Whats a good Protein substitute for meat?

Quinoa is a whole grain and a complete protein. You cook it similarly to rice and can use it like rice or mix it with some fresh veggies, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper then put it in the fridge and eat it cold.

Brown rice and barley also contain protein as do other whole grains.

Beans and legumes. I love black beans. I like to make burrito bowls with brown rice, black beans, cilantro, corn, avocado, bell pepper and onion, and salsa. Kidney beans are also good, you can make a vegetarian chili or put them cold on a salad. If you rinse them and store them in a bowl with water you can keep them in the fridge for a few days.

Nuts, seeds, and nut butters (such as almond or peanut butter). You can put chopped walnuts or slivered almonds in oatmeal, cereal, or salads. I like peanut or almond butter on whole grain toast, on a sandwich with honey, with crackers, celery, or apples. And of course you can make trail mix or snack on them by themselves.

Of course tofu. I like to cut it into chunks, squeeze out some of the water between towels. Then I grill the pieces in a pan, pressing down with a spatula to get more water out when I flip it. Cook on both sides until lightly browned. You can use it right away or keep it in the fridge for a few days and use it when you need it. I like to add it to stir fry.

There are lots of meat substitutes out there that are high in protein as well. I don't go to any one website for recipes. If something sounds good (like vegetarian chili) I google it and check out a few recipes and choose whichever one looks best to me. Otherwise I would just search vegetarian dinner, or snack, or whatever. You could also take your wife to a bookstore and browse cookbooks together and see if anything looks good. Good luck, and it's wonderful of you to be supportive of your wife in this decision.

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Hi, so I will be completely honest, I am completely against vegetarianism and I live a hunter/gatherer lifestyle consuming loads of meat. However, I have done some extensive personal research in nutrition (I am in pharmacy school). I do not agree with vegetarians but it is your life and I can acknowledge your choices.

Here is some info you might want to be aware of. If you cut out meat, you need to make sure you still get a complete amino acid profile (all 20 amino acids). The biggest fault in vegetarians is not getting enough of the essential amino acids (9 of them). Your body can produce 11 of the 20, but you must get the other 9 from your diet. I will not delve into those for respect for time. Often times people eat nuts as a substitute but I do not believe eating just nuts will give you all the essential amino acids. I have personally never tried tofu nor do I want to, but I am unsure of its amino acid profile. Depending on how "strict" your wife is with being a vegetarian, you may be able to sneak some eggs as these would give you all the amino acids. Additionally you could try and utilize egg white protein (powdered form if she lets you) to get your amino acids. Lastly, you may be able to use whey protein (yes the whey protein body builders drink). This is milk based (idk if that is allowed for vegetarians either).

The other major deficiency with not consuming meat is B vitamins. Meat is very high in B vitamins. You can easily substitute this with a multivitamin (centrum or generic pharmacy brand) or you could take a B vitamin tablet as well in addition to the multivitamin. You would look for a "B complex" tablet or capsule at your pharmacy. This would give you all the B vitamins. I will warn you though, B vitamins are water soluble so you body only takes what it needs and pees out the rest. If you take too much B vitamins, your urine could be a bright yellowish/neon green color. This is normal when taking extra B vitamins.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

Soy: Soy milk, Edamame, Tofu, Tempeh

Grains: bread, pasta, couscous, wheat berries

Eggs and Dairy (Greek Yogurt is best for protein)

Legumes: Beans, Peanuts, lentils, peanut butter

Nuts, Almond butter

Seitan, Nutritional Yeast (sort of hard to find)

Quinoa.

Quinoa is a complete protein. Look for it in pasta or rice section. It's gluten free, not technically a grain. It's worth looking into because unlike most vegetarian protein, quinoa has all the essential amino acids. If you don't know about complete and incomplete proteins yet, you should further research it. Make sure to combine different types of proteins (legumes with grains, for example) throughout the day.

FYI You do not lose fiber from a vegetarian diet, you gain it. Drink more water to stay hydrated because you will be getting more fiber and losing some fluids possibly.

The only thing you need to worry about is vitamin B12, and that is only if you're vegan I believe. just take a supplement for b12. you can get protein, iron, calcium all from a vegan or vegetarian diet easily.

ohmyveggies.com/ is a good website. I just use alot of sites for meat eaters and go to the vegetarian section of their blog. http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/ is not a vegetarian site but I use it all the time, she has alot of recipes that are cheap and vegetarian or can easily be made vegetarian.

Someone else already mentioned manjulaskitchen.com but that reminds me, thats a great one for indian food. definetely try that one.

Eating beans along with either rice or corn will form a complete protein. Soy is also a complete protein, as is quinoa (a South American grain, pretty bland but can easily be made tasty). Greek yogurt and kefir (similar to yogurt) is also packed with protein. All of those (except the dairy) will give you way more nutrients and fiber than found in meat.

why are you focussed on protein? She and you get enough protein. When di you ever hear of anyone getting ill from lack of protein? NEver happens outside of famie areas.

What about iron, calcium, and the other essentials?

WHy does everyone think you'll slowly die when you stop eating meat, of lack of protein.

In fact, there is often MORE protein in a veg diet. More beans, legumes, lentils and chickpeas, all the pinto/black/lima/pigeon/white beans you want, and more spinach, mushrooms, okra, peas, green beasn, potatoes, pumpkins and other foods FULL of protein.

Anything else you should know? Yes, for gods sake get informed. It's as if you think you only need protein.

sites

http://www.vegalicious.org/

http://www.manjulaskitchen.com/

Beans, Bread (whole grain), tofu or soymilk, nuts, seeds, protein bars, eggs, vegetables: beets, broccoli, aspargus, cabbages, cauliflower, celery, mushrooms, potatoes, cucumbers, and green beans.

Fruits:Avacados, bananas, apples, appricots, peaches, blueberries, cherries, grapefruit, and pinapples

Also protein supplements won't hurt either like: vitmains and minerals

try to combine some for maxium protein intake.

Good sites: spark recipes, no meat athelete.com. You can really find them anywhere if you look.

dairy. low fat protein is high in protein and low in fat.

eggs. best way is to use just one yoke per meal regardless of how many eggs are eaten.

i drink whey protein when i eat an all veggie or fruit meal because i work out every day.

the vegetarian five ingredient gourmet is a good easy recipe cookbook by nava atlas.

below is her website which has recipes,etc.

Tofu

beans

nuts

legumes

fake meat

there's no fiber in meat and that's one of the reasons why it's so bad for us. All nutrients found in meat are in plant foods in higher concentrations, without the bad stuff that comes with the meat. Protein is in all foods, and all foods contain all the amino acids we need in quantities that are actually greater than what we need. So you don't need to use any food specifically to substitute for meat from a nutritional standpoint.

some recipe sites: http://vegweb.com/recipes

http://vegan.sheknows.com/category/recipes/

http://www.madejustright.com/recipes-gallery?secti...

nutritional and health info: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC344025... Food for thought … and health Article in PubMed

http://nutritionfacts.org/video/uprooting-the-lead... Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death (site has a lot of info)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNCGkprGW_o Food That Kills

http://www.drmcdougall.com/video/starch_solution.h... The Starch Solution

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH-hs2v-UjI Are Humans Designed/Evolved to Eat Meat?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6pLRdawBw0 Dr Esselstyn

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es6U00LMmC4 The Best Speech You Will Ever Hear - Gary Yourofsky