Where do you get your protein?

One of the most common questions to a vegan or vegetarian is, "If you don't eat meat, where do you get your protein?" This question is awesome, because it's based on that the good ol' food pyramid we all learned in elementary school. The old school pyramid taught us that meat, fish, & eggs were all in the meat group and those are your protein. Fortunately, the newer food pyramids now being taught at least mention meat substitutes in that category. In this country, there is a huge amount of emphasis put on the consumption of meat and dairy. So much so, we believe that not consuming either of these will lead to a deficiency in protein.
So where does a vegan get protein since they do not eat a good chunk of the food pyramid. When I became vegan, I was shocked to find all the foods that are actually high in protein. I felt like I was being lied to about meat and dairy and that we have very little idea of nutritional content of what we are actually eating.

So it breaks down like this,
Animal-based protein:
1 serving of ground beef (22-30 grams of protein)
1 steak (40-50 grams of protein)
1 serving of chicken breast  (23-35 grams of protein)
1 fish fillet (20-25 grams of protein)
1 egg (6 grams of protein)
3 oz of ham (19 grams of protein)
3 oz of cooked pork (22 grams of protein)
slice of bacon (3 grams of protein)
1 cup of milk (8 grams of protein)
1 slice of cheddar cheese (7 grams of protein)


Plant-based protein:
4 ounces of tempeh (20 grams of protein)
4 ounces of tofu (9 grams of protein)
3 ounces of seitan (31 grams of protein)
1 veggie burger (13 grams of protein)
1 stalk of broccoli (5 grams of protein)
1 cup of beans (12 grams of protein)
1 cup of lentils (18 grams of protein)
1 cup of soy milk (7 grams of protein)
1/4 cup of almonds (8 grams of protein)
1/4 cup of cashews (5 grams of protein)
2 tbsp of peanut butter (8 grams of protein)
Those are just some raw examples. There are also plenty of store bought vegan meals that are high in protein such as Yves, Tofurky, & Gardein.  Those range from 13 to 25 grams of protein depending on the product.

There are plenty of other places you can grab a healthy dose of protein from as a vegan which makes it easy for you to eat the correct amount of protein for the day. We have an over emphasis on protein in this country and consume way more than the recommended intake we should have. For a 30 year old man the recommend protein intake is 56 grams of protein. So eating 4 slices of bacon & 1 egg for breakfast, hamburger for lunch, and a chicken breast for dinner you can easily see how you would be way up above the recommended daily allowance for protein (and I didn't even include the protein from any vegetables, starches, or grains you might have had).

So where does a vegan get their protein?
Through tempeh, tofu, seitan, lentils, beans, nuts, veggies, and some of the places you do too.