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Vegan protein after fifty
A vegan over fifty needs the same protein as anyone else, and plants can get you there. The servings are a little bigger, soy and pea do most of the heavy lifting, and spreading it across three or four meals matters just as much as it does for everyone else.
The number does not change
Going vegan does not lower the target. Roughly one and a half to two grams per kilogram of bodyweight a day, split across three or four meals. Where that number comes from.
If that looks a long way off, aim at three quarters of it first. Going from sixty grams to ninety is worth far more than arguing about the last twenty.
Where it comes from
The concentrated sources do most of the work: tofu, tempeh, seitan, edamame, lentils, beans, chickpeas and soy milk. A half block of firm tofu is around thirty grams. A cup of cooked lentils is about eighteen. A hundred grams of tempeh is about twenty.
Nuts, seeds and grains add up across the day, but they are the support act, not the main event.
Why the servings are bigger
Plant protein is a little less concentrated, and most sources carry less leucine, the amino acid that does the most to switch muscle building on. The fix is simple: eat a slightly bigger serving at each meal, and lean on soy and pea, which are the strongest of the plant sources.
Mix it up
You do not need to combine foods at every meal the way people were once told to. Eat a mix of beans, soy, grains and seeds across the day and the amino acids take care of themselves.
The easy shortcut
A scoop of pea or soy protein stirred into oats or soy yoghurt closes most of the gap with no cooking. It is food that comes in a tub, not a supplement.
