Vegetarian Protein - Myth and Reality

Part 5: Beyond Protein

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A balanced, varied vegan diet of whole foods supplies ample amounts of complete protein, making animal products (milk, cheese, and eggs as well as meat, fish, and poultry) unnecessary for adequate dietary protein. More Info On Vegan Protein

Ovo-lacto or lacto vegetarians feel that a small amount of animal protein from eggs or dairy provides a margin of safety in their diets, and allows them to blend in society a little better, while relieving stress on the environment. Many prefer a gradual transition to a completely plant based diet.

Omnivorous diets aren't ideal for our health, for the environment, or the animals who 'give' us their eggs, milk, and flesh. But it's true that a well balanced vegetarian or near-vegetarian diet is a vast improvement over the typical North American meat centered, sugar laden, junk food rich diet, promoted by industrial agriculture, and supported by government agencies like the USDA.

Even if most people didn't become vegetarian, but gave up eating red meat, cut their consumption of fish and chicken by 50 - 75%, and introduced more grains beans and veggies, it would make a huge difference to life on planet earth. Factory farms would go out of business. There'd be no need to cut down the rain forests, or any forests, for grazing land. All the land devoted to crops grown for animal consumption could be converted to organic farms supplying local needs. Which would improve our health and save fossil fuels, etc.

Any step in the direction of a balanced diet consisting primarily of grains, vegetables, fruits and legumes is cause for celebration, and deserves our encouragement and support.

Food Isn't Science

Protein is important, of course, but with a vegetarian diet, all the food you eat works together to nourish you. The practice of separating foods into three groups - protein, fats, carbohydrates - and counting the grams you eat, plus calories, is a recent, uniquely western idea, which limits our diets unnecessarily, and keeps us from enjoying our food. I thought about adding some vegetarian protein charts to this article, with amino acid breakdowns, but they're so dry and stiff, and make things complicated and confusing. The science of nutrition is an oxymoron, in my opinion.

Much of the information in this article came from book length scientific abstracts published by universities and government agencies. Reading them is enough to make you go blind and permanently around the bend - referencing them likewise. So I didn't - please forgive me.

For those of you who want more science, I recommend several excellent books by Vesanto Melina, and Brenda Davis: Becoming Vegetarian, The New Becoming Vegetarian, and Becoming Vegan. They're compassionate, user-friendly, well written, clearly organized and referenced, with everything you might want to know about vegetarian nutrition. I tend to get impatient with all those pages of facts, but it's comforting to know they're there when you need them, or even just want them.

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