Complete Vegan Protein: Debunking the Myths and Exploring the Best Vegan Protein Sources

In this episode, we’re clearing up the confusion once and for all about vegan protein! You’ll never have to stress about protein deficiency again. We’ll tackle the big myth that plant-based diets can’t provide complete proteins and show you how easy it is to meet your nutritional needs with a well-planned vegan diet. You might have heard some buzz about celebrities leaving veganism over protein concerns—well, we’re here to set the record straight.

No more worrying about mixing and matching foods to get “complete” proteins. The truth? All plant-based foods contain essential amino acids, and as long as you're eating enough calories, you're covered. We’ll also chat about how to make this work for picky eaters or those who rely on processed foods a bit too much. Plus, I’ve got an exciting announcement about my upcoming video series on vegan nutrition for kids, packed with tips to help parents feed even the fussiest eaters. Tune in, and transform the way you think about vegan protein!


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Website: withextraveg.net
IG: @withextraveg

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, there it's Jen, and welcome to this week's
podcast.
So this week we're going to betalking a bit about protein.
I think that it's a bit of atimely thing.
We have some big namecelebrities at the moment You've
probably heard saying thatthey've switched from a vegan
diet because of protein andadded protein into their diet.

(00:23):
So today I really want to talkabout some of the myths about
protein, specifically aroundamino acids and complete
proteins.
So that's what we're going tobe talking about today.
Now, before I start, I justwanted to let you know that I
have this really cool vegan kidsnutrition video series that I'm

(00:45):
doing next week, so that'sstarting the 28th of October.
It'll be going for the fullfive days, it's totally free to
join and it's basically I'mgoing to be teaching you pretty
much how to get your kids to eatbetter.
I know that there's a lot ofparents who sort of really love

(01:09):
the really healthy side ofplant-based diets and everything
and all the benefits andeverything, but it can be really
hard to actually make it workfor your kids and for your
family and stuff and especiallyif you have neurodiverse kids
like me or just plain fussyeaters, it can be really hard to

(01:30):
get them to eat a better diet.
So that's what I'm going to betalking about next week.
It's called Vegan Super KidsFive Days to Maximize Nutrition
and End Picky Eating.
So yeah, as I said, that's whatwe're going to be focusing on.
It's all about why your kidsare picky eaters or fussy and

(01:56):
what you can do about it, andthen we're going to be talking
about nutrition as well, becausethat's a really important part
about getting your kids to eatbetter is actually knowing what
nutrition they need and the bestway of how to do it as well.
So I will put the sign up formdown below this podcast and make
sure you join.

(02:17):
As I said, it's completely free.
It's going to have a Facebookgroup.
We're sharing recipes and tips.
It's going to be lots and lotsof fun, so I would love to have
you in there.
So, as I said, it starts on the28th of October.
It's going to be going for aweek, so, even if it's a little
bit after that date, you canstill come and join anyway.
So, yeah, make sure you comealong to that.

(02:37):
All right, so let's talk aboutvegan protein Now.
As I said, there's been somevideos, some reels and stuff
that I've seen on Instagram thathave gone around recently where
a particular famous singer hassaid that she has stopped being

(02:58):
vegan and she's added protein toher diet.
Now this is really reallymisleading, because the thing is
, she hasn't added protein toher diet.
She's added meat to her diet.
Protein is not meat.
Meat does contain protein, butso do basically all other foods

(03:21):
as well, so sitting there andsaying that she needed to add in
meat in order to get protein isactually incorrect.
Now, there could be many factorsabout why her vegan diet wasn't
working for her.
If you're not eating awell-planned diet, then, yeah,
you're not going to be gettingthe nutrition that you need, and

(03:44):
so she, yeah.
I mean, I don't know whyexactly her vegan diet wasn't
working for her, but definitely,if you're not planning it
properly and if you're noteating the right foods and
things, then, yes, it is truethat you won't feel very good on
your vegan diet.
Then, yes, it is true that youwon't feel very good on your

(04:05):
vegan diet, and then adding meatin might actually be giving you
some of the nutrients that youneed, but it's actually very
difficult to not get enoughprotein on a vegan diet as long
as you're actually eating enoughfood, and so it certainly
wouldn't have been protein thatshe needed, I would imagine.

(04:27):
Obviously, I don't know exactlywhat she's eating, so yeah, I
mean it could have been if shereally really wasn't eating a
lot of food or was on a very,very strict diet.
But yeah, I'm yeah, so anyway.
So basically, what I'm justwanting to say there is that you
don't need meat for protein.

