Food & recipes

Henrietta Norton: Getting Your Protein Quota

Meat isn’t the only source of protein, says Henrietta, so how else can we ensure we’re getting enough protein in our diets?

It can be particularly difficult for vegans (or anyone who eats little in the way of animal foods) to get enough protein. Our minimum protein intake should be around 0.8–1g per kilo body weight per day – this means around 48-60g for someone weighing 60kg. You could get this amount in one day by eating (for example) two 125g-portions of cooked lentils or beans, two tablespoons of nuts or seeds, a large serving of quinoa and six to eight servings of vegetables over the day. However, if you don’t pay attention to eating several servings of plant protein foods every day, you can quickly fall short. Here are some of the best sources of plant protein and ideas for getting more of them into your diet.

Nuts and seeds

Have a large handful of seeds or nuts as a snack once a day.
Add a tablespoon or two of chopped or ground nuts or seeds to porridge or to a sugar-free muesli.
Add a tablespoon or two of nuts or seeds to smoothies to make them more filling.
Make healthy puddings using chia seeds and coconut yoghurt, coconut milk and/or nut milks – you’ll find many recipes online.
You can make an array of dips and vegan pâtés with seeds and nuts.
Seed bars can make good snacks. Make your own, or look for ready-made ones providing at least 8-10g of protein, and ideally containing less sugar than protein.
Use ground almonds in baking instead of flour (look for specific recipes; you can’t usually substitute like-for-like).

Beans and pulses

Sprout smaller, non-split beans and pulses and add them to salads, stews, soups or any other meal.
Make homemade falafel, hummus and dips made with other pulses such as butter beans or pinto beans.
When making potato mash, replace half with well-cooked mashed cannellini beans or butter beans. You can use this in place of any normal mash, for example in veggie shepherd’s pie.
Make plenty of stews, casseroles and curries with beans and pulses. These are perfect dishes to cook in large batches and freeze for quick dinners during the week.
Always add beans or pulses to vegetable soups.

Grains

Swap your normal rice or couscous for quinoa in any meal or as a side-dish.
Use quinoa or buckwheat flakes instead of oats to make porridge or homemade muesli.
Make amaranth porridge with whole amaranth grains cooked for about 20 minutes in water, adding coconut or nut milk and a teaspoon or two of honey to serve.
Use amaranth or quinoa to make a tabboulehstyle salad.
Blinis are traditional small Russian pancakes made using buckwheat flour. They are ideal as a replacement for normal pancakes – or even try them as a replacement for bread or crackers.

Henrietta Norton is an established nutritional therapist, women’s health expert and founder of award-winning supplement brand Wild Nutrition