• See The China Study, by T. Colin Campbell, for more.

That said, some vegetarian protein sources are just not good. Yes, you will get protein, but these foods are so chock full of chemicals (and, usually, are so tasteless and nasty) that you're not even really eating food, you're just eating hydrogenated oils and refinings upon refinings that were once food before all the chemicals and bleachings. Also, remember that many of these products are not organic, and soybeans are one of the **most** genetically modified organisms. The worst vegetarian protein source is soy protein isolate. Unfortunately, it's an ingredient in many "foods."

• Soy protein isolate and anything containing it (fake cold cuts, processed soy ice cream, "breakfast links," some veggie burgers, most soy cheese, soy based whipped toppings, and so much more -- read labels!). A truly horrifying and omnipresent product that is just about as refined as a product can be and still be "edible."
  
• • A soybean consists of proteins, carbs, and fat. In order to make get only the protein (the soy protein isolate) from the soybean, which is what's in TVP, TSP, and other processed sources of soy protein:
    
    • First step: the fat is taken away using hexame solvents – very bad stuff, unless it's been expeller pressed, which is better but still rather terrible.
      
    • Then the carbs are taken away by bathing them in acid solutions, base solutions, and alcohol.
      
    • What's left is the protein. Practically no nutrients are left. It is an almost completely empty food. Used to make soy cheese, ice cream, etc. – all nontraditional, weird foods.
      
  • For TVP and TSP the isolate is spun at high heat into soy protein chunks and artificial color, flavor and synthetic nutrients are added, to make up for all the nutrients that were lost during the intense processing that it went through. Yum!
    
  • Soy protein isolate increases nitrates and carcinogens (the things that cause cancer) in your body, and it increases the need for vitamins A and D.
    

Good protein sources:

• Naturally fermented products, produced in traditional ways – these are whole foods, and you get enzymes and vitamins and minerals, they promote regularity and colon health:
  • Miso – cooked soybeans and a type of mold that are allowed to ferment under controlled conditions for anywhere from 3 months to 3 years. There are as many different varieties of miso as there are of wine. Lighter kinds are not fermented as long as darker kinds. Rice miso is common, as is miso made from barley. Chickpea miso has no soybeans. Do not buy pasteurized misos or any miso that is sold at room temperature, as all the beneficial enzymes in them have been destroyed. Do not boil miso, only cook it lightly if at all, because boiling will kill all the beneficial bacteria in it. Lately I've been making most of the miso I use for the meal delivery service, which has been an interesting experience.
  • Tempeh – tempeh is a vegan's best friend. Tempeh is dried, soaked, whole soybeans that have been mixed with a mold and fermented for around 48 hours. Many times grains (rice, etc) have been added to the mold (sold as 3-grain or 5-grain tempeh), these are better because they are a complete protein and a whole food. Black or gray spots are ok on tempeh, red or green spots are not. Lightlife is an ok brand, White Wave is icky and I have heard some strange things about the cleanliness of their factory. These days I make my own tempeh, and find it vastly better than that storebought kind. For more on making your own tempeh, miso, and so much more, check out Wild Fermentation.
  • Natto – cooked soybeans injected with yet another mold and fermented. Natto has live enzymes and aids in digestion. A good way to eat it is on a sandwich or mixed with mustard and shoyu and eaten with rice. I must admit I dislike the flavor and texture of natto.
  • Shoyu – shoyu is real, fermented soy sauce. Unlike supermarket brands of soy sauce like Kikkoman, which are chemically brewed in a 24-hour process, real soy sauce is fermented for a year or more, making it high in amino acids and enhancing digestion. It has less sodium than regular salt, and has a salty, sweet, rich, mysterious flavor. Shoyu is made from soy, wheat, and sea salt, while tamari has no wheat.
• Tofu is ok, but it is still more processed than, for example, tempeh. If you think about yogurt as the curds from cow's milk, tofu is the curds from soy milk. You soak soybeans, puree them, boil (what rises to the top like a skin is yuba and is sold in Asian markets), strain, add a coagulant like nigari, strain the curds from the whey (the curds are the tofu, the whey is inedible and is a good household cleaner) and you have tofu. So, not all of it is eaten so it's not a whole food. It's still a fine choice though, about 1,000 times better than some weird "soy protein crumble" package you might find at the health food store.
• Seitan – Seitan is "wheat meat" (wheat gluten). It is refined a bit, but not using chemicals and solvents. The bran and the endosperm are removed from hard high protein flour, so what's left is the protein (the gluten), which is formed into cakes. It's very high in protein: 3.5 oz has 25% of the rda of protein, and 120 calories (3.5 oz of meat has 300). It contains no fat.
• Organic beans
• Organic, and hopefully raw, nuts and seeds
  

First, the cons:

• Soy and cholesterol- it's true that soy protein lowers the bad kind of cholesterol (LDL) but if you're vegan you aren't getting outside cholesterol and it can be dangerous to have cholesterol that is too low -- for example, when you get older you need cholesterol to fight free radicals. So mom, keep eating that tempeh (my mom just got really into tempeh and calls me up all the time now to tell me how rad it is)!
  
• Also, nonfermented soy products (tofu, raw soy beans, all those highly processed soy yogurts, cheeses, etc) contain enzyme inhibitors that can INTERFERE WITH PROTEIN ABSORPTION! So that's one reason to eat fermented soy products and to get protein also from other sources like seitan and beans and nuts. Make sure your soy products are organic! Remember that soybeans are the MOST genetically modified foods.
  
• And finally, eating tons and tons of soy might increase the need for vitamin D and vitamin b12 (the 2 things that vegans don't get tons of).
• See information on soy protein isloate above.
  

