Protein is essential in building muscle. Muscle tissue is made of protein, which means it is made of amino acids, and those amino acids have to come from somewhere. But how much does the protein source matter?
Animal foods (such as meat, dairy, and eggs) are high in protein, so they are the traditional food for bodybuilders and other gym goers. But plant foods can also provide protein, and there are plenty of strong vegan athletes out there – so it’s certainly possible to build muscle with a plant-based diet.
There are two drawbacks to vegetable protein, so if you’re determined to stick to these sources, it’s important to consider both.
Plant foods generally contain more calories for the same amount of protein
Keeping an eye on your total calories (for example, if you’re trying to lose weight or keep your weight within a certain range), meat is a more efficient way to get in protein. A small chicken breast, for example, has 27 grams of protein in just 142 calories. Almost all calories come from protein, some from fat and none from carbohydrates.
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No source of a whole food plant can match those macros. Three-quarters of a cup of tofu will give you about the same calories, but with only 15 grams of protein. (The rest is carbs and fat.) Or try 100 grams of rice and beans: 150 calories, but only 5 grams of protein. (The rest is mostly carbohydrates.)
So if you want to build muscle with plant foods, you have to work a little harder than an omnivore to get all your protein without exceeding your calorie goal. You need more protein powder to make a difference, where an omnivore can more easily meet their needs with a few meaty meals.
You may need more vegetable protein than animal protein to get all of your amino acids
When we say that we need proteins in our diet, we really mean that we need amino acids. There are 20 amino acids, nine of which we cannot make in our body and which we must get through our diet.
For the sake of convenience, animal foods have a balanced selection of amino acids – if you eat meat as your main protein source, you are getting enough of all the amino acids you need. But plant foods are not always well-balanced. This is why plant proteins are sometimes referred to as lower “quality” protein. There is nothing wrong with the protein itself; quality refers only to the amino acid balance. (Another term for having all the essential amino acids is ‘complete’ protein.)
A plant-based diet will still provide all the amino acids, if you have a reasonable variety of foods. Rice and beans, for example, balance each other. Soy is one of the few complete vegetable proteins, so tofu is a good choice. Many vegetable protein powders are formulated to contain all essential amino acids.
Because it’s more difficult to get a good balance of amino acids with a vegan diet than an omnivore, and because plant protein sources are sometimes less digestible, some guidelines recommend vegan athletes. aim for a slightly higher total amount of protein than omnivores, to make sure you meet all your needs. Others recommend make sure you get extra leucine, an amino acid present in legumes that can also be purchased as a supplement.
The bottom line, you can build muscle on plant protein, but you’ll need to think a little more about planning your diet to make sure you’re getting enough.