4 YEARS AND 5 MONTHS WITH NO MEDICATION OR INSULIN INJECTIONS AS A TYPE 1 DIABETIC
This blog post surrounds a common question that I encounter when telling people about protein in my plant-based diet. The most common question is “Where do you get your protein?” Nearly five years ago before I had type 1 diabetes (T1D), I would have probably asked the same question. I mean it’s common knowledge that eating significant amounts of steak, fish, chicken, dairy and eggs is where you should get a majority of your protein from, right?
Tons of Protein in Plants
When I first started researching a plant-based diet, I couldn’t believe how much protein was in common non-animal product foods like broccoli, spinach, almonds and beans. Not only that, the amount of protein in these plant-based foods was comparable, if not even higher than those found in certain animal products. Also, the protein found in plant-based foods is much healthier than those found in animal products.
Animal Protein Comes out of Thin Air, Right?
When you take a step back, where does protein originally come from? Yes, animal muscle tissue has a lot of protein, but do animals make it all from thin air? No! Animals have to take in amino acids (the building blocks of protein) from plants in order to make that muscle tissue. Yes, animals can convert some aminos into others as needed, but they can’t make any of the essential or conditionally essential amino acids from scratch – only plants can do that.
When you’re looking at that steak on your plate you aren’t seeing the only possible source of dietary protein in nature, you’re actually seeing second-hand plant proteins that have been stripped of fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and packaged with cholesterol and environmental contaminants; whereas the broccoli has plenty of freshly crafted protein and tons of nutrients besides! (Source)
Some Quick Visuals
I wanted to finish by having a quick section showing the amount of protein in a serving of certain animal products vs. a serving of certain plant-based foods. I did a google search for 30 minutes or so and found some good visuals that provide additional color on my thoughts above. As you can see, maintaining adequate protein levels on a plant-based diet is not difficult. And, the protein from a plant-based diet is much cleaner and healthier than those from animals processed at slaughter houses in God knows what types of sanitary conditions. In conclusion, please don’t feel like your diet will suffer protein deficiency if you start eating more plants and eating less animals!
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