How My Primal Instincts Led Me to... Veganism page 26

[quikky]

I think she answered this in that she's eating nuts/seeds as well as gluten free grains (which do have protein, even if it's not that bio-available). Seeing as the RDA is actually relatively low, it's easy enough to meet the basic requirements for a sedentary person.

The RDA asserts 46 grams for the average vegan female (I assume without heavy lifting). Between nuts and oatmeal, things like broccoli as well. . .

1 cup oatmeal is 6 g
1 cup cooked broccoli is 4 g
2 tbsp almonds is 4 g.

So, that's 14 g right there -- and it's not much food. So, if you just tripled each serving (and there are, of course, other foods with protein in it -- other veg, seeds, etc), then you'd easily reach your 46 g of protein for the average person based on RDA.

Now, we know that here in primal land, RDA "ain't enough" for growing muscle etc etc etc. Most vegans use pea protein powder as their mainstay (the body building ones) in addition to soy, and glutenous grains which also have pretty high protein (ie, bulgar wheat).

Still, if she were paleo-vegan, I would wager that 3 cups of oatmeal -- which honestly isn't that much in a bowl at breakfast with 3 TB almond slivers with, say, some nice apple sauce (sugar free) and pie spice would be quite filing and tastey and get her most o the way there. Later, a big spinach salad with some orange bits and maybe fennel and some more almonds (3 tb) and she's still headed in the right direction, and hten for dinner, gets 3 cups cooked broccoli -- which is about what I eat at dinner when I have broccoli as we have to make at least 8 cups for our family -- then she's basically passed the line.

And, assuming she could put in other seeds and nuts which will diversify nutrient profiles and the like -- and then did wacky things with them like make super-yummy pates and/or raw crackers (one of my favorite vegan snacks and still a treat on occasion). . . then, yeah, she's definitely making the grade.

It could also be quite high fat between all of the nuts/seeds, avocados, olive oils and the like that could be added, so the diet would lean toward fat really -- for satiation -- and then the rest just fills in the nutrient profiles after that.

I'm not saying it's super-fabu-awesomesauce, but I think it could be done.

Largely because that's how I ate until my cholesterol went way too low.

Animal protein is superior to almost all vegetarian protein. Animal protein = complete essential amino acid profile.

[Zach]

Animal protein is superior to almost all vegetarian protein. Animal protein = complete essential amino acid profile.

So what?

[zoebird]

Animal protein is superior to almost all vegetarian protein. Animal protein = complete essential amino acid profile.

Not arguing about it.

The question was "where does she get her protein" and there are the paleo sources. Nothing about whether or not it's complete, superior, better than, etc.

Honestly, don't really care. Just saying it's "possible" not saying it's "optimal" (and I don't care about "optimizing" so. . .).

[cori93437]

3 cups of oatmeal in one sitting, plus a bunch of add ins? ... Oh my god... I think I'd die.
That seems like the heaviest most miserable gut bomb ever.

Do people really eat that much without being sick?
Is that realistic?

[zoebird]

Yes, I used to eat it all the time. And I'm not even a fan of oatmeal.

One of my regular (WAPF-vegetarian) breakfasts was 3 cups (dry measure) oatmeal (which comes up to about 1.5 cups wet measure -- or a very small volume indeed) plus home-made apple sauce (about half an apple's worth) plus then slivered almons -- easily 3 tbsp. It's honestly NOT that much food. It's certainly much less than my current breakfast of 1.5 cups cooked (steamed) veg plus olive oil plus three eggs in butter -- which is a lot more physical volume (in addition to having a lot more nutrition).

[heatseeker]

Am I on crazy pills? Since when are oats paleo? (Genuinely asking. Didn't know they were on the "good" list.)

[JoanieL]

From here: Five a day: The truth (not sure if she's reputable in these parts, but this article was pretty good)

In conclusion, the statement in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans: “fruits and vegetables are excellent sources of vitamins” is not evidence based. A more accurate statement would be “low/zero-fat fruits are a good source of vitamin C and not much else; fruits with a fat content (avocado and olives) are poorer on vitamin C and better on other vitamins, but still no where near ‘excellent’; vegetables are often a better source of vitamin C than fruit and can also provide some useful fat soluble vitamins when eaten with fat.” For a short and accurate statement, the guidelines should have said “animal products are unbeatable nutritionally”.

and

After all this, is there a perfect five-a-day? I set about doing what should have been done before any of this started. I went back to the USDA nutrition database and tried to get the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) from just five foods. This can be achieved with 100 grams of liver, 200 grams of sardines, 200 grams of whole milk, 100 grams of sunflower seeds and 200 grams of broccoli (1,300 calories). There will be infinite combinations of real foods that can provide the RDAs, but I started from the ones known to be highly nutritious.

For interest, I repeated the experiment for a vegetarian diet and the biggest challenge became vitamin D. The RDAs could be met with five foods: 500 grams of whole milk, 450 grams of eggs (10 medium eggs), 300 grams of spinach, 250 grams of raw mushrooms grown in sunshine and 50 grams of sunflower seeds (1,360 calories). Dietary advisors applaud people for choosing a vegetarian diet, but then tell them to avoid eggs and to consume low-fat milk. It then becomes practically impossible for a vegetarian to meet even minimal nutritional requirements. I had returned to eating meat and fish before the research for this part of the book, but, this exercise gave me great concern about what lasting damage I may have done to my health during years of not eating meat and fish. Gwyneth Paltrow may also be re-evaluating her diet after sharing her medical experience on her health website (June 2010). Paltrow’s vitamin D levels were tested by doctors in New York, following a “pretty severe” bone fracture and they “turned out to be the lowest they had ever seen.”[viii]

Vegans can’t get B12 naturally and they would need to eat 2.25 kilograms of (raw sunshine grown) mushrooms in a fat delivery mechanism (e.g. vegetable oil) to get the ‘adequate intake’ for vitamin D and an unusual food like oriental dried radishes to get their calcium – and to repeat this daily. For completeness, the five vegan foods would be 2.25 kilograms of mushrooms, 175 grams of porridge oats, 25 grams of sunflower seeds, 100 grams of oriental dried radishes and 300 grams of spinach (in more vegetable oil) and a vitamin B12 supplement. Without the calories in the vegetable oil, the vegan basket adds up to 1,644 calories – the highest of all three sample ways of getting our nutritional requirement.

[cori93437]

Ok... it's just me I guess.
I would not be able to eat that amount by any means without being sick.
When I ate oatmeal I always made a 2 serving portion for myself which was 1cup oats and just under 2c water.

I just looked directions for quaker rolled oats... 3c is a 6 serving portion(1/2 servings so it should be 3c even after cooked) and requires 5 3/4c water.
That's a lot of food by my standards... there is no way that ends up just a little bit.

[Ayla2010]

Ok... it's just me I guess.
I would not be able to eat that amount by any means without being sick.
When I ate oatmeal I always made a 2 serving portion for myself which was 1cup oats and just under 2c water.

I just looked directions for quaker rolled oats... 3c is a 6 serving portion(1/2 servings so it should be 3c even after cooked) and requires 5 3/4c water.
That's a lot of food by my standards... there is no way that ends up just a little bit.

Neither would I.
Not anymore anyway. I used to be able to stuff food in like there was no tomorrow, but since going primal, no way.

[bloodorchid]

vegetable oil is the devil *shudder*