Day 7 – Vegetable Protein and a recipe for Avocado Garlic Salad Dressing

I’m one week in, and I’m feeling awesome!

I hate to admit it, but even I asked, “But where do you get your protein?” when a friend informed me she had gone vegetarian four years ago. I just blurted the question out, without even considering vegetable protein. That’s how ingrained the FDA’s 5 Food Groups were in me. We learn about it in school when we are young, so we never question all those commercials and advertisements to eat meat and drink milk we see as adults. But they are just marketing ploys – big companies pushing you to buy their product. Everyone knows the slogan for Snickers (Hungry? Why wait? Grab a Snickers.) We all know it’s just an ad for a company wanting us to buy their product so they can make more money, and that if we eat too many Snickers we will get fat and sick. But do we all know that “Beef, it’s what’s for dinner,” or “Pork, the other white meat,” or even “Got milk?” is exactly the same thing? They are slogans from companies wanting our money, and eating too much meat and dairy will make us just as fat and sick.

And so, to answer my question of where vegetarians get their protein, the answer is: Vegetables! Fruits! Seeds! Nuts!
Everything has protein in it!

We are taught from an early age that we desperately need animal protein in our diet, but it’s never mentioned that protein deficiency caused by diet is only found in cases of extreme starvation. We don’t need as much protein as we think we do, and we don’t have to eat animals to get it.

Many plant foods have plenty of protein, and they won’t kill you! (We’ll cover cholesterol later.) Vegetable protein carry all the building blocks of protein (amino acids) the body needs. Green vegetables are all rich in protein and most micronutrients without the cholesterol and fat of meat. Meat is low in micronutrients and high in cholesterol and fat.

The best sources of vegetable proteins are green leafy vegetables (especially kale and spinach), sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, cucumbers, flax seeds,  and pumpkin seeds just to name a few.

So next time you’re questioned where you get your protein, think of this:

I haven’t posted any salad-only meals yet. I love salad, and just in case you haven’t been paying attention, raw foodies eat more than just salads! Nevertheless, I whipped up a simple Avocado Garlic Dressing that was too good not to share. I used it to top my salad full of vegetable protein as well as other goodness.

Avocado Garlic Salad Dressing

1 ripe avocado
1 clove garlic
1/2 lime, juiced
pinch sea salt
pinch black pepper
1/4 cup as needed cold pressed olive oil or water

• Blend all ingredients except oil in food processor or blender.
• Slowly add oil until desired consistency is reached.