathways. This is why adding a quality vegan protein powder into your diet, which contains leucine, is an excellent idea to get enough protein as a vegan.

VEGAN PROTEIN

As a vegan, you should definitely add a quality protein powder and other plant-based supplements to your nutrition plan in order to get enough protein. Protein powder is convenient and useful for everyone, but for vegans it also adds the peace of mind that your amino acids intake will be covered.

We recommend you choose a vegan blend rather than a single source protein powder. Pea and soy is a great choice, as the two separate sources bring different amino acids to the mix. Our Smart Protein Plant gives you 20g+ of protein per serving or, for a fat-burning alternative, Diet Plant offers 18g per serving.

You could also try including some vegan vitamins or vegan protein bars into your diet. At 32g of protein per serving (depending on the flavour) and under 7g of carbohydrates, our new and improved Smart Bar Plant range is a great way to boost your protein intake. It’s also a macro-friendly way to curb your sweet tooth! We also have Diet Plant Bars with 16g of protein and added fat-burning ingredients.

THE BEST VEGAN AND PLANT-BASED PROTEIN SOURCES

Below we’ve compiled a list of useful sources of protein for someone on a vegan diet.

Approximate amount of protein per 100g:

Smart Protein Plant: 79g

Diet Plant: 72g

Nutritional yeast: 52g

Smart Bar Plant: 32g

Pumpkin seeds: 30g

Peanuts: 27g

Lentils: 26g

Seitan: 25g

Kidney beans: 21g

Almonds: 21g

Tempeh: 20g

Chickpeas: 19g

Soy beans: 17g

Chia seeds: 17g

Oats: 16g

Rice: 15g

Tofu: 15g

Edamame: 13g

Buckwheat: 13g

Miso: 12g

Kelp: 8g

Peas: 5g

References:

(1) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6245118/

Written by PhD Nutrition