From the Archive: Enough with the protein question, already

"From the Archive" is a series of posts that I wrote on past, no-longer-updated blogs that I feel are good enough to need a new home.

This post was originally written in January 2014.

Inevitably, if you are vegetarian or vegan, people are going to ask you how you get your protein. After restraining yourself from saying "by drinking the tears of my enemies" or "feasting on the unborn," you may want some information on how to actually answer the question.

I'm going to pull a few things from the Vegetarian Resource Group to show you. All of the following foods are vegan and have a decent amount of protein in them:

1 cup Oatmeal - 6g
1 cup Soymilk - 7g
1 Bagel -  9g
1 cup Vegetarian Baked Beans - 12g
5 oz firm Tofu - 11g
1 cup cooked Brown Rice - 5g
2 Tbsp Almonds - 4g
2 Tbsp Peanut Butter - 8g
1 cup cooked Lentils - 18g

That's just a few examples from their sample meals. They've got a list with more detailed information about various protein sources including tempeh, beans, quinoa, vegetables, nuts, and pastas.

Basically, if you are eating a balanced diet, you are getting plenty of protein.

(Now stop asking, non-veggies.)