High-Protein Vegan Foods

Video Transcript

"Proteins are large molecules made up of smaller units called amino acids. There are 20 amino acids found in both plant and animal proteins. Proteins are necessary for tissue maintenance and for sustaining growth. Experts are still not entirely sure how much protein we need and estimates have been revised often in recent years. For those practicing veganism some would think it's a challenge to find enough protein for their diet, however, nothing could be further from the truth. If you have eat a well balanced diet of grains, fruits and vegetables you are going to be finding plenty of protein. Some of the highest sources of protein for vegans were found in the pulses which include peas, beans, lentils and soy products, in the grains such as wheat, rice, barley and oats, millet and buckwheat. In the nuts, almonds, cashews and Brazil nuts and in the seeds, sunflower, pumpkin, and sesame. Of the seed category sunflower weighs in with 8 grams of protein per quarter of a cup, far out weighing the pumpkin and the sesame. In the nut category you'll find that almonds and peanuts rate the highest with 7 and 8 grams respectively per quarter of a cup. In the bean family you really can't go wrong, all of them are great sources of protein but the soy bean, the kind of them all, 29 grams of protein for one cup cooked. If you are looking at vegetables and fruits most all of them you'll find some grams of protein but the highest baked potato with skin, 5 and a large ear of corn as well for 5 and in the fruit family the avocado weighs in with 4 grams of protein per serving. So you see as a vegan, not that difficult to find protein in your diet and now you know some of the sources for the highest grams of protein that you can find eating grains, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds and pulses."