Need Help Convincing Parents that Vegan Diet is not Bad

[Conner]

Hi, I am a vegan of course as the title says and live with my dad and stepmom who are not. I have been vegan for almost two years but I get bugged soooooo much for being vegan. Like I am not getting enough protein, that's the main one.

I wanted to know if anyone knows of good research articles for being a vegan athlete. I am athletic, and being athletic and vegan of course they think I do not get enough protein, they say I look think which I dont think so. I had finals and was busy so the gym to a back seat. I have a bad time explaining things so if you guys have an article or links I could go to, read and show my parents that I do get my protein that would help so much you wouldn't imagine how much it would help.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

You can get protein from soy, lentils, beans,peas, lettuce, mushrooms, and many other things. If you include some of these foods and eat enough total food you should get enough protein. Tell your parents that national health organizations, nutritionists and other experts are all agreed that it is possible and even easy to get enough protein on a vegan diet.

Watch this video

and consider sharing some of the facts, or even the whole video, with your family.

The following article is useful for you. http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/protein You don't need to read all the detail, but at least the summary at the start and skim read it

 

[Drew]

Hi Conner,
Getting enough protein, having muscles, and being athletic is VERY do able on a vegan diet. The misconception outside the vegan community is that a vegan diet can't get you enough quality protein. That is of course not true. However, the myth within the vegan community is that everything has protein in it. Also not true.
For whole food sources you want lentils, black beans, and split peas (my go to foods). Imitation meats are also a solid choice as long as they don't have too much fat in them and don't come from soy (you want pea protein derived meats). You also want to get a good vegan protein powder. Stay away from hemp, pumpkin seed, sunflower seen, amaranth, alfalfa and other protein powders with low protein concentration. My favorite vegan protein powder is Real Pro Life Nutrition because of it's gram for gram protein purity and amino acid profile.
Green vegetables are a great source of micronutrients so eat plenty of them, but they are NOT a legit protein source. You have probably seen the meme on Instagram that claims broccoli has more protein than beef. Absolutely false! They compare 100 calories of broccoli to 100 calories of beef. People need to think in terms of grams (because 100calories is a ton more broccoli in mass than 100 calories of beef). 85g of broccoli gets you one 3 grams of protein! 85g of lean beef gets you over 18 grams of protein. Unlike what "Jamie In Chili" says, lettuce and mushrooms are NOT legit sources of protein. So please be mindful of some of the internet vegan protein myths. Greens are great, but not for protein. I hope this helps.

 

[Jamie in Chile]

Lettuce and mushrooms are over 30% protein on a calorie basis (so edible portion and excluding water content) according to the Becoming Vegan nutrition book which used sources of data from the US Department of Agriculture and USDA National Nutrient Database, so they are perfectly legit sources of protein.

However, if in practice you eat mushrooms and lettuce in small quantities, for example a small, side salad with lettuce, then of course it will not add up to a lot of protein.

As long as you don't rely very heavily on fruit (the main category of foods that is low in protein), and as long as you get enough calories in total, and as long as you eat at least some legumes (soys, lentils, beans etc) then you should get enough protein. You don't need to worry about it.

There are two reasons legumes ensure you hit protein needs. The first is that the % amount of protein tends to be higher than greens and grains. The second is that legumes are higher in lysine (one of the constituent amino acids of protein) and lysine is the one amino acid that can be lower in protein.

 

[Drew]

Lettuce and mushrooms are over 30% protein on a calorie basis (so edible portion and excluding water content) according to the Becoming Vegan nutrition book which used sources of data from the US Department of Agriculture and USDA National Nutrient Database, so they are perfectly legit sources of protein.

However, if in practice you eat mushrooms and lettuce in small quantities, for example a small, side salad with lettuce, then of course it will not add up to a lot of protein.

As long as you don't rely very heavily on fruit (the main category of foods that is low in protein), and as long as you get enough calories in total, and as long as you eat at least some legumes (soys, lentils, beans etc) then you should get enough protein. You don't need to worry about it.

There are two reasons legumes ensure you hit protein needs. The first is that the % amount of protein tends to be higher than greens and grains. The second is that legumes are higher in lysine (one of the constituent amino acids of protein) and lysine is the one amino acid that can be lower in protein.

When considering good sources of dietary protein. You need to compare them on the basis of grams of actual protein/ grams of actual food. Protein as a percentage of calories is not an accurate way of choosing rich protein foods. Greens have very low calories for their mass. Let's use broccoli for example (because I have a bag of it handy right now). 1 serving is 30 calories, 12 calories come from protein (3g protein X 4calories/G of protein). 12Calories Protein/30 Total Calories=40%. Does that mean broccoli is 40% protein? ABSOLUTELY NOT!. The serving size in weight is 85grams, which gets you only 3grams of protein. 3grams of protein/85grams of broccoli=3.5% Protein. 3.5% protein is NOT a legit protein food source. I hope this all makes sense to everyone on why you need to divide Grams of Protein by Grams of Serving size and not calculate it as a percentage of calories.

 

[John Isaacson]

Hey dude,

I love this question and as a personal trainer and sports coach i get asked constantly about protein sources.

I am running a 6 week vegan programme that tests muscle mass, blood sugar testosterone, strength and gut PH

Im basically doing this to prove to myself and my friends the benefits of a vegan diet and to show that you can easily get enough protein and build muscle as a vegan not to mention a whole list of other benefits.

Anyway show your parents my videos which ill copy below and be sure to let them know I stufy sports coaching and human biology, ive been a sports coach for 6 years and a personal trainer for two and have a diploma in nutrition.

my videos also link a whole bunch of studies exposing the fact the most people are actually consuming too much protein which put simply makes you fat and can cause diabetes long term.... (that's putting it knuckle-draggingly simple)

Videos below. I hope this clears things up for your parents....

 

[Annabellam]

There is a lot of protein rich plant based foods. I've been in your position before and i really hope for your own good that you can be able to convince them. Perhaps let them talk to a nutritionist they trust about it?

 

[teacup]

http://www.organicauthority.com/7-vegan-and-vegetarian-olympic-athletes

gold medal winners at the Olympics ... vegan diets ... show that to your parents ...