Hey Restaurants! Where's the (Vegetarian) Protein?

General recommendations are for healthy adults to eat around .8-1g of protein per kilogram of body fat (take your weight in pounds, divide by 2.2, multiply by .8). So someone who weighs 150 pounds would need around 55g protein throughout the day. Most any dietitian that you speak to would suggest that you spread that protein out throughout the day and make sure that each meal has some protein in order to help rebuild and repair your body, as well as to help you feel full after each meal. However, it doesn't have to be spread precisely equally throughout the day by any means. 

I was recently talking with a family member about the fact that when she makes a meatless choice at a restaurant these days it often does not include what you might think of as vegetarian protein, ie: tofu or beans. She was saying this might be a portabella mushroom sandwich with some cheese or an eggplant pasta dish. Is it OK to skip the meat if it also means skipping the protein at a meal? Let's take a look...

Clearly I love eggplant, but this isn't the best option if you're looking for protein

According to the USDA nutrient database (which thankfully is back up and running now that the government has resumed business!) here is the protein in some of these non-meat dishes that restaurants are selling as a complete meal...

Portobella Mushroom
1 cup grilled: 4g protein
Fresh Mozzarella
1oz (about 1/8 of a ball of fresh mozzarella): 6g protein
 Eggplant
1 cup cooked : <1g protein
Cheddar Cheese
1 oz: 7g protein

If the dish comes with some sort of whole grain (brown rice, whole wheat pasta, whole grain bread) that would add some protein to the dish as well. Bottom line? If you want to avoid meat and you're faced with no veggie-protein options, something with mushrooms (and cheese if you're eating dairy) is the better choice than something with just eggplant.

Eggs Still Excellent

www.freedigitalphotos.net

Perhaps you've seen the recent headline about how eating eggs is just as "dangerous" as smoking cigarettes. I know it caught my eye on more than one occasion, especially as multiple news outlets picked it up and ran with it. The gist of the recent study is that egg yolks can clog your arteries just as much as smoking tobacco can clog your arteries. If I had more time on my hands I'd read the study to figure out just what kind of correlation they were basing this headline on. Luckily, the editor over at Livestrong did that already, so here's the link to his article: Do Eggs Cause Heart Disease?

What it (hard) boils down to is that eggs are a great source of protein and the yolks are full of important vitamins and minerals. Yes, they also contain cholesterol, so as you would with any food that has some good parts and some less-amazing aspects, enjoy in moderation!

Happy Halloween!

While hosting my annual pumpkin carving party the other night, one of the guests inquired about the nutritional value of the delicious toasted pumpkin seeds that I was serving. I made an educated guess that they're high in fiber (when you eat them whole with the white part still on, not the green pepitas that you can buy at a grocery store) and protein, but wasn't exactly sure about the nutritional breakdown.

Delicious toasted pumpkin seeds!

Questions like that are a great reason to do some research! Turns out that I was definitely right about the protein; a quarter cup of seeds has almost 8.5 grams of protein, which is 17% of your daily value (approximately). However, I wouldn't necessarily recommend eating a quarter cup of pumpkin seeds on a daily basis (first of all, that would be a lot of pumpkins to carve, even for those of us who love to carve pumpkins) because they are pretty high in fat. That quarter cup contains 25% of your daily fat allotment (again, approximately) which is a mix of saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated, with most of the polyunsaturated comprised of omega-6 (rather than omega-3s which you may have heard are super duper good for you). BUT! It's not all bad news. In addition to being little protein power houses and a decent source of dietary fiber, pumpkin seeds contain healthy doses of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and vitamin K. So as with all tasty treats this holiday season, enjoy them, just do it in moderation.

Kat's Protein Powerhouse Pumpkin Seeds
At least 3 pumpkins
Olive oil
Salt

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Carve several pumpkins. This works best if you have a party! Or a family.
2. Separate the "guts" from the seeds. Discard guts. Rinse seeds in a colander.
3. Spread seeds on a cookie sheet and place in the oven for around 10 minutes to dry off a bit from the rinsing.
4. Remove from oven and douse in olive oil. Sprinkle with salt.
5. Return to oven. Cooking time will vary depending on how wet they are and how crowded the seeds are on the pan, so check them every 5 or 10 minutes and remove them when they're slightly brown and look dry (see photo above). Enjoy!

Source of nutritional info: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=nutrientprofile&dbid=117

Protein POWER - right?

A reader recently asked me to write a post about protein, especially ways to get enough protein when you're vegetarian or vegan. Since we just learned about this in class, I figured it might be good to start out with a quick summary of what protein actually does for you...

The Point of Protein
Before studying nutrition I thought that protein gave you energy. If I was particularly tired on a given day I would think back to how much protein I'd eaten that day or make sure that my next meal had some meat in it. However, protein as energy is actually the last thing that we want it to do. Protein's main jobs in the body are growth, maintenance, and repair, NOT energy. That would be carbohydrate's main job. So just keep that in mind as you're deciding whether or not you're getting enough protein; you do need it and it provides several very valuable functions, but if you look at a bowl of brown rice and a bowl of tofu, it's the rice that will give you the energy. Also good to keep in mind: protein plus fiber equals fullness, so if you're constantly hungry you might not be getting enough protein.

How much do I need?
Depending on your age, gender, and activity level, you should be getting around 46-56 grams of protein per day according to the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA). Bump that up a bit if you're particularly athletic (more on that in future posts).

Good Vegetarian Ways to Get Protein
Some people think that if they don't eat meat they won't get enough protein in their diet. However, chances are that if they typed their daily food intake into a calculation program but left out all of the meat, they'd still be getting enough. Try it! You don't have to eat meat substitutes or boatloads of soy to get enough protein. It's in a lot more foods than you might expect.

Here is the protein value for some non-meat foods that I have kicking around my kitchen - see how fast 46 grams can add up just by eating things like grains?

1 cup of fat free milk: 8 grams	1 oz reduced fat cheddar: 8 grams
1/2 cup of cooked brown rice: 3 grams	1/2 cup cooked spinach: 2 grams
1/2 cup of classic granola (no nuts): 6 grams	2 oz spaghetti: 7 grams
1/2 cup of cooked quinoa: 5 grams	1 wedge laughing cow cheese: 2 grams
1 cup Amy's Tuscan bean and rice soup: 5 grams	1 bagel: 10 grams
1 package of ramen noodles: 10 grams (I know, right?!)	1/2 cup white kidney beans: 6 grams
1 oz Primal Strips vegan jerky: 11 grams	1 Luna bar: 9 grams