I finally decided to join CRON-O-Meter not because I feel I needed to but because I was curious about some things and wanted to educate myself and others about the foods I was eating and how they benefited me. I wanted to KNOW what the heck I was talking about before I actually talked about it. Yesterday I did pretty well with my food intake. I'm sure we have ALL had a slew of people ask us 'where do you get your protein' from and I always going thru this long winded rig-a-mur-role about the various sources, etc. Over the past two days I have noticed my protein numbers were right around 83 to 86 grams per day. As you can see I don't have a problem obtaining my protein seeing as that the suggested daily for women is about 46 grams per day. I'm getting almost double. Now...I'm not saying I get that every day. Most days is between 50 and 65 grams which is still higher than the suggested. I hardly ever think about protein but this is something that made me giggle once I had it in front of me I guess. Same thing with Calcium and B Vitamins. Overall - I get plenty with little effort. I say over all because there is a very specific type of B Vitamin that I would like to UP a bit and it's NOT B1, B3, B6, or B12. It's B5. B5 is Pantothenic Acid. Some vegan sources of B5 include: Nutritional Yeast, Paprika, Mushrooms, Sunflower Seeds or Sunflower Butters, Whole Grains, Oats, Avocado, Sweet Potato, Soy Milk, etc. Out of the foods I mentioned I DO consume a lot of Nutritional Yeast, Paprika, and Sunflower Seeds/butter. I also LOVE my Whole Grains, Avocado, and Mushrooms when I have them or can find 'good quality' produce. While doing my talleying for the day yesterday it was hard to include all of the additional things I added to my foods - such as Paprika - so it could be I was safe for the day because I didn't include this in my readings. I wasn't very far off anyways. Another thing I wasn't very far off with is my Methionine. Some vegan sources of Methionine are: Sunflower Seeds/Butters, Brazil nuts, Oats, Turnip Greens, Seaweeds, Spinach, Peas, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Asparagus, Kidney Beans, Hearts of Palm, etc. One thing I need more of in my life is Hearts of Palm but it's so hard to find near me! I did have peas, beans, and greens yesterday as well as some Sunflower Seeds so I'm beginning to wonder if some of the stats were a bit off. Again, I wasn't under by that much for the day. I might post some of these spot-checks from time to time not only as an education for myself but as a resource for those who might be searching for vegan foods that contain these nutritional profiles. I'm quite happy with how the last few days have turned out and looking forward to the coming days to see what else I can learn. The common denominator here is SUNFLOWER SEEDS. I always knew that sunflower seeds were wonderful for you but lately I am learning just how MUCH they are good for you! I mean if we all just added a handful of them a day it would totally BUMP UP so many things on our daily nutritional check list!
I hope you do talk about this more. It's funny that you mentioned sunflower seeds. I've recently begun making a conscience effort to add some to my salads!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome! I've been trying to add more as well!
DeleteI had sunflower seeds on my hummus toast for breakfast this morning!
ReplyDeleteOh! That sounds great!
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ReplyDeleteThat's so interesting; I use Cronometer too and I found I needed to bump up my B5 too! Thanks for the tip about where to get it :)
ReplyDeleteGood to know that we had this in common :) Thanks for visiting! I will be over at your site again soon :)
DeleteWe have sunflower seeds here, dried, salted. A popular snack here but I'm not too fond of that last bit.
ReplyDeleteWe have those here, too, but I like the unsalted and raw ones :)
DeleteInteresting info! I love sunflower seeds, but usually eat pumpkin seeds in preference as I thought they were more nutritious; no more! I do actually have sunflower butter a lot, as I work in a school and nuts are not allowed because of allergies, so it's great in my lunchbox.
ReplyDeleteOh! Yes! That does make sense!!! Thanks for sharing LOVE this brainstorming between us veggieheads!
DeleteThere's a book, I can't remember the name, that states that most people eat too much protein. Being an active weight lifter, and gearing up for Figure competition in my thirties, I can definitely agree with that. My head trainer, initially was concerned about me getting my protein; however, after he saw my muscle gains despite me being vegan he backed down. I was definitely not changing the way I ate.
ReplyDeleteAs a vegan I had no issues receiving protein eating as a whole foods vegan. You know me, I stay away from processed or the fake meat products, but protein from natural sources has never been an issue.
Yup! I totally agree! TOO MUCH Protein leads to gout and other issues. I always (try NOT) to roll my eyes when people ask me this question. Funny thing is I bet they don't even know how much protein they get in a day but we MUST know ours! Ya know?
DeleteGreat post and very interesting, I get a decent amount of sunflower seeds. I just read an article today about the issues of getting too much protein and how it can be damaging to the kidneys among other issues.
ReplyDeleteVery true about the overdose of protein! I wonder why hardly anyone talk about that especially in the meat eating world!
DeleteI love Cronometer because sometimes it does put your mind to rest about all the nutrition you take it. And it is great because you get solid numbers. Plus I always love when people ask where you get your protein when we should be asking where do you get your fiber? I think the worst was when I was watching the Women's World Cup and someone made an ignorant remark that the USA was clobbering Japan because the women must of been so weak from a lack of protein in the Japanese diet ?!?!?! What the heck! The women are running! They probably have very carb heavy diets for the USA AND Japan!
ReplyDeleteThat and I BET that Japanese women get more protein from better sources than women in the US. Comments like those really bother me too! It just proves the stereotype that us Americans 'seem' to know it all. Oye!
DeleteI'm sure that there is relatively little nutritional value to this use of sunflower seeds but when you mentioned sunflower seeds I felt like mentioning that the "nut" flavored tea blends that I'll be creating in the future as well as the bacon flavored tea (pineapple bacon rooibos - yes, it's vegan) will have sunflower seed kernels in the blends to add a touch of saltiness to the blend. :)
ReplyDeleteOh!!!! WOW! What a neat idea!!!! Let me know when and if you have a photo for it and I will blog about it here!
DeleteMmmm, now I want some! I've been all about hemp seeds and chia seeds recently.. - www.domesticgeekgirl.com
ReplyDeleteMmmm, now I want some! I've been all about hemp seeds and chia seeds recently.. - www.domesticgeekgirl.com
ReplyDeleteThose are both goodies, too! I will be doing more with each of those this weekend, too!
DeleteHi Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to learn that sunflower seeds are such an important source for a variety of essential nutrients. I used to eat them a lot but I slacked off this year. I am going to add them back to my diet regularly. I was pleased that you mentioned the Chron-o-meter because knowledge is power when it comes to balanced nutritional intake. Thanks for sharing your healthy nutritional information with us at the Healthy Happy Green and Natural Party Blog Hop! I'm pinning and sharing.
Thanks for sharing this info about sunflower seeds! It's a great post to share on HVF - I'm pinning & sharing =)
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