By 180 Nutrition

Veganism is widely considered to be a healthy lifestyle choice and is practiced by millions of people. Despite its benefits, however, your body still requires significant amounts of protein in order to function correctly.

Too little protein results in cognitive impairment, low energy, overeating, muscle wasting, blood glucose imbalance, impaired healing, greater susceptibility to injury and numerous other health problems. Therefore, it’s essential that you supplement your diet with vegan-friendly snacks high in protein. Here are some of the best ones.

Tree Nuts

All tree nuts contain large quantities of protein. Having a handful during or in between meals will help you feel full longer, provide vitamins and minerals and serve as a critical fat source. They contain B vitamins for energy and proper metabolism, as well as vitamin E for skin health and hormone support. Some, like walnuts, are even an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, which support optimal brain function, cell repair and a healthy weight.

Peanut Butter

Peanut butter, which is actually made from a legume, was originally created as a nutritious and easy-to-eat food for people who were seriously ill or unable to chew solid food. This use bears testament to its rich nutrient content. A mere two tablespoons provides significant amounts of not only protein but also B vitamins, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, magnesium, manganese and vitamin E. Many vegans find that including peanut butter in their daily diet helps helps them feel more satisfied and nourished. Best of all, this highly versatile food can be used in a huge array of dishes and desserts.

Coconuts

This tropical favorite is popular dried, fresh or as part of a meal or dessert. In one cup, you will receive three grams of protein. In addition, you’ll get an abundance of iron, copper, manganese, selenium, zinc, potassium and phosphorus.

Avocado

Although it’s technically a fruit, avocado still manages to supply a surprising amount of protein, as well as fat, to a vegan diet. When combined with other protein-rich plant foods, they provide all of the amino acids necessary for good health. Furthermore, they’re high in all of the B vitamins, vitamins C, E and K, magnesium, potassium, manganese, copper and zinc. Avocados can be used in many dishes, and their mild flavor and thick texture make them ideal for making puddings, shakes and smoothies.

Vegan Protein Powder

Nearly all protein powder on the market today contains whey. Since whey comes from cows, vegans are unable to consume it. Fortunately, 180 Nutrition has released a new vegan protein powder that is not only completely animal free, but also all natural as well.

The vegan protein supplement consists of 12 different ingredients. These include pea protein, flax seed, almond meal, sunflower kernels, coconut flour, cocoa flavoring, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, psyllium husk, inactive brewers yeast, and stevia.

Try a starter pack today and feel the difference.

By Guy Lawrence

Eat your good fats. How often do you hear that? The fear of fat is certainly changing, but how often does someone say I can’t eat that as it contains too much fat! I think the fat free consumer is still very much here but things are slowly changing.

The purpose of this post is to help with the confusion around fat. What is good fat and which fats are just plain ugly. I’ve found over time I generally have certain fats in my daily diet and there are a whole host that I do my best to avoid. I don’t worry about the calories, I only worry about the type of fats. I wrote a post here if you want to delve into fats more. And why is there a fat 1970′s cowboy dancing? Not sure but we liked the picture!  Continue reading →

By Guy Lawrence

Do you hang out in cafes? We do! Do you drink soy lattes? Mmm, we don’t.

This post was inspired by a conversation I had recently in a cafe (of course …) so let me paint a quick picture for you.

The one thing I’m finding as 180 Nutrition continues to grow is that Stu & myself seem to be involved in more meetings. This is actually a compliment and we are always looking at different ways to make them fun and worthwhile.

Our usual criteria is:

• funky cafe
• great staff
• stones throw away from the ocean

Just last week we had the NSW Police S.W.A.T team sitting next to us in a cafe. One of them approached us and it turned out that he uses our 180 protein supplement and also trains CrossFit. We hung out with them for 20min talking everything from CrossFit to diet and gave them bar samples and a t-shirt… relevant? No… Seriously cool? Oh yeah!

I try and stick to one coffee a day and anything after that I reach for the tea – but never the soy.

Turning up at these meetings, I can’t help but notice what different people order. Now I’m a live and let live kind of guy, as I certainly don’t like to judge. But it doesn’t take long before I get asked questions on health and nutrition, it simply comes with the territory.

During a recent conversation, I happened to mention that I ate 1 – 2 avocados a day as I have them in my 180 smoothies. The person I was meeting seemed quite shocked and their instant reaction was ‘what about the fat?’ They felt counting calories and a low fat diet was the way forward. This was said whilst they sipped on their soy lattes with honey (you can read my thoughts on honey & fructose here).

Without wanting to sound like a tool, my reaction was simple. I said I would rather eat half a dozen avocados a day than drink that soy latte. Naturally I had to explain myself, and here are my thoughts on why I don’t drink it… Continue reading →