The good news about soy is that:

• It cleanses the body of free radicals,
  
• It has protease inhibitors that can stop cancer growths,
  
• Fermented soy products have anticarcinogenic effects,
  
• Fermented soy (especially my best friend tempeh) can promote regularity and colon health,
  
• Blah blah. so, basically, fermented soy products (miso, tempeh, shoyu, tamari) are the best for you.
  

Ok, I'll say it again, all of this soy stuff seems really complicated and weird, I know, but really it's quite rational. If you eat a diet closer to what your ancestors ate (minus the meat, of course, because we know that we've moved beyond that in an evolutionary sense) and close to what indigenous people have always eaten, you will be eating foods that are whole, natural, organic, unprocessed, etc etc. Tempeh is an ancient Indonesian product that has been cultivated for thousands of years. Veganrella is not the pinnacle of human evolution in the realm of diet. We need to go back to foods that actually come from the earth.

• First, a word on sugar cravings: if you are not getting enough protein, you can crave sugar because protein and sugar are on opposite ends of the food spectrum and therefore balance each other out (white sugar is 99.5% carbs, whereas proteins like meat are almost all protein and fats and water and no carbs. This is why 3- or 5-grain tempeh is a complete protein -- it has carbs and protein!). This is why everyone knows some schmuck who can eat lots of steak and lots of refined sugars and can sort of survive OK, until he has a heart attack and dies, of course. But for you, my little vegan love, sugar will wreck you, because most likely you're not getting a ton of protein (which, is better for you, as too much protein is not a good thing). Sugar addiction is stronger in low protein diets and in low calorie diets -- if you're not getting enough calories, your body craves something simple it can digest quickly -- refined sugar fits the bill perfectly. Ditto with not getting enough complex carbs. BUT the same is true if you're getting too much protein and not enough complex carbs -- you've swung over to the other side of the spectrum and will again crave the white devil. If you're dehydrated you might crave sugar, so drink some water before you go have a pint of rice dream ice cream. If you're eating really refined, fragmented foods you might crave sugar because you are not getting enough whole foods and your body is searching for fulfillment. If you're macrobiotic and are getting too many contractive foods (meat, salt, miso, grains, nuts, sea vegs) you might crave expansive things like drugs, alcohol, fruit, tea, coffee, and sugar and veggies. If you eat enough whole grains and quality protein sources you will not crave sugar as much.
• Here is all that info phrased differently in case you're still confused:
  
  • If too much sugar is eaten, the missing elements will have to be found elsewhere, or the body will show deficiency symptoms. High-density protein foods (like meat), vitamin and mineral supplements, and large amounts of water are needed to balance the intake of refined sugar (this is why you will find it harder to go vegan if you eat lots of sugar).
    
  • Refined carbohydrates (white sugar and flour), if not accompanied by enough protein and minerals, will draw on the body's own protein and mineral reserves. Without these the body cannot function property. for example, anemia can result from the body stripping itself of iron.
    
  • People always say that sugar is "empty calories" but in actuality it is worse than that, it is calories that actively do harm - sugar is negative nutrition! If you think of your body as a bank, sugar is like constantly bouncing checks – you are taking something out without putting anything in.
    
• So, the outcome of all this longwindedness is that: you should also cut down on refined carbs when you go veg – a you don't need them anymore because hopefully you are eating more balanced whole foods, and if you eat too many you will set up a craving for something that is high protein like meat to balance them. This might be why some people crave meat when they go veg – they are eating high-sugar/carb diets. Repeat after me: when you give up meat, you should also cut down on white sugar and refined flour.
  
• Ok, some sugar facts:
  
  • It lessens germ-killing ability in the body for up to 5 hours because it reduces the production of antibodies.
    
  • 9T of sugar need theoretically 28-30oz of water to counterbalance it. This explains the popularity of soda: when it's cold it numbs the taste buds, the liquid fools the bod into thinking thirst is being quenched, the 7t of sugar in each can or bottle create a need for more water – and thus keep us reaching for soda. I'd rather have coke with real coke!
    
  • It interferes with the transport of vitamin c (don't eat sugar when you're sick!).
    
  • It neutralizes the action of essential fatty acids (like those that are in flax and hemp seed oil and that vegans typically don't get enough of anyway).
    
  • It has been linked to mineral imbalances.
    
  • It can cause adult onset diabetes.
    
  • Osteoporosis is linked to sugar consumption because sugar creates an acid imbalance in the blood. In order to fix it the body takes calcium and potassium from your bones. Milk does the same thing because it has so much protein which screws up the acid/alkaline balance. So do caffeine and food in the nightshade family (peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant.) and processed vinegars.
    
  • You know all those mood swings you get with sugar? It's all about your blood sugar. If you have low blood sugar a sugar snack can bring it back up to normal, and if you have high blood pressure it can make it go crazy. If you are just trucking along trying to maintain homeostasis and you eat sugar your blood sugar goes a little nuts. Your body kicks into high gear to try to regulate itself and return to homeostasis. This is what makes you get all loopy. This is why, for example, people eat salty peanuts in bars -- alcohol is a form of sugar and salty foods help control the sugar high.
    
  • In order to deal with the wreckage brought on by sugar, the body depletes its own store of vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Without these the body cannot function property, for example, anemia can result from the body stripping itself of iron.
    
  • While editing this, I realized that I am snacking on pure maple sugar candy. Everything in moderation, including moderation, right?
    

So, what can you eat instead of sugar? Well, first try to stop eating so much of it, because I know you eat way too much right now. Then, after you're broken the addiction a bit, here are some alternatives to use and substitutes to avoid:

Substitutes for sugar to avoid: