Protein

Americans are used to depending on animal foods for protein. But beans, nuts, seeds, grains, and even vegetables are rich in protein. Recommendations for protein intake are 46 grams per day for woman and 56 grams per day for men. Here are protein contents of a few plant foods.

FOOD	GRAMS OF PROTEIN
Veggie burger	8-20
1/2 cup tofu	8
1 cup soymilk	8
1/2 cup beans	7
2 tablespoons peanut butter	7
1 slice whole grain bread	3
1/2 cup brown rice	4
1 baked potato	5
1/2 cup broccoli	2

A peanut butter sandwich alone has about 13 grams of protein–or nearly a quarter of the total protein needed for the day. You may have heard that protein in plant foods is inferior to that in animal foods. But experts agree that plant proteins can easily meet protein needs. As long as you eat a variety of foods every day–grains, beans, nuts, and veggies–and consume enough calories, you will meet basic protein needs.

People who eat very low calorie diets for weight control sometimes have higher protein needs–and because they are eating less food, they may not meet those needs. In addition, a slightly higher protein intake may help with weight control. Higher protein intakes may be good for bone health as well–especially when the protein comes from plant foods.

Fats

Many people avoid all sources of fat, including nuts, seeds, soy products, olives, and avocados. But there are good reasons to include some higher fat foods in your meals.

• Diets that contain moderate amounts of healthful plant fats produce favorable ratios of good to bad cholesterol in the blood. People who eat very low fat diets tend to have lower levels of HDL cholesterol–the kind that protects against heart disease. Those who eat moderate-fat diets–but focus on healthful plant fats–may actually have lower risk for heart disease than people who eat high-carbohydrate, low-fat diets.
• Diets that contain some fats are more satisfying. If you try to make your vegetarian diet too low in fat, you may find it unsatisfying and unpleasant–which will make your transition towards a plant-based diet more difficult. If you allow yourself vegetables sautéed in olive oil and favorite foods like peanut butter or guacamole, you are likely to find vegetarian eating easier than you imagined.
• Fat is an essential nutrient. Humans need two specific essential fatty acids in their diet for good health. One of these, an omega-3 fatty acid called alpha-linolenic acid–is not easy to come by. It's found in just a handful of plant foods–flaxseed, canola oil, and walnuts are the best choices.

This doesn't mean that eating any kind of fat is okay. Saturated fat, the kind found in meat, dairy foods, and eggs, is linked to heart disease risk. It's not required in the diet and there is no known advantage to consuming it. Trans fatty acids, which are found in margarine and hydrogenated shortenings and in many commercial baked products, are also linked to disease risk.

In choosing sources of fats, focus on the following:

• Choose mostly foods that are good sources of monounsaturated fat: nuts, seeds, olives, avocado, and olive and canola oils.
• Include a daily source of the essential omega-3 fat: 1 tsp flaxseed oil, 1 tbsp ground flaxseed (you won't absorb it if it isn't ground) or 4 tsp canola oil.
• Choose whole foods that provide fat–nuts, seeds, avocado, soyfoods, olives–more often than vegetable oils.
• Avoid animal fats and foods with hydrogenated fats.

Vitamin B12:

This vitamin is necessary for healthy blood and a healthy nervous system. Getting too little can do great damage to your health. Diets low in B12 can also raise risk for heart disease. Vitamin B12 is a hot topic in vegan circles because it's found only in animal foods (meat, dairy, and eggs) or in plant foods that are fortified with it. So if you don't eat any animal foods, you need to make sure you include some fortified foods in your diet or take a supplement. It's as simple as that. Among experts in B12 nutrition, there is no debate about this.

Advanced B12 deficiency can cause paralysis and anemia. While this type of severe deficiency is uncommon in vegans, people who eat a vegan diet are at fairly high risk for mild B12 deficiency which can cause mental decline or heart disease.

Vegetarians who eat only plant foods are not the only ones who need to think about vitamin B12. Even those who include dairy foods and eggs in their diet often don't get enough. And experts say that all people over the age of 50–including those who eat meat–need vitamin B12 supplements or fortified foods. The reason for this is that older people don't absorb natural B12 from food very well. But they do just fine with supplemental B12.

