Folate (often interchanged with folic acid) is a B vitamin that’s involved in creating DNA, and is also involved in creating proteins. As a vegan, your risk of folate deficiency isn’t any higher. Most folate-containing foods are vegan in the first place. Folate deficiency is also quite uncommon, and usually only happens when someone has a terrible diet that is deficient in other vitamins as well...
Black beans and kidney beans (the most popular red bean) are two of the most popular and easiest types of beans. If you’re curious which is healthier, or which has the better macro profile, you’ll find the answer here. I’ve done a brief comparison of the 2 types of beans, divided into 3 sections. Taste of Black Beans vs Kidney Beans These 2 types of beans taste quite different:...
Tryptophan is an important essential amino acid that may be harder for you to get on a vegan diet (along with other amino acids like lysine and methionine). With that said, it’s still not difficult to meet the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) if you’re eating the right kind of foods. You can get enough in just a serving or two of certain plant foods. How Much Tryptophan Do You Need? The RDA...
Refresher/Summary: Lysine is an essential amino acid, meaning the body cannot produce it. While meat is a great source of lysine, there are also great plant sources of it. Aim for at least 12 mg of lysine per kilogram of bodyweight (or 5.5 mg per lb) The best vegan sources of lysine are legumes, nuts, seeds, and leafy greens. Lysine is one of the most important amino acids for vegans, and also...
If you look at the best vegan sources of protein, two of the top options are seitan and tofu. I’m going to show you how they stack up head-to-head, not just for protein and protein quality, but also for nutrition in general. If you’d also like to see how tempeh compares (also made from soybeans like tofu), see my post on tempeh vs seitan vs tofu. Seitan vs Tofu: What Do...
It’s hard to get a lot of protein on a vegan diet without eating too many calories, especially if you’re targeting some tough macros while trying to lose weight. Ultimately, you will need to rely on vegan protein powder, soy products, or seitan. But there are other good sources of plant based protein as well to include in your diet as well. To help you, I’ve compiled the best vegan...
Refresher/Summary: Methionine is an essential amino, and arguably the toughest one to get on a vegan diet other than lysine. You should aim for about 14 mg per kg of bodyweight per day (or 6.4 mg per lb). The best vegan sources of methionine are vital wheat gluten and mostly seeds. Methionine is super common in animal products (most meats), but not too common in plants. It can lead to issues like...
Learning how to get enough protein as a vegan is arguably the biggest challenge for a new vegan athlete. Even though I’ve gained about 20 pounds of (mostly) muscle on a vegan diet, it’s still a challenge and takes a lot of planning. I’d like to make it easier for you with this guide. By the end, you’ll learn: The best vegan sources of protein to focus on How plant protein...
Most nutrients are easy to get on a vegan diet, but there are a few nutrients that you want to pay special attention to. I created a vegan nutrition chart that just focuses on these hard to get nutrients that you can save or print out for convenience at no cost. You can view, download, or save the chart here. It’s not particularly pretty, but it has the most important data that you...
Almost all the foods high in fructose are fruits. I used the USDA’s nutritional database in order to find out how much fructose is in several fruits. The table below is sorted from high to low. Is There An RDA for Fructose? Fructose is not an essential nutrient and there is no RDA for it. However, research suggests that limiting fructose to 50-100 grams per day (source). This...