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vegan diet without protein powder


rchawks
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Hello, my wife and I are having a difficult time finding the right mix for the vegan lifestyle change. We have been flexatarian for about 5 or 6 years eating organic chicken about once a week and salmon (not farm raised) maybe every two weeks. She uses whey protein powder and has for yrs but to become vegan we need to give it up. We also use pea protein which we plan to keep using for now (although at some point it would be nice to cut all powders from out food source), and we just ordered some plain brown rice protein powder to try out. Also we are trying to avoid soy and hemp is out because of drug testing concerns (my job requires hair sample drug testing and I've read conflicting information about this). I work out 5 days a week at two different gyms. I'm not interested in gaining large muscle mass, only staying at my current build which people guess is 165 lbs and not 140lbs.

My wife is truly an excellent cook so we never eat out anywhere ever. What she prepares is what we eat, up until now this has not been a problem, but being a total vegan is presenting problems we're not used to. Meat, dairy, has been how we balanced out protein needs, now it's much more difficult. This is how I came to this site to ask people who live a vegan life style what do you do for nutrition without resorting to eating beans (all the different types) everyday for protein.

Your feedback is appreciated.

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Personally, I think it not needed. An infant can grow 300% in its first two years of life on breast milk with is around 4.5% protein by calories. An adult human shouldn't even need this much unless they have absorption issues. But that is moot, because it is darn hard to get less than 8% eating plant-based whole-food. I am 190 pounds and I have no problem maintaining muscle mass or even increasing mass on nothing but fruits and veggies. Right around 8-10% protein by calories.

 

I tried a lot of different supplements in the past, but noticed no difference. When I took Dr. Campbell's nutrition course, he convinced me that supplements are quite risky. The FDA doesn't regulate them, and even though a certain component might be found in a whole food, isolating it can be risky and really puts it into the realm of pharmacology. For example, beta-carotene is a known cancer fighter what consumed in whole foods. However, when taken as a isolated supplement, some studies found an increase in cancer growth rates.

 

Just eat plant-based, whole-foods, and don't focus on singular nutrients too much.

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Personally, I think it not needed. An infant can grow 300% in its first two years of life on breast milk with is around 4.5% protein by calories. An adult human shouldn't even need this much unless they have absorption issues. But that is moot, because it is darn hard to get less than 8% eating plant-based whole-food. I am 190 pounds and I have no problem maintaining muscle mass or even increasing mass on nothing but fruits and veggies. Right around 8-10% protein by calories.

 

I tried a lot of different supplements in the past, but noticed no difference. When I took Dr. Campbell's nutrition course, he convinced me that supplements are quite risky. The FDA doesn't regulate them, and even though a certain component might be found in a whole food, isolating it can be risky and really puts it into the realm of pharmacology. For example, beta-carotene is a known cancer fighter what consumed in whole foods. However, when taken as a isolated supplement, some studies found an increase in cancer growth rates.

 

Just eat plant-based, whole-foods, and don't focus on singular nutrients too much.

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I recommend Brendan Brazier's books and Robert Cheeke's book. There are plenty of non soy non help plant based protein powders but you dont need to take powders especially if you arent trying to bulk.

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