Let’s start with the question. You know the one. Every plant-based woman has heard it roughly 400 times, usually at a barbecue.
« But where do you get your protein? »
It usually comes from someone holding a sausage roll, wearing the face people save for a friend who has just announced she’s taking up skydiving. I smile. I mention lentils. I go back to my hummus. For most of my adult life, I thought the question was a bit silly, because protein simply wasn’t something I had to think about.
Then I turned 50. And (I can’t believe I am typing this) the sausage-roll person turned out to be slightly onto something.
Not about plant-based eating. Plants can absolutely give us all the protein we need, thank you very much. But about protein itself: after 50, it quietly goes from background extra to one of the leads, and most of us are getting less of it than we think. Including me.
The uninvited guest at my morning party
Here’s my confession. My mornings are, frankly, a little smug. Yoga. Breathwork. Then a cold shower that makes me yelp like a startled seagull. By the end of it, I feel like I could run a small country, or at the very least a very efficient bake sale.
Then, a while back, someone started gate-crashing the party.
An energy crash. And not at 4 pm, where energy crashes politely belong, with a cup of tea and a biscuit. No. This one barged in before mid-morning, kicked off its shoes and made itself at home. One minute I was a cold-shower superhero; the next I was staring into the middle distance, seriously wondering whether it was too early to lie down on the kitchen floor.
So I did what any reasonable woman would do. I blamed everything except the obvious.
I practise intermittent fasting, so I blamed that first. Then the weather. Then Mercury. Then the neighbour’s leaf blower (which, to be fair, deserves the blame for many things).
It took me far too long to question the most obvious suspect: what was actually on my plate when I broke my fast. Loads of vegetables, some fruit, a few carbs. All very virtuous. All very colourful. And hardly any protein holding the whole thing together.
My body had been sending me polite little memos for weeks. I just had my noise-cancelling headphones on.
So let’s have the protein conversation properly, once and for all. No powders shoved in our faces. No bodybuilder energy. No living on plain tofu (it’s a lonely life). Just what our bodies need now, and the easiest, tastiest ways to give it to them.
Why protein suddenly matters after 50
Here’s the not-so-fun fact. From around our 40s, we start losing muscle, a little bit every year.
It’s called sarcopenia, which sounds like a villain in a period drama, and honestly, it behaves like one. It doesn’t storm in. It doesn’t make a scene. It just tiptoes around the house at night, pocketing a little more muscle each season, and nobody notices until the jam jar won’t open.
Then menopause arrives and hands the villain a bigger bag. As oestrogen drops, our bodies find it harder to hold on to muscle. Rude. But biological.
« So what? » I hear you say. « I’m not entering a bodybuilding competition. »
True. But muscle does a lot more than look good in a vest top:
- Muscle keeps our metabolism ticking. Less muscle means our bodies burn less energy at rest, which is part of why the scales can creep up even when we eat exactly as we always have. (Sound familiar? I wrote a whole article about that.)
- Muscle keeps us strong and steady. It protects our joints, helps our balance and makes falls less likely later on.
- Muscle supports our bones. Strong muscles pulling on our bones help keep them strong too, which matters a lot