There have been more and more vegetarian restaurant appearing in the society. Eating vegetarian has turned into a trend. Still, many people are worried of the thing that the choice of protein would be limited, especially those who exercised are even more worried about not getting enough protein. The nutritionist in Lian Xin Clinic, Ji-Yi Ro, said that,” The choice of protein for vegetarian is relatively less, but if you choose food with caution, and change your diet due to your activity and life style, to reach a extent of enough but not excessive, you can have a healthy diet.”

Three kinds of protein that vegetarian can eat!

Actually, protein exists in a lot of food. Except for meat, eggs and milk, there is also a bit of protein in vegetables and fruits. For vegan and vegetarian, except for eggs and milk, they can take in protein in the following three food.

1.Beans/ Bean Products

Soybean, black bean and edamame are all great source of protein, and so do the products made from them, like tofu, soybean milk and dried tofu. The protein inside them won’t disappear because of processing, that’s why they are a good source of protein, and they’re easy to get. In one cup of soybean milk(240ml), there is about 7 g of protein.

2.Whole grains

Whole grain can provide sugar and protein to us, and it’s one of the source of our calories. In which, quinoa, also called super food, contains a high proportion of protein, and complete 9 kinds of amino acid. It is a great source of “complete protein”, which makes it a great choice of gaining protein. Moreover, red bean, green bean, and chickpeas in the dry bean categories are also a great source of protein.

3.Seeds and nuts

Seeds and nuts not only contain fats, there are also a high proportion of protein, like peanuts, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds have a lot of protein inside. But you have to notice that this kind of food contains a lot of fats, so from the suggestions of Ji Yi Ro, it’s better to eat it for less than 2 spoons of serving size.

Is it hard for vegetarian to eat in complete protein?

The protein in human’s body is made of 20 kinds of amino acid, but 9 of them can’t be made in human body, so they’re only available in food. These 9 kinds of amino acid is called “amino acid in need”.

If there are all 9 protein in the food, we call it complete protein; if any of them are in lack of in the food, we call it incomplete protein.

Although most vegetarian food is incomplete protein, you shouldn’t get worried about not eating in enough complete protein food and your body working badly. About the insufficient of one or a few kinds of protein, Ji-Yi Ro said, “You can eat in enough amino acid by making a set of two or more kinds of incomplete protein.”

Take beans and cereals for example: the amino acid insufficient in these two kinds of food is different, so it is recommended to eat whole grains with beans, or nuts with whole grains or beans. As long as you can eat in diverse kinds of food, there won’t be a crisis of not eating in enough amino acids.

蛋白質該吃多少比較好？

若想要檢視一天要攝取多少蛋白質，可以根據衛生福利部國人膳食營養素參考攝取量提供的建議做參考，常見的公式為：體重的 0.8~1.2 倍=每日蛋白質攝取公克數

0.8 到 1.2 為一個調整值，可依據自己的活動量與生活型態再變化。假設一個55公斤的上班族，長期久坐且沒有做什麼運動，則每日攝取的蛋白質量為 55X0.8，即 44 克的蛋白質。但如果有做重訓，或以體力活為主，則應 X1.2 。另外需要注意的是，如果是高齡者，因為其吸收變差，因此所需要的蛋白質量也比較多，故建議蛋白質要攝取到體重 X1.2的量。

另外在營養學上，能夠提供 7 公克蛋白質的豆魚蛋肉類食物，即稱為「一份」。把計算出來所需要的重量除以 7，就會得到一日該吃的蛋白質份數。我們也可以用手掌來推測蛋白質的份數，一般女性的一個手掌，即等於 3 份，而男性的一手掌約莫是 5 份。

選擇蛋白質把握兩大原則

除了注意攝取量，羅季怡也提醒大家選擇食物時要把握兩個原則：

1.越原型越好：許多豆製品都有進行額外的加工，建議選擇加工程序較少、添加物較少的豆製品，比如豆漿、豆腐、豆乾。至於像是素雞、素火腿這類的素肉在製造時為了增加口感、味道與造型，會額外使用添加物與油脂，吃多了反而增加身體負擔，所以建議減少食用。

2.吃足量而不過量：不論吃葷或吃素，蛋白質都不是吃越多越健康，因為蛋白質的攝取量一旦超過身體的需求量，就會轉變成脂肪做囤積。再者，腎臟不好的人吃太多蛋白質，也會加速腎臟損壞的速度。

最後，素食者除了蛋白質之外，也很容易缺乏維生素 D、B12 、鈣、鐵、鋅跟 omega-3。這些營養素主要來源為動物性食品外，雖然也有植物性來源，但多半吸收率、利用率較低，因此應該視個人情況。

資料來源：Heho健康