(04:47):
There are plenty of veganprotein sources.
Now, if you to that, talk aboutprotein specifically and how to

(05:09):
make sure your kids are gettingenough protein, so I won't
really talk about that.
What I do want to talk abouttoday specifically is the
complete protein myth that weneed to either combine different
foods in order to get completeproteins, or that vegan food,

(05:31):
just plant-based food, justcan't give you all the protein
that you need.
So this is a myth, but it's avery prolific one, because even
at uni, they did talk about it abit as well.
So it's definitely one that'sout there and I'm sure you've
heard it, but it is a myth.

(05:53):
So what is all of this talkingabout?
So this is all basically talkingabout amino acids.
So proteins are made up ofamino acids, different amino
acids and different amino acids.
So proteins are made up ofamino acids, different amino
acids and different amino acids.
They're kind of like buildingblocks and so they combine in

(06:14):
different ways in order to makethe different sort of proteins
that we need in our body.
So there are 20 different aminoacids and there are nine which
are called essential amino acids.
Now, these are essentialbecause our body can actually

(06:36):
make the other 11 that it needs,whereas these we need to
actually get them from the foodthat we're eating.
So that's when they're talkingabout essential amino acids,
they're the ones that we'retalking about.
The other ones, our body canjust make them as it needs
itself, so they're not asimportant.
We just need enough protein ingeneral for those ones.

(06:59):
But yeah, we do need to bemaking sure we're getting all of
the nine essential ones.
But yeah, we do need to bemaking sure we're getting all of
the nine essential ones.
So what the myth basically saysis that plant-based foods don't
contain all of the nineessential amino acids.
So this has actually beendebunked and found to be untrue.

(07:21):
All plant-based foods docontain all of the nine
essential amino acids.
They just contain them indifferent amounts, so one amino
acid will be higher in one foodwhereas it'll be low in another
food, and so that's kind ofwhere the whole protein

(07:42):
combining thing came about.
And so that's kind of where thewhole protein combining thing
came about, where they prettymuch said that, yeah, that you
need to be having differentfoods together in order to make
sure you're getting all of theamino acids.
So two things with this.
First up, they found that youdon't actually have to combine

(08:02):
them in the same meal.
As long as you're eating avaried diet in general, then
you're fine.
So that's as long as you'rehaving kind of legumes and rice
or grains and vegetables andnuts and seeds and stuff, so
basically sort of everything inthe general requirements

(08:25):
recommendations a healthy, vegandiet then you'll get it fine.
Now the other side of this isthere's actually been studies
that were done.
There's.
One was in 1973 in MIT wherethey actually took single
plant-based foods.
So just one food and as long asyou're getting enough, and as

(08:50):
long as you're eating enough ofthat food in order to get enough
calories, so yeah, as long asyou're eating enough of it for
your daily calorie needs, youactually will be able to get
enough of all of the amino acids.
So this really shows you thatplant-based foods do have enough

(09:13):
of all of the essential aminoacids, even lysine, which is the
one that does get talked abouta lot because grains don't have
a lot of lysine, but thesestudies have found that as long
as you're getting enoughcalories, so you're eating

(09:34):
enough food of these foods, thenyou will be getting enough
protein.
And also the one that says thatplant-based proteins aren't
sufficient and aren't goodquality proteins and all of

(09:55):
these sort of things that theylike to say on social media.
That's well and truly debunkedand it was actually.
It's quite funny because I wasdoing research about this, about
the actual studies.
It was debunked in 1973.
So it's been around for a verylong time, which is quite sad
that even when I was studyingnutrition at university, it was

(10:17):
still the whole needing tocombine proteins thing was still
talked about, and that was onlya couple of years ago.
So it's a little bit sad howprolific the complete proteins
myth is.
Now I do want to have there's acouple of caveats when we're
talking about protein.

(10:38):
So there are some times whenyour kids might not be getting
enough protein.
So it has been found in generalbecause kids have such high
energy needs.
As long as they're gettingenough energy, then they will be

(10:58):
getting well and truly enoughprotein, because the amount of
protein that kids need likearound sort of 15, 20 grams a
day is really small compared toactually the amount of energy
that they need or the amount ofcalories that they need every
day, because kids actually needto be eating as much as us mums,
like women, if not more forteenagers and stuff.

(11:22):
So the the focus really is onmaking sure that they're getting
enough energy, rather thanprotein for kids.
Now, older adults actually havehigher protein needs, but they
don't have as high energy needs,so that can be a problem.
But obviously we're focusing onkids here.

(11:43):
So, yeah, but if you do haveolder adults, you might need to
be.
You do need to be a bit moreconscious about protein when
you're doing it.
Luckily, older adults sometimesaren't as fussy as kids, so
they eat better sometimes.
Just thinking about my olderrelatives here at the moment and

(12:04):
, yeah, yeah, I don't know who'sfussy them or my kids, but yeah
.
But the key thing witheverything when it comes to
protein is it's all about energyor calories.
Now, energy is what we call itin Australia, calories in the US

(12:24):
.
So, yeah, when I'm talkingabout energy, I mean calories.
I don't mean, like, how muchrunning around energy your kids
have.
I'm talking about how much foodthey need to be getting in
every day in order to sort ofpower them through the day.
So all of these things aredependent on kids getting enough

(12:45):
energy from their food andmaking sure that they're eating
enough.
So there are some times whereprotein might actually be a
problem.
If you have fussy kids whodon't eat a lot my son is
definitely one of those then itis really important that you are
focusing on protein as well asenergy to make sure that they're

(13:09):
getting enough.
Now, if you want help with that, as I said earlier, I've got my
free video series that iscoming up next week that you can
come and join and we can talkabout that, if you need to, with
your kids.
The other spot is my membership.
The other spot is my membershipNourish and Grow, where I'm in

(13:32):
there and we do lots on kidsnutrition in there and making
sure that your kids are gettingenough, and you can ask me any
time in that as well.
So check that one out as wellif you want sort of more not one

(13:54):
on one but, like I have Q&Asessions, um, you can ask
questions anytime in the groupand things like that in there
too.
Um, there's also heaps ofrecipes in there too, which are
really good for fussy kids.
Um, yeah, so that's the thing.
The other time it can be aproblem as well, um, which this
again comes with fussy kids isif your kids are fussy and they
only eat sort of one, a coupleof foods.

(14:17):
This is especially true ifthey're eating very processed
foods, because when we'retalking about protein needs and
amino acids and everything, wetend to focus on grains and
legumes and nuts and seeds andsort of more whole foods not

(14:40):
just whole foods, but sort ofmore kind of whole foods.
If your kids eat a lot ofreally processed foods, then
they're going to have lowerprotein as well and that might
end up being a problem.
So I do actually have anotherpodcast episode in here which
talks about how to get your kids, how to transition them from

(15:02):
really processed foods.
Also, again, come and joinNourish and Grow and I can help
you in there as well.
Now, Nourish and Grow is reallycan help you in there as well.
Now, nourish and Grow is reallyflexible.
It's got a monthly paymentthing, so it is something that
you can come in and get somehelp and you're not locked in.
You can join up for the 12months, but you're not locked in

(15:22):
.
So it is something you can comein and have a bit of help with
and stuff and then and we coverdifferent topics each month as
well, so you can sort of come infor a topic if you're
interested.
Um, yeah, so, as I said, thoseare the kind of the main times
that it's a problem if you'vegot fussy eaters who aren't
eating enough, or if you've gotfussy eaters who eat a lot of

(15:44):
processed foods, um, and sort ofonly one or two foods.
Um, obviously, as I said, ifthey're getting enough energy
with those one or two foods andthey're okay.
But if they're not which isreally common for, for, um,
fussy eaters then yeah, it'sgoing to be something you need
to watch out for as well.
Um, now, the other time that Iwill mention, but I won't go

(16:09):
into, is eating disorders andthings like that.
Obviously, you're coming backwith not actually getting enough
energy when you're talkingabout that.
Now, I am well and truly notqualified to talk about eating
disorders.
That's why I don't go into them.
There are plenty of placeswhere you can look at that, yeah

(16:30):
.
So that's the other spot,obviously, that you would need
to watch out for.
So, as I said, the proteincombining myth, or the myth that
you don't get high qualityproteins from a vegan diet.
It has well and truly beenestablished that all plant based
foods have all of the essentialamino acids and even if you

(16:53):
just ate one of them, you wouldstill get all of the amino acids
you need as long as you'regetting enough calories.
So as long as you're eatingenough food, yeah.
And the times to watch out forwhen you've got picky eaters who
might not actually be eatingenough food or they might be
eating a bit too much processedfoods.

(17:14):
So, yeah, I hope that thathelps to clear up that myth for
you and, as I said, make sureyou come and join the video
series.
I am really excited about itand I'd love to have you there.
Alrighty, I'll talk to youagain next week.