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What the heck is vegan? Sounds gross! This is what I hear every time I mention eating a vegan meal or taking vegan chocolate or vegan tropical strawberry Shakeology. It’s like this mythical monster that is stuck in people’s heads when the word vegan pops up. The monster is born out of ignorance, and takes on the shape of some horrible bizarre lifestyle with really odd disgusting food.
The truth is, vegan simply means any food that doesn’t contain animal products. So peanut butter, lemonade, etc…all these normal things you already love are all considered vegan.
What does that mean for you? It means that when you decide to implement vegan dishes more and more into your eating routines, you’ll eliminate a lot of very common health concerns most people face every day. Such as? Well, do you notice how there’s always fresh milk in the store every day? Ever stop to think what causes any mammal to lactate milk? Pregnancy. Does that mean all those cows are just naturally pregnant all the time? Nope, they are given artificial hormones to keep them in that state, which means YOU are drinking those same hormones…and that’s just milk. You’re also getting hormones in your beef, and all your other types of meats….and you wonder why your hard work in your workouts isn’t giving you the results you want! It’s because your hormones are all out of whack!
When I did the Ultimate Reset, the second and third weeks were vegan and it changed my body entirely. My testosterone jumped up by 75 points. Why? There are many reasons, but one is the hormone issue above. When my body no longer had the bizarre hormones going into it, it was able to more naturally process its own natural balance and my testosterone jumped up to where it naturally wants to be. That’s just ONE of many, many reasons why vegan is a super healthy lifestyle to adopt.
What about protein?? Well, let’s see (from the Shakeology Blog):
1. Veggies. One cup of cooked spinach contains about 7 grams of protein. The same serving of French beans contains about 13 grams. Two cups of cooked kale? 5 grams. One cup of boiled peas? 9 grams. You get the idea.
2. Hemp. Toss 30 grams of hemp powder in your smoothie and get about 11 grams of protein—just like that.
3. Non-dairy milk. A mere cup of almond milk can pack about 7 to 9 grams of protein. Rice milk, coconut milk, and hemp milk are other good options.
4. Tropical Strawberry Shakeology®. One scoop offers 15 grams of protein (30 percent of your daily value).
5. Nut butter. A couple of tablespoons of any nut butter (think almond, sunflower seed, flaxseed, or peanut) will get you 8 grams of protein.
6. Quinoa. It’s the star of the vegan diet—you get 9 grams of protein per cup!
7. Lentils. You can make rice dishes, veggie burgers, casseroles, and more. One cup cooked delivers a whopping 18 grams of protein!
8. Beans. With one cup of pinto, kidney, or black beans, you’ll get about 13 to 15 grams of protein, a full belly, and heart-healthy fiber.
9. Tempeh. One cup of tempeh packs about 30 grams of protein! That’s more than 5 eggs or a regular hamburger patty.
10. Sprouted grain bread. Offers about 10 grams of protein, and tastes great as toast or in a veggie sprout sandwich!
I’d say that’s quite the variety of non-meat protein sources! Are you still so scared of trying a vegan lifestyle? Leave a comment below with your thoughts on going vegan!
John, thank you so much for speaking to the hormones in animals raised for food products, and milk in particular! Most people are just not aware of how much unnatural stuff is in their food. The age of young girls arriving at their “cycles” has been steadily dropping to younger and younger ages, and I believe this can be almost wholly attributed to drinking milk from cows given hormones. Thanks for raising awareness about what we put in our bodies!