Protein finally is having a moment, and it has to do with more than protein’s ability to build and repair muscles. Protein also helps regulate hormones, transports molecules, acts as an enzyme for chemical reactions, and more. If you’re not sure how much protein you’re eating daily, it’s probably a good idea to start tracking your intake and figuring out how much you need daily. If you aren’t tracking this information, it’s easy to come up short on your protein quota. This is also true if you have dietary restrictions that prevent you from eating certain foods.
A good way to determine how much protein you need daily is by first understanding what a serving of protein looks like. Overall, everyone has different dietary requirements, but for the average person, 100 grams of protein daily is ideal. Keep in mind that if you’re active, you may need more protein in your diet. This visual guide shows what 100 grams of protein look like whether you follow a vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore diet. The grams were calculated by taking the information from the nutrition facts label on packaged items and weighing them when necessary. The gram amounts listed in this guide are specific to the products used for this experiment, so your numbers may vary if you look at a different brand of bread or yogurt. Use this visual guide to better understand what 100 grams of protein looks like on a plate.
If you don’t have any dietary restrictions, eating 100 grams of protein per day should be pretty easy. Here’s one way to do it: Everything pictured above comes to 103 grams, which puts you slightly over the 100-gram goal. As you can see, getting 100 grams of protein from animal products doesn’t take much. This photo shows:
- This amounts to a perfect 100. If you ate all of this in a day, plus bread and other nonanimal products, you would easily surpass 100 grams of protein in a day.
For vegetarians, 100 grams of protein might look like: This actually comes out to 99 grams of protein, which is pretty close and still a great number to hit for a day. What you see isn’t totally what you get with this photo. In the photo, you see:
- This amounts to 79 grams of protein. If we double up on the mixed nuts, chia seeds, and hemp seeds, this brings us to 93 grams of protein. You could add an extra tablespoon of peanut butter or eat a full cup of oats, instead of half a cup, to come closer to that 100-gram goal.
Also, this plate doesn’t include any high-protein vegan meat substitutes, such as tofu, tempeh, or plant-based meats like the Impossible Burger. Those food sources can make it much easier to get 100 grams of protein than someone who eats a vegan diet.