Protein Alternatives to Meat
This page on HealthMBA.com is about the many choices you have for getting sufficient protein in your diet without eating meat. If you choose to reduce or eliminate meat from your daily diet there are already many delicious and nutritious natural foods available that are high in protein. This article explains what choices there are as alternatives to meat, as well as the recommended amount of protein you should get each day.
There are many alternatives to eating meat if you need to get more protein in your diet. It is a misconception that vegetarians, who have decided to eat little or no meat products, suffer from a deficiency of the protein, the body's vital building material. Rather than trying to subsist only on vegetable salads and fruits, there are many hearty, natural foods that are rich in protein. Another misconception is that there are very few effective meat protein substitutes, and they are not very pleasant to eat. If you look into this matter you'll soon realize that many of the foods we already enjoy have a great deal of protein in them. There are many nuts and legumes that are very delicious and easily add up to the amount of protein that we need every day. The fact is that you don't have to eat meat to get a great supply of protein in your diet, and there are many delicious and nutritious natural food that can give you many other choices.
There are a lot of beans and nuts that, when prepared in the right ways, can actually take on forms that seem a lot like meat, such a tofu made seems a lot like chicken. In our diets we have the need for certain amino acids and other materials to help replenish our body as it heals and build up to be stronger. The required amount depends on our age and level of activity, but in general we need to consume an amount that is 0.8 grams per kilogram of our body weight. As an example, someone who weighs about 70 kilograms should include at least 50 grams of protein in their daily diet to keep healthy. People with special needs will need a higher daily intake, but that is a reasonable standard.
Interestingly, you could easily reach that total with a combination of peanuts, pinto beans, soy milk, and oatmeal. For those who have decided to follow a very strict vegetarian diet, it does take a little more conscious effort to make sure that there is a good balance of these vegetable proteins in their diet. In some cases they may take dietary supplements to make sure they are getting a good mix, but in most cases it isn't necessary, as long as they include a good variety. In America the typical diet already include more than enough protein to get by, and in some cases people may eat a little too much. It doesn't help much to eat more protein than you need since the body doesn't store any of the extra, and if you're eating more than double the suggested amount it may start to cause some stress on the kidneys, which have to work hard to filter the excess amounts out of the blood stream.
