High-Protein Vegan Snacks: How to Get Complete Proteins from Plants

Hi Byte Wellness Family!

The past couple months have been filled with summer celebrations and, for most of us, plenty of chances to eat meat.

So, this is a perfect time to re-focus on piling on the plant-heavy meals. There are plenty of advantages to relying on plants for the majority of our protein needs. It’s absolutely possible to get all the essential amino acids you need from vegan and vegetarian proteins (i.e plant proteins). Last week, we talked about meatless protein alternatives and high-protein vegan snacks. And we continued the conversation in the week’s Daily Wellness Text chat.

***If you’re not on our Daily Wellness Text thread, you can join by clicking here or send a text to 1(224)302-6224***

Plant-Based Proteins Byte Wellness.png

Plant Protein Myths

#1 Plant protein is lower-quality than animal protein

FALSE!

First, plant proteins are high-quality because they come paired with lots of good stuff. Basically whole plant foods can deliver protein AND vitamins + heart-healthy fats + diabetes-fighting fiber ;)

On the other hand, protein from meat tends to be paired with saturated fats and sodium (both of which can increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure if you eat more than you need…like most Americans do.

#2 Plant protein doesn’t give you the right type of protein your body needs because plant foods usually aren’t “complete” proteins.

FALSE

Next, plant proteins are high-quality because you can get all the protein building blocks (amino acids) you need by eating a variety of plant foods throughout the day.

Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Protein is made of building blocks called amino acids. Our bodies can make most of the amino acids we need. But there are some amino acids we can’t make. These are called essential amino acids.

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9 essential amino acids:

  • histidine

  • isoleucine

  • leucine

  • lysine

  • methionine

  • phenylalanine

  • threonine

  • tryptophan

  • valine

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Some categories or plants have very low levels of 1 or 2 specific amino acids. But, other plants can make up for those limited levels. For example, grains have lower levels of lysine, but beans have higher levels of lysine. There are tons of these beans/grains combos that can deliver complete proteins: like hummus (chickpeas) and pita, beans and tortillas (bean burrito), red beans and rice.

Next week, we’ll outline more of these combos.

Meanwhile, Happy Healthy Living,

Dr. Wuse

Self-Love Letters, Byte Learning, NutritionDr. Wuseplant proteins, Plant-based, plant-based proteins, soy, tofu, complete proteins, essential amino acids, histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine, nutritionComment