If You’re Vegan

If you are on a vegan diet, it means at least two things. One is that you truly care about your health and your diet so you focus a lot on what you eat. The other is that you also have to focus on how much protein you take in. Besides, you also have to keep in mind that it matters what source your protein comes from.

Vegans often think that they can get the necessary amount of protein only from vegetables and seeds. The truth is that most vegetables contain only little protein so you have to eat lots of them. Moreover, if you don’t eat organic vegetables, there is a risk that you take in a considerable amount of chemicals, too.

The legumes and oilseeds contain a lot more protein than vegetables making them a reasonable part of your diet. Still you have to eat a relatively great amount of these considering their protein content. What’s more, not everyone likes e.g. beans, while in case of oilseeds you have to consider the significant amount of calories you take in with them. So if you don’t eat any animal-based proteins, you probably can’t get enough protein, not even the minimal amount. If you also do sports, there’s a great risk that you’ll ruin your muscles and performance.

What’s the solution? A healthy, all natural protein powder which is 100% plant-based.

Naturize® brown rice protein is a perfect choice for vegans and vegetarians too, because:

• it doesn’t contain any animal-based proteins

• it’s all natural, contains no additives, artificial flavoring or sweeteners

• it’s made of the whole brown rice grain through a chemical-free process

• it’s a complete vegetable protein that contains all 9 essential amino acids

• it’s very easy to digest and has neutral taste

• you can add it to any drink or food to increase their protein content, it’s a perfect ingredient for vegan dishes, soups, fruit shakes and pies. Click here for recipes!

• it doesn’t trigger any allergic reactions because it doesn’t contain soy, peanut or milk, not even traces of them

• it’s 100% gluten free

• it contains valuable fibres, mineral substances and vitamins besides protein and all in their natural form from the whole rice grain

• it’s also great news that it has been clinically proven that protein powder produced from the whole rice grain is an equal match for whey protein without bloating or pain in the joints– thus outdoing whey proteins.

You can also use it if you suffer from milk sensitivity, lactose allergy, if whey causes stomach problems for you or you simply have made the (right) decision to avoid dairy products.

What other possibilities do you have?

Those who don’t eat animal-based proteins must take in vegetable proteins to satisfy their basic need. Taking in extra protein can be important to those vegans who also do sports and therefore cannot cover their increased need for proteins solely from vegetables.

Other vegetable proteins:

Besides brown rice, white rice, soy, pea and hemp are the most common protein types.

White rice protein: most rice proteins are made from white rice, they have a lighter color and you see “rice protein” written on their cover. It’s a major advantage that pure white rice protein is hypoallergenic too and is made mostly from non-GMO rice (it’s worth checking this on the cover, though). Processing white rice is easier and cheaper but its amino acid profile is often weaker or incomplete, so they usually complete it (e.g. by adding pea or hemp proteins).

Soy protein: it’s one of the most popular vegetable proteins with complete amino acid profile. However, mostly because of the large-scale appearance of GMO soy products, many people tend to avoid it.

Soy can also make you susceptible to allergy so the more soy protein we eat, the more probable it is that we will develop allergy. Soy hinders the absorption of important minerals (e.g. Calcium) and contains a great amount of phytoestrogen, which can be harmful, especially for a young body.

Besides this problem, the body cannot use soy protein so effectively, it doesn’t have a nice taste and it might cause bloating, too.

A further problem is that in case of vegetables with a higher content of oil (like hemp seed as well), often chemicals are used to extract protein from them.

Pea protein: its advantages are the following: it can become a part of a vegan diet, it’s free of gluten, it has a silkier texture than rice and even its price is more reasonable. It has disadvantages, too: its amino acid profile is incomplete and unfortunately it’s not hypo-allergenic. Some consumers might not like its obvious pea taste (which makes it ill-fitted in sweet shakes or pies) and bloating can also occur.

Hemp protein: hemp seed is outstanding as a complete nutrient but not really as a nutritional supplement. The protein content of pure hemp flour is 30% and even in hemp concentrate it’s only 50%. Although proteins found in hemp seed (edestin and albumin) strengthen our immune system, they are not so suitable for building muscles. Some people are also allergic to hemp protein, that’s why it doesn’t really mean an alternative for them and even its use is more limited. Sportspeople also have to consider the use of hemp protein to prevent problems occurring at dope tests.

All in all we can conclude that one of the best vegetable proteins is brown rice protein, especially if during its production the grains are sprouted first for using all three parts of the grain. This protein doesn’t have to be mixed with other vegetable proteins as it has a complete amino acid profile in itself.

The disadvantages (of both white and brown rice proteins) are the more granular substance (when dissolving in water) and the natural taste (if you don’t flavor it), but you can easily get used to these, especially if you know that these qualities are beneficial to your health.

It’s important to stress that there are great differences among vegetable protein types, between white and brown rice proteins and the processes of production. Premium quality rice proteins are made from brown rice, only through a natural process without adding any chemicals (like hexan). Naturize® brown rice protein is produced through a natural process free of chemicals and using all three parts of the complete rice grain after a genuine sprouting process. This is a rarely used process but it results in a complete amino acid profile without needing to add any other vegetable proteins.

Articles to read:

How Much Protein Do You Need?

Do You Need a Protein Powder?

A Healthy Protein for Vegans

Too Much Protein? Vegetable vs. Animal-based Proteins