Vegetables & Protein

Hi,

We all know that we need protein to build muscles and we can get protein from animal sources. However,if we eat too much meat, we could be clogging our arteries with
saturated fat. That is something we need to avoid if we want to stay healthy.

Do you know that you can also get protein from vegetables? All along I thought that we can only get protein from meat, poultry and fish. Now I know better.

Some vegetables not only have proteins but also carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. So those who are vegetarians need not worry as they will also have sufficient nutrients.

Here are some examples:

100 gm of cauliflower will give you 3.2 gm of protein while 100 gm of cabbage will give you 1.6 gm.

100 gm of petai ( smelly bean) will give you 109gm of protein while 100gm of long beans only 2.1 gm.
This is sambal petai, petai cooked in spicy chilli and prawn. It's a delicious appetiser.

Long beans can also be cooked in curry, fried with belachan or stir-fried or sliced finely and cooked with egg as a tasty omelette.

100gm of taugeh (bean sprouts) have 2.6 gm of protein and the same amount of water cress also gives you 2.6gm of protein.

Soya beans beat all vegetables flat. 100gm of soya bean will give you 34.6gm of protein.

Let’s compare the animal sources of protein also in 100gm portions.

Lean beef gives you 21.9 gm of protein while fatty beef 15.3 gm.
Lean mutton gives you 18.1 gm of protein while fatty mutton 13.1 gm
Lean pork gives you 17 gm of protein while fatty pork 2.5gm.
Chicken gives you 22.3 gm of protein.
Fish ( ikan kurau ) gives you 17.9 gm of protein.

Eating soya bean is great as you can take it in different forms. You can have it as tau kua ( the harder type of tofu ), steamed, stir-fried, deep fried, and tau foo fah as dessert ( soya bean custard). There is of course the soya bean drink ( tau chui or tau cheong sui ).

As we grow older we should eat more vegetables and cut down on the meat. This will help our digestive system. Vegetables provide fiber and hastens the process of digestion and elimination. We don’t want to keep the wastes in our system as they build up into toxic wastes and can lead to diseases which we can do without.

Some vegetables can be eaten raw or semi-cooked. Those of us who like salads will know how good and fresh they taste. My granddaughter doesn’t really like vegetables, not even carrots. So at the dinner table, I mentioned to her that she was born in the Year of the Rabbit and she should love carrots and vegetables, by right. Know what she replied? “ I’m an odd rabbit.”


Kids these days are quick to respond and they are so good with the machines. They can figure out very quickly how those things work while I have to press this button and that and still the stuff I want don’t come out. Hummph…. frustrating.