First of all, how much protein do you want to get? I’ve heard arguments from the muscle blaster crowd that advocates one gram of protein for every pound of body weight. For me at 155 lbs. that’s 620 calories a day in protein.

I rarely get that much and I’m not a vegetarian. When I do, I find I pee constantly.

And it’s certainly arguable that we don’t need anywhere near that much. For example, Alexander the Great’s army tramped the entire known world and conquered it all on a diet of mostly beans and whole grain porridge.

Meat simply wasn’t available to those soldiers. Plant foods virtually all contain some protein that adds up over the course of the day. Perhaps the body becomes adept at using what it’s getting, just like the body can be trained to utilize oxygen more efficiently.

I spent years eating vegetarian and I wish that I had paid more attention to protein intake. When I was hungry, I would fill up on starches like bread or rice. That resulted in me being more than 25 lbs. heavier than I am now.

Too many starchy foods are a sure path to weight gain. Protein on the other had, keeps satiety levels high and is much slower reaching the blood stream. Hence, fewer insulin spikes. Alexander’s troops didn’t have any refined flour.

Knowing what I know today, I would have been a heavy user of whey protein. It’s very inexpensive protein, comes from milk, it’s easy to digest and it’s pretty tasty. I actually look forward to a favorite protein smoothie I make with a scoop of whey, a banana, a dash of stevia extract and a dash of vanilla extract.

It provides 18 grams of complete protein. For vegetarians looking to build muscle rapidly, whey protein might be your best friend.

I would also have used either whey or soy protein in hot cereal dishes. I find that whey actually improves the taste of my oatmeal concoction.

Textured vegetable protein is a great vehicle for ramping up the protein content of soups and stew-like dishes. TVP is essentially soy been meal that has been processed to have a ground beef like texture rather than a pasty texture.

Think of it as tofu with the water and oil removed. It tends to absorb the broth or sauce medium that it’s in and takes on that flavor. TVP can be as high as 70 percent protein.

I love nuts. I would also have eaten more of them and less bread when I was vegetarian.

The only way you are going to be sure about your protein intake is to start measuring. I use a free program called Cron-O-Meter. It will give you a complete breakdown of your protein intake as well as all of your other nutritional needs.

It gets its data from the USDA data base. I’ve used several food logging programs over the last ten years and this one is the best. In addition there are lots of websites that provide free food logging. Fitday, Daily Plate and Nutrition Data are a few among many.

Just about everything that we eat has some protein and over the course of a day, it adds up. Log your food and find out how much you are eating. Then you are in a much better position to decide if you need more.

About the Author

This was Harry Chittenden’s first post. Harry runs a quality website called BasicPursuits.com, which seeks ways to enhance ones health by optimizing eating, exercise, and relaxation.

Editors Note: If you’re looking for a no-nonsense approach to vegetarian eating, then I highly suggest grabbing a copy of Easy Veggie Meal Plans. As the title suggests, this eBook features tons of meal plans and tips to make vegetarian dieting easy and simple.

Click here to grab your copy today!

NOTE: This post has been submitted by James Chan, NSCA-CPT. His profile is at the end.

Ever since I’ve read the book, “The China Study,” I’ve experimented with lowering my animal protein intake and upping my vegetables. If you haven’t read the book, what it essentially says is that the lower your intake of animal proteins, the lower your risk for cancer, heart disease, diabetes and a whole slew of other diseases.

It provided some very compelling evidence, compelling enough for me to reevaluate some of my assumptions as a former bodybuilder of ten years who ate 5 times a day of high protein (all animal) meals.

Every so often, I get the question from vegetarians, “Can I build muscle as a vegetarian?”

My answer: NO, you cannot build a large muscular physique without animal proteins. Animal proteins don’t just include beef, pork, poultry, and fish, but they include anything that comes from an animal: eggs and dairy.

The key word is can you BUILD muscle without animal proteins? Try it on only soy, beans and nuts, and you will not build a yoked out physique at all. You can build an impressive physique that is trim and lean IF you strength train, but your muscles will have a soft and stringy look to them.

But big, buff, and dense muscles? NO.

Now a lot of people point to vegetarian bodybuilders such as Bill Pearl and others, but I’ll tell you this: Bill Pearl built an impressive muscular physique with animal proteins and THEN became vegetarian. afterwards, he still ate eggs and dairy.

Having experimented with a near vegetarian diet, I will tell you this: it is much easier to maintain a muscular physique on a vegetarian diet AFTER you’ve built it on a diet chock full of animal proteins.

And even then you will lose muscle density on a vegetarian diet. plus you will experience poorer recovery from workouts and more aches and pains.

However, your cardiovascular health will be much better. Rather than having an brawny physique, my physique is now trim and lean. but that is only because I am still strength training heavily, not running and yoga.

Plus I still eat animal proteins, but I practice what is known as “protein-pulsing.” Rather than constantly eating a steady flow of animal proteins every few hours every day, I gorge on protein once a day.

This is the way animals eat, and predatory animals such as tigers and leopards can maintain a very large and impressive musculature on that.

Author Profile:

James Chan, NSCA-CPT, is a full-time police officer for the University of California Police Department in San Francisco. He is also a NSCA certified personal trainer, and from time to time, trains a handful of clients ranging from off-duty law enforcement to white collar professionals. His training articles have appeared in Fitness and Physique Magazine and T-nation.com. He is also the author of the book “Strength and Physique, Volume One.”

Check out his website for more information.

Editors Note: Vegetarians still have a chance. You may not be able to look freakishly large as a bodybuilding, but as James stated, you can certainly create an athletic, trim physique on a vegetarian diet.

For the best vegetarian meal plans, check out Easy Veggie Meal Plans.