Having trouble with protein

July 9, 2007

Hi. I am pretty new to the RR community. I found myself reading SARP

and instantly realized I am SS along with recovering from an ED. I

took the breakfast class 2 weeks ago and posted to the breakfast list

all last week. I am also attively posting to the ED list so I feel

pretty connected to the RR community and I am grateful for that.

I decided to become a vegetarian almost a year ago after I started

incorporating more vegetarian type meals into my diet and I felt

better. For me it's not so much a moral decision not to eat meat

(although now that's it's been so long I don't really want to picture

myself eating it...yuck).

I have an important question for my fellow vegetarian SS's. I am

having a hard time with getting enough protein. I thought I had a

handle on it until I took the breakfast class and I was told that I

can not " double dip " my protein and browns. For example, I love my

whole wheat tortillas that have 8 grams of protein each and are made

with whole grains. I was counting that as both but now, as I

understand it, I have to either choose it to be a protein or a brown.

Is this correct? I still have eggs and cheese and I had the following

breakfast this morning....

2 eggs = 12 grams protein

1 slice cheese = 4 grams protien

2 slices whole wheat toast....1 piece = 4 grams protein, 1 piece =

brwon.

2 glasses water.

I thought I did very well but I was told not to use any of my browns

as a protein (by a non-veggie) I don't understand this. Is it not

dense when it comes from whole grain? The PP I use comes from whey so

why would I not be able to use the whey from whole grains as my

protein choice as long as I also get a brown?

Also, I have had to add fish (am I even a veggie anymore?....but I

guess I am ok eating fish, I just don't want to be a 3 meals a day

meat eater like I used to be).

I think I really need some help from fellow veggies....

Thanks,

Carmen

July 10, 2007

Hi Carmen, welcome to the group!

Whole grain products don't " count " as protein, for vegetarians or for omnivores.

A lot of foods have some amount of protein in them, but counting all those litle

bits of protein doesn't go into our protein count for the day. I know Kathleen

could give a better explanation of WHY, but the bottom line is that it just

doesn't give our bodies the protein needed.

The only food source that can be a brown or a protein is beans, but you need to

choose which it's going to be at a given meal. So you could have tofu (protein)

with beans (brown), or you could have beans (protein) with brown rice

(brown)...see? You could even have beans (protein) and beans (brown), you would

just need to make sure you have ENOUGH (all the beans you need for your protein,

plus more beans for your brown).

So you're getting 16 grams of protein at breakfast from eggs and cheese. Is 24

grams your goal? You could consider adding a slice of veggie sausage, or a half

cup of cottage cheese. What else sounds good?

I think once you bump up the protein, you will really feel the difference in

your body, and then you will *know* why we only count certain foods as protein.

:-)

Let us know what you try and how it goes,

Sharon in CA

Carmen <carmenlewis

Monday, July 9, 2007 2:49:21 PM