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Dr. Fuhrman Dr. Fuhrman

Examples of high protein vegan diets

mixed beans

Last week, I posted examples of vegan diets that attempt to be healthy, yet are deficient in protein. Today, I'll show that getting enough protein on a vegan diet really is not problematic at all. This is the final part of the series about protein. The other posts in this series are: Protein in a vegan diet and Examples of low protein vegan diets.

This is Joan's diet. Joan is (again) a 125 pound woman who needs a minimum of 56 grams of protein a day. Like Mary from the previous post, she eats between 1800 and 2000 calories a day. I added tempeh to her dinner, but it is easy to see that even without tempeh, or without the lentils, this diet would still have enough protein. I think this is a reasonable diet, I allowed for plenty of fruit and even a tablespoon of oil.

Food ItemMeasureCalsCarbsProt.Fat
Oats0.5 cup (measured uncooked)15225.846.592.69
Raspberries, raw1 cup6414.691.480.8
Nuts, walnuts, english0.5 oz931.952.179.26
Seeds, flaxseed2 tbsp1188.224.688.16
Lentils, cooked1 cup23039.8617.860.75
Broccoli raab, cooked0.5 bunch726.828.371.14
Carrots, cooked1 carrot163.780.350.08
Nuts, almonds0.5 oz822.813.027.19
Oil, olive1 tbsp1190013.5
Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw1 head10620.67.71.88
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw1 cup cherry tomatoes275.841.310.3
Cucumber, with peel, raw0.5 cucumber235.460.980.17
Kiwi fruit, fresh, raw1 fruit5613.341.040.47
Quinoa0.5 cup (measured uncooked)31858.5611.134.93
Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked1 package (10 oz)179367.860.41
Tomato sauce0.5 cup459.041.580.24
Oranges, raw, navels1 fruit6917.561.270.21
Tempeh0.5 cup1607.7915.398.96
total19282789361
52%19%29%

And here is Carmen's diet. Carmen is, again, a 125 pound woman. She thinks carbs are not that great, and tries to eat a relatively low carb diet. While it is possible to make such diets without soy, I think most people who would eat such a diet, would include soy, so I have two servings of soy here. I did try to make this diet not too contrived, and I did make sure to include four servings of fruit (if you count avocado as a fruit) and plenty of vegetables, so it is quite a healthy diet. I do not recommend this diet however, because I think there is nothing wrong with carbs. If these meals seem even more dull than the others, it is because I did not include spices and preparation methods in the tables. Carmen actually eats scrambled tofu for breakfast, lentil soup with a huge salad for lunch, and chili beans with spinach for dinner. The berries are for dessert.

Food itemmeasurecaloriescarbsproteinfat
Tofu, raw, regular1 cup1884.6620.0411.85
Tomatoes, red, ripe, raw1 tomato112.430.550.12
Onions, spring or scallions, raw0.5 cup163.670.920.1
Seeds, flaxseed2 tbsp1188.224.688.16
Mushrooms, raw1 cup152.272.180.24
Lentils, cooked1 cup23039.8617.860.75
Broccoli raab, cooked0.5 bunch726.828.371.14
Nuts, almonds0.5 oz822.813.027.19
Lettuce, cos or romaine, raw1 head5310.33.850.94
Cucumber, with peel, raw1 cup slices163.780.680.11
Nuts, macadamia nuts, raw1 oz2043.922.2521.52
Avocados, raw0.5 avocado1618.572.0114.73
Raspberries, raw0.5 cup327.340.740.4
Beans, kidney, cooked1.5 cup32959.5124.240.24
Tempeh0.5 cup1607.7915.398.96
Spinach, frozen, cooked1 package (10 oz)7011.358.821.1
Oil, olive1 tbsp1190013.5
Blackberries, raw1 cup6213.8420.71
total 1940197.14117.691.76
percentages of calories33%24%43%

I hope these sample diets demonstrated that it is easy to get more than enough protein on a vegan diet. Go eat your greens and beans!

July 4, 2006