‘You’re Vegan?’ 10 Most Common Responses to Plant-Based Eating
I only eat grass-fed beef and where do you get your protein and animals are made for us to eat anyway’
1. ‘Where do you get your protein?’
Everyone wants to know where you’re getting your protein, probably because they see the victims of protein deficiency wandering the streets like zombies. Occasionally one of them falls over and their head rolls off. “Oh no!” the people shout. “We’ve lost another innocent to protein deficiency!”
In all seriousness, most people actually sound legitimately curious when they ask this. It’s probably because “Protein!” is advertised on virtually everything at the grocery store from energy bars to cheese. We’re obsessed with it. However, in an unofficial poll conducted by me, 98 percent of people are not counting their macros and have no idea how much protein they eat, or how much they should eat. Turns out, most people are eating plenty. So how much do we actually need? The National Academy of Medicine recommends 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of healthy body weight per day. I weigh 130 lbs, or 59 kg; therefore, I need about 47 grams of protein per day. Curious, I counted my protein on a fairly average day last week and I ate 72 grams of protein. I didn’t eat tofu…
