Happy Friday, plant lovers! Can you believe that the weekend is here already?! Insanity.
Huge thank you to all of you for your INCREDIBLE supportive comments on yesterday’s post. My heart is so FULL of love and peace, thanks to you. I hope you can take those tools with you wherever you go. 
So, today, we’re talking protein! This macronutrient is a major topic in the health and fitness world. I think we’re sometimes operate under the thought that protein is a “safe” macronutrient and that we can never get enough – but that’s not necessarily true. For the average healthy person, we should be consuming protein in a 0.8g/kg of bodyweight ratio. By converting your weight in lbs. to your weight in kilograms, you can use the above equation to see how much protein you should be consuming. If you’re active, it might be best to operate by the 1g/kg of bodyweight ratio and if you’re trying to gain weight or muscle, you might want to consider 1.2g/kg of bodyweight ratio. Make sure you consult your doctor or RD before making any changes to your lifestyle!
Being a vegan, the number one question I get asked is “Where do you get your protein?” I’m not annoyed or frustrated when people ask because I was once in their place too! And, bottom line, Americans are just not educated (for the most part) in the area of plant-based living.
People are often surprised when my first answer is vegetables! Did you know that, per 100 calories, broccoli has MORE protein than steak? That’s right! It has 11.2 grams compared to steak’s 5.4 grams. Talk about #plantPOWER, huh?! One cup of most raw vegetables is roughly 2 grams of protein. My gigantic salads typically have five cups of vegetables. That’s 10 grams of protein right ther – not to mention the essential vitamins and minerals we’re getting too!
Outside of vegetables, I like to get my protein from beans and hummus, tempeh, tofu, hemp seeds, chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts, nutritional yeast, spirulina, and protein powders. We know this girl loves her protein pudding! 
Here are some of my favorite high-protein meals:
All of these recipes take 30 minutes or less and are quite delicious. Have you tried any of them? If not, which one(s) do you want to try?!
Spirulina Giveaway
Make sure you head over to Kasey’s blog today, where she is hosting a spirulina giveaway, thanks to the wonderful people at Nutrex-Hawaii! There’s also a fun recipe from Nutrex incorporating spirulina into a delicious-looking guacamole!
Love you guys!
Stay lovely,
Heather
I love your chickpeas in peanut sauce, so quick and simple! Anything with peanut butter flavour has my vote!
Which ones do I want to try? How about all of them! Kthanksbye.
All of those meals sound delicious. Gonna try them.
I try to use the protein question as a teaching opportunity, too, but it does get, if not annoying, then boring. The focus on protein everything (pancakes, muffins, cookies, whatever) kind of drives me crazy. You’re probably getting enough protein, people! Especially if you’re eating meat.
Anyway, rant over, thanks for this post, Heather. It’s very informative.
Thank you for sharing. I am always trying to find new ways to incorporate more protein into my diet. That chickpea recipe looks amazing..I will definitely be trying that!
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