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!
