Vegetables Are Not A Good Source of Protein
I got this comment on an instagram post yesterday:
I’m sure the person means well and I’m not trying to “call them out” or anything, but they’re incredibly wrong and things like this are *actual* misinformation so we have to address it.
Vegetables are not a good source of protein.
Let’s start with the most obvious.
Broccoli and spinach do not have anywhere near the same amount of protein as beef.
An entire pound of spinach and broccoli contains only 13 grams of protein. There’s almost double that (23g) in only ¼ pound of ground beef.
That means a 130 pound woman will have to eat 10 pounds of broccoli every single day to reach her protein goal.
Could you imagine having to eat an entire pound of spinach? Or broccoli? That’s an insane, untenable volume of food. That’s a major reason why recommending vegetables as a main protein source is just not realistic.
There’s also the important issue of bioavailability.
Bioavailability means “how much of this nutrient can actually be used by your body after the food is digested.”
Although all proteins are made of the same amino acids, their sequences and structure are different. The structure of plant-based proteins is different from animal-based proteins. Plant-based proteins do not have a complete amino acid sequence like you would often find in animal-based protein.
The different protein structure along with antinutrient compounds, can actually decrease the protein our digestive system absorbs from the food.
Protein in vegetables has a very low bioavailability. Their amino acid structure is largely broken down by your digestion process. Whereas the complete amino acid structure found in animal-protein mostly stays intact- meaning your body can actually use the majority of it.
This is where having a dietary belief system, instead of a dietary structure, hurts people and their results.
There are plenty of publications and gurus who spout that vegetables have as much protein as meat, and it’s just as high quality but it’s simply a lie. Vegetables are awesome and you should eat a lot of them, but don’t allow manipulated statistics and emotion based pleas to trick you into thinking they are a good source of protein.
Protein is stupidly important to your body composition. If you concentrate on getting about 1 gram of protein per pound of lean body mass, or bodyweight, you’ll find that the rest of your diet will fall in line. Protein is often the missing lynchpin for results.
So it needs to be realistically prioritized, and trying to get a helpful amount of protein from vegetables isn’t going to happen- and will only make you feel frustrated. Unless you want to eat two pound of broccoli at every meal.
