Day 11, 12, 13 - Protein A Go Go

I am beginning to suspect that not eating meat is making me soft. It reminds me of several Victorian novels where they have some theory that if you feed children meat it makes them aggressive or spirited. I have been having concern about my protein intake. I am pretty sure I need more protein in my diet. I was reading in the book Living Vegan for Dummies the average woman weighing about 125lnbs needs 46 grams of protein a day. As we all know I am not the average woman. The National Institute of health recommends the average woman have between 25 to 50 grams of protein a day. In this book there is a formula for determining how much protein you need based on your weigh in kilograms.

Formula:

1. Weight in pounds/ 2.2 = weight in kilograms
2. Weight in kilograms x 0.8= grams of protein a day.

Based on my weight I should have 89 grams of protein a day. This really seems a little excessive to me. I know I'm a big girl and my weight in kilograms probably should be my weight in pounds. So for now I will go by the average woman's intake of protein since there can be issues of too much protein. I am starting to think there may be a fine line here and there is the possibility of too much of a good thing.  There is a warning label on the Soy Protein Powder that I bought. It basically warns that accidental overdose of iron-containing products is a leading cause of fatal poisoning in children. Since I wont be giving this to Emily its all good. 

There are a lot of vegan items that are surprisingly high in protein. Some of which I have not heard of. My one concern is that a lot of the items seem highly processed which to me almost defeats the purpose. Yes its vegan but is it a whole food.

Protein values of popular vegan foods:
Amaranth - 1 cup-28 grams             Black beans- 1 cup- 15 grams
Chickpeas - 1 cup - 11 grams          Whole Grain Bread - 2 slices- 5-8 grams
Lentils - 1 cup- 18 grams                 Peanut Butter 2 tbsp - 7 grams  ( A PB sandwich has good protein)
Tempeh  (see link)- 1 cup - 41 grams (that's pretty much the whole days worth)
Tofu - 4oz - 11 grams

So I am now trying to add more protein to my diet. Hopefully that will improve my energy level.