Living with meat eaters—wanting to reduce animal products

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Last week I only ate meat once, a tiny portion. Now I have to eat more of it than my values dictate this week so that it doesn’t go to waste in the house. The joy of living with meat eaters...

I’m not vegetarian or vegan, or else I wouldn’t be eating meat at all. But I do try to eat less of it than the rest of my family eats, and I’m trying to find a creative way around this. I can’t cook my own food with olive oil—that was a strategy I used at first, since olive oil is vegan and replaces calories from animal products. But now I’m so stressed out that I’m clumsy with cooking and have to only cook the easy stuff. I’m at a bump in the road. My dad thinks the amount of hemp powder I prefer to put in oatmeal is overdoing it, so I started using less of it, but now it’s not enough protein to replace meat. And dairy is just as bad, so I drink oat milk even though I eat cheese and yogurt—but I don’t want to overdo it with cheese and yogurt.

Beans are good, but I’m getting tired of them. I don’t want to ask for meat substitutes too often because that’s extra groceries for my family, but we did try tofu once!

I might try to manage stress so I don’t get clumsy in the kitchen and I can cook beans and eggs with olive oil again—I would rather olive oil than an extra portion of beans! Nuts are helpful, but again, just like beans, there’s only so many you can eat. I think the only answer is proving to my parents I can be safe in the kitchen when I cook with olive oil, and continuing to eat beans and nuts regularly but not so much that I get sick of them.

It is important to focus on Protein. Protein is used by your body to build, repair and maintain tissues, including your body's major organs and skeletal muscles. Protein deficiency, when continued over a long period of time can cause a disease known as protein calorie malnutrition (PCM). Common symptoms are poor healing, fatigue, hair loss and muscle wasting. There are no pills or injections available should you develop a deficiency, so you must get the needed protein from food or liquid supplements. Generally a person needs 75-90 grams of protein each day, more if you have a lot of physical activity such as exercise or manual labor.

So what foods can meet your daily protein requirement?
Low fat cottage cheese, eggs, egg whites, egg substitute, milk, milk fortified with powered milk, fat free yogurt, chicken breast, ham, pork chop, pork loin, pork roast, fish, beans, fat free cheese, canned tuna, canned ham, canned chicken, canned lump crab meat, veal, lobster, scallops, shrimp, tofu, and all lean red meats.

So if you are drawn towards a vegetarian lifestyle it is important to focus on getting in enough protein each day without eating meat. This can be difficult. You have two tools that can help. These are protein shakes and protein bars. If you take the supplement route, then focus on shakes and bars that contain very low sugars.

Quest makes a good protein bar in a variety of flavors. They have sample packs with a variety so you can try them out and downselect the ones that you prefer. Once you have picked a few that you like, you can buy them in bulk on Amazon and save some money.

You might measure and weigh your meals for a couple days to determine the exact amount of protein that you are getting in each day. In order to get a feel for the quantity of protein and to make sure you are not becoming deficient.

Ok thanks!

Seitan might be worth looking into, unless you have an aversion to gluten. It packs a protein punch and makes a tasty sandwich I think. But it can be high sodium. As for soy, I've heard edamame is tasty, but I've never tried them. I tend to prefer tempeh to tofu (though I do like baked tofu sometimes) not only because it isn't processed like tofu is, but because it's less time/effort consuming, no need to press it or anything. Double bonus for me.

I'm a vegetarian and have never needed to add protein to my diet. I check my macros now and then for a few days to make sure I'm getting enough and I find I normally get more protein than needed. I do eat a variety of nuts, beans, legumes, dairy, as well as seitan and soy products. Also, if you eat eggs, they are a cheap and easy way to add protein too.

We tend to prefer the term "carnivores".

Protein bars are way more processed than soy and are more sugary. You're better off with tofu if you are concerned about your health. You can have edamame or just hulled soy beans for a less-processed version of tofu.

Honestly, unless you are a bodybuilder or something, you don't need a ton of protein. It sounds like you might be over-doing this or at least over-thinking it. As someone who eats no animal products and eats a high-carb diet with no beans and lifts weights, I never had to plan out my protein intake the way you are doing. I do not need mock meats at all. People who eat flesh tend to overdo the protein, so you do not need to try to get the same amount of protein they get.

Whole grains have a decent amount of protein (compared to processed grains). Rice, potatoes, oat meal, oat bran, all contain protein. Broccoli and leafy green veggies also contain some. So just eating a diet of unprocessed food with plenty of veggies should be enough for you, unless you are some type of athlete, in which case some extra nut/seed butter or beans/lentils should be fine.

You can plan out meals on cronometer.com, which shows you how much protein is in the foods you select. It's free.