Will I get enough protein if I don't eat any meat?
The answer is Yes. Vegetarians get their protein comes from four main sources.Nuts and seeds
e.g. almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.Beans and lentils
e.g. haricot beans (the traditional baked bean), kidney beans, butter beans, red split lentils, brown lentils, green lentils. Soya beans fall into this category but are a special case - see item 5 below.Wholefood Grains
e.g. wheat, rice, millet, buckwheat, rye, barley, oats. Grains fall into two kinds: those with gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats), and those without (rice, millet, buckwheat). Gluten is a protein, so even products from white flour have some protein in them. The white version of other grains such as rice, contain no nutrients other than carbohydrate/starch. However, the 'brown' bit of grains contains even more protein, as well as iron, fibre and vitamins B and E. This is why wholefood grains are such a valuable part of the diet.Dairy
e.g. milk, yoghurt, cheese, free-range eggs.Soya
One protein source that deserves its own category is that of soya beans as they contain all the eight amino acids and so are a complete protein by themselves. You can either use soya beans as they are, or use many of the wonderful products that are made form soya beans: such as tofu, soya milk, miso and tempeh (you can find out more about these products in cookery books or through the Vegetarian Society).You may have heard of 'first-class proteins' and 'second-class proteins'. To explain, proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids. We need eight amino acids together to build one unit of protein. Meat and dairy products contain all eight amino acids, so they used to be called 'first-class proteins'. The vegetarian foods mentioned above do not (with the exception of the soya bean, and read more