Many foods are fortified with this vitamin, including most fortified breakfast cereals and some brands of soymilk. Some brands of nutritional yeast are rich in vitamin B12. The recommended intake of vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms per day. But if you get all of your B12 from a daily supplement, aim for at least 10 micrograms since you won't absorb all of the B12 from a single dose.

If you use a vitamin B12 supplement, choose one that is chewable or that will dissolve under your tongue. If you swallow the pill whole, it won't be absorbed very well.

Vitamin D:

Here is a vitamin with an identity crisis. It's actually a hormone, not a vitamin. We don't necessarily need to consume it because, technically, humans can make enough vitamin D when skin is exposed to sunlight. The problem is that many people don't get enough sun exposure to make adequate vitamin D. Older people and those with darker skin make it less easily. Those who live in northern or smoggy climates get less sunlight. And you need to weigh the wisdom of spending time in the sun–which causes cancer–against getting enough sunlight to make vitamin D. Using sunscreen doesn't solve the problem. It will help protect you from cancer, but it also keeps your skin from making vitamin D.

It's really important to get plenty of vitamin D which is needed for healthy bones. If you live in Hawaii, or the southwest, or California, and you spend at least a half hour, 3 times a week or so out in the sunshine–and your skin is fairly light–you probably don't need to worry about vitamin D. Otherwise, consider a supplement or foods fortified with this vitamin.

Requirements for younger adults are 5 micrograms of vitamin D per day. After age 50, adults people should get 10 micrograms per day.

Iron

It's a myth that vegetarian diets are low in iron. Studies show that vegetarians eat more iron than meat eaters. However, iron from plant foods isn't absorbed as well as iron from animal foods. You can take important steps to remedy this, though. Vitamin C dramatically increases iron absorption from plant foods. So eat a good source of vitamin C at every meal. Calcium and dairy foods greatly decrease iron absorption. In addition, dairy foods contain no iron so they displace iron rich plant foods from the diet. If you include dairy in your diet, go easy on it. And if you use calcium supplements, take them between meals rather than with meals when they can interfere with absorption of iron from foods.

Despite their higher intake, vegetarians do have lower stores of iron in their body. That means they have a greater potential to develop an iron deficiency. But the reality is that vegetarians don't become iron deficient any more often than meat eaters.

You'll get plenty of iron in your diet as long as you eat a variety of whole or enriched plant foods. But the key is to make sure this iron is absorbed by eating a good source of vitamin C at each meal (it has to be consumed at the same time as the iron-rich food is consumed.) Avoiding large amounts of foods that inhibit iron absorption, such as dairy (and also green or black tea), is important as well.

Good Sources of Iron	Good Sources of Vitamin C
Enriched bread Enriched grains Whole wheat bread Whole grains Winter squash Leafy green vegetables Tomato juice Beans Nuts	Melons Citrus fruits Pineapple Strawberries Kiwifruit Broccoli Peppers Tomatoes

Zinc

Vegetarians tend to consume less zinc than meat eaters, but there is no evidence of widespread zinc deficiency in western people who eat mostly plant-based diets. Zinc is important for normal growth during adolescence and for a healthy immune system throughout life. To meet your zinc needs, be sure to eat plenty of whole grains (refined grains don't have it unless they are fortified) and include foods like nuts, seeds, fortified ready-to-eat cereals, and nut and seed butters.

Breads are better sources of zinc than crackers or muffins because yeast makes zinc more absorbable.

Iodine

This nutrient is important for function of the thyroid gland and for normal metabolism.. But when was the last time you worried about iodine in your diet? Actually, most vegetarians in the United States get enough as long as they use iodized salt. Sea vegetables (or sea weed) can also be a good source, although the content in any given serving of these foods is not always predictable. The amount of iodine in vegetables varies depending on where the vegetable was grown. Vegetarians in northern Europe may not get enough of this nutrient since the soil in that part of the world is iodine-poor. For insurance, if a vegetarian is not using iodized salt regularly, a supplement of 75 to 100 micrograms of iodine a couple of times a week is a good idea.

Calcium, Bone Health and Vegetarian Diets

Most of us grew up believing that dairy foods were the only or best way to get adequate calcium. But there is nothing magical about milk. It doesn't have anything to offer that you can't get from other foods. And contrary to popular belief, research does not show that people who drink more milk have healthier bones. (The evidence that drinking milk will help you lose weight is also extremely limited.)

If you choose to include dairy foods in meals, keep your intake moderate and look towards a variety of foods to provide calcium. Milk displaces healthful plant foods. Too much dairy means fewer phytochemicals and antioxidants and less fiber in your diet.

Calcium-rich plant foods–both those that are natural sources of calcium and those that are fortified with it–often have advantages over milk in protecting the health of your bones.

For example:

• Calcium-fortified soymilk and calcium-set tofu contain compounds called isoflavones that may help maintain bone health.
• Calcium-fortified orange juice is rich in vitamin C, and research shows that people with high vitamin C intakes are likely to have healthier bones.
• Many leafy green vegetables–such as collards and kale–are rich in calcium and they are also high in vitamin K and potassium–two nutrients needed for strong bones.

While dairy foods do provide calcium, they do not contain vitamin C or isoflavones and they are poor sources of vitamin K and potassium. So you can see that it makes far more sense to get calcium from foods that contain other factors which contribute to healthy bones.

However you choose to get calcium, do make sure you get enough. The current recommendation for adults is 1000 milligrams of calcium per day. Contrary to what you may have heard elsewhere, there is no evidence that vegetarians need less calcium than meat eaters. If you don't eat enough calcium-rich foods to meet your needs for this mineral, use supplements to make up the difference.

Calcium Content of Plant Foods in milligrams

Chickpeas, 1/2 cup cooked	39
Butternut squash, 1/2 cup cooked	42
Vegetarian baked beans, 1/2 cup	64
Tempeh, 1/2 cup	78
Bok choy, 1/2 cup cooked	79
Soybeans, 1/2 cup cooked	88
Broccoli, 1/2 cup cooked	89
Kale, 1/2 cup cooked	90
Collard greens, 1/2 cup cooked	89
Tofu, calcium-set, 1/2 cup	150
Dried figs, 3	158
Blackstrap molasses, 1 tbsp	187
Soymilk, fortified, 1 cup	300
Orange juice, calcium fortified, 1 cup	300

Believe it or not, the earliest humans met calcium requirements mostly from wild leafy greens. While it is not very difficult to plan a diet that provides adequate calcium from foods that are naturally rich in this mineral, the fact is that most people don't get enough calcium unless they use fortified foods or supplements. To make matters somewhat more complicated, not all of the calcium in foods is absorbed. Some foods, like spinach, beet greens, and certain seeds, have lots of calcium, but most of it doesn't get absorbed. Generally, calcium is well-absorbed from most other leafy greens, soy products, dairy foods, and fortified foods. It is also well absorbed from supplements.

What Else Is In Food?

Other vitamins and minerals: Plant foods are packed with vitamins and minerals that are essential for life–compounds like vitamin C, riboflavin, vitamin E, magnesium, and copper. We don't need to talk about these because, for the most part, vegetarians can count on getting enough of these without even trying. In fact, in many cases, vegetarian diets are much higher in these vitamins and minerals than diets of meat eaters.

Cholesterol. This waxy compound is actually an essential part of body cells–but our liver makes plenty of it, so we don't need to get any from food. Dietary cholesterol can also contribute to heart disease, so it's best to limit it in your diet. Plant foods never contain cholesterol. It's found only in animal foods. And foods like shrimp and white meat chicken that are low in fat, are actually high in cholesterol.

Phytochemicals. This is a large group of plant compounds that are not nutrients, but that often have beneficial effects on health. Antioxidants, for example, are phytochemicals that neutralize the harmful effects of oxygen in the body and reduce risk for heart disease and cancer. Fruits and vegetables are especially rich in phytochemicals–but all plant foods contain them. Some foods are particularly unique for their phytochemical content. For example, soybeans contain compounds called isoflavones, phytochemicals that are not in any other commonly consumed foods.

Animal foods never contain phytochemicals.