Some people who live a ”normal” lifestyle struggle to hit their protein intake for the day already. Take away all of the big pure protein sources (like chicken, beef, fish and eggs) and it obviously becomes even harder to hit that number consistently.

When living a vegan lifestyle, a lot of foods are high in carbohydrates which means you have to be smart about how to approach your nutrition if you want to get your protein number up but not overdo the carbohydrates.

From what I have seen and experienced, if you’re a man or woman weighing anywhere between 60-80 kilos looking to get a good amount of protein in, you want to get anywhere from 0.8-1.0 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight. For someone weighing 60 kilos that means anywhere between 106 grams to 132 grams of protein per day. Hitting that number while on a vegan diet is tough. You will most likely need to add at least one protein shake to your daily nutrition, so I won’t be using that in the next part of this blog.

Now that I have laid out the difficulties in hitting our protein intake (especially but not limited to a vegan diet), let’s show you what foods and snacks could help you hit this number each day.

Red lentil rice and pasta

How many people eat rice or pasta on a daily basis? Normal rice offers you 35 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of protein per 100 gram serving. Red lentil rice offers you 50 grams of carbohydrates but 26 grams of protein per 100-gram portion. A 100 gram serving will make up about a quarter of what you probably need to hit on a daily basis, and that’s just one food per day.

Rolled organic oats

This one isn’t as mind blowing or unexpected as the first one but maybe even more important. If you can start the day with a good number of proteins in the bag, it will set up the rest of the day so much better. Rolled oats offer you 12 grams of protein per 100-gram portion. Add 30 grams of peanut butter and a handful of nuts to that and you have 25-30 grams of protein right there.

Alpro plain no sugars yogurt

I am pointing out this specific brand because it’s the one I have used in the past. This yoghurt literally comes with almost no carbohydrates and no sugar. Every 100 grams offers you 4 grams of protein. This yoghurt is so thin you could easily have the whole tub and be 20 grams of protein richer. If you don’t want to eat the whole thing, just take half of it but add a portion of seeds and nuts to it and you will be back up to 20-25 grams of protein in no time.

(protein) Bagels

I know this one might come as a surprise, but bagels are a good source of protein considering they’re a carbohydrate rich food. The thing that makes a bagel better is that you can add a protein rich spread like peanut butter to add even more. Most bagels offer around 8 grams per bagel. Companies like Warburton’s offer bagels with the same number of protein but half of the carbohydrates per serving.

I hope these easy tips and examples help you add more protein to your (vegan) diet.