Just like water, depending on who you ask you will get a wildly different answer about how much protein you should consume – especially if you’re an athlete!
As a vegan amateur athlete (or at least amateur athlete wanna be! :), I do try to make sure I include enough protein-rich foods (tempeh, beans, hummus, quinoa, nuts) in my diet – and I do supplement with protein powder when I’m in beast mode (I like Vega
My favorite words on protein are from Mac Danzig, a vegan UFC fighter:
Also, let me just say that although protein intake is important, especially for athletes, I find the usual listed “requirements” for protein are blown completely out of proportion, and the thought of consuming “1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight” during down time seems ridiculous to me… I truly feel that all the articles telling people to eat that way are written by people who copied the diets of fanatical body-builders and tried to present them to the general public. If you ingest that much protein a day, you’re taxing your liver and kidneys big-time… For example, I walk at 168lbs and I usually eat between 100 and 140 grams of protein per day when I’m in grueling, peak training… When I’m taking time off, I don’t pay attention to it and I’d say it’s usually around 70 grams a day, give or take…
Kashi also seems to have a reasonable protein needs calculator.
Have you experimented with adjusting your protein intake? Have you found your magic number?
Quote of the day from Mac Danzig:
Other people ask, “How can you do that? How can you eat like that”, but it’s really not that hard, it’s just whether or not you want to do it.
The Daily Better 