But How Do You Get Enough Protein?

If I had a nickel for every time someone asked me how vegetarians get enough protein, I would be typing this from the patio of my Michigan summer home... but, alas, I'm here suffering the Dallas heat.
Here’s what you need to now. I regularly track my daily food consumption using Myfitnesspal.com and even as a vegetarian I exceed my protein goals easily.  As this essay states, "the average American eats much more protein than needed," which "has severe health consequences", and "plant protein is equally nutritious as animal protein, and in many ways, it is far superior to animal protein". I feel fairly confident that most cardiologists would vouch for the truth of those statements.  So now you know, vegetarians don’t have a problem with protein.  It makes sense if you think about it.  How do you think animals like gorillas, bulls, or race horses build such impressive muscle? There is plenty of protein in non-meat diets.

Mac & Yeast
(A Vegan Variation on Mac & Cheese)

Health is only one of the reasons that Justin and I are vegetarians, and are raising our kids to be as well.  Neither of us were ever big meat eaters, but we were pushed over the edge into vegetarianism when we took an Intro to Philosophy class together at Colorado State University almost 10 years ago (Wow!).  (Side note: Recently a Facebook friend asked what advice we would give to a HS graduate. While I would not recommend majoring in philosophy, I would strongly recommend taking an intro to philosophy class. For me, it was the most influential class I took in college.) It was in Intro to Philosophy that we first confronted the issues of animal ethics. We decided that we were uncomfortable with the treatment of animals at the vast majority of meat producers in this country. At first, we played with the concept of only eating meat from local, organic, free range farms, but found that line to be too blurry, so we decided to make the full commitment to have meat-free diets.

The Perfect Avocado!

When we made the choice to live meat-free we also began investigating the vegetarian diet.  That research introduced us to much more information about the health and environmental benefits of eating a plant based diet.  Justin says the issue of animal ethics is still the primary reason he is a vegetarian. For me, it’s the health benefits. The more I learn, the more I believe that becoming vegan (and even more than that, a raw foodist) would be what is best for the environment, our health, and our animal brethren...  BUT, anyone that knows me knows that it would take an intervention and a nice long stay at a treatment facility to get this fromage-aholic to stop eating cheese...

Green Goddess Grilled Cheese Sandwich

However, I am taking steps to reduce the animal products in my diet and if you'd like, you can follow my "Going Vegan" Pinboard ;) I think it is working too, because in the four months since my beautiful son, Finn, was born I've lost 45 lbs!!! (Although there are some other factors contributing to the weight loss as well :)

But I’m rambling.  Here is the point of this post…I've often found myself discussing, and more often than not, defending, the reasons behind our diet.  I usually end up recommending a list of movies on Netflix. So, I thought I'd collect them all here, so that next time I can just forward a pretty little link when this topic comes up! 

Green Juice!

Here are my top five food-related movies that have inspired me to continue living meat-free:

5. Food Inc 
Food Inc is about where our food comes from and how it is being altered - the political side of food in this country. Some of it is quite disturbing, but they are things that I believe are important to know about the stuff we put in our bodies.  

4. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead 

Fat, Sick, & Nearly Dead focuses on the benefits of juicing. The personal stories of change and triumph are very inspirational! This is a warm fuzzy movie that will likely motivate you to go out and buy a juicer. (If you do, I strongly recommend the Breville Juice Fountain ;)

3. TEDTalks: Chew On This

Ok, so this one probably shouldn't count because it is a collection of 14 TEDTalks rather than a documentary, but all the information coming from these brilliant speakers is so enlightening and interesting I just had to include it. (Sidenote: I freaking love the bundled TEDTalks on Netflix. Whoever came up with this concept, to group like talks together, should do a TEDTalk ;)

2. Food Matters 

This documentary is similar to Forks Over Knives (below), but focuses more on personal testimonies than on facts, figures, and statistics. This one made a big impact on me and really got the ball rolling towards my new "veganish" diet. 

1. Forks Over Knives 

This one is my favorite! If you only watch one of these films, this is definitely the one I would recommend first. It is a documentary that focuses on research and statistics that indicate that eating a diet full of animal products and other processed foods lead to obesity, diabetes, and other diseases.

So, there you go... the reason why Justin and I became vegetarians, the reasons why we continue to live that lifestyle, and the top 5 food documentaries I would recommend if you are interested in learning more. Thanks for reading :) Let me know what you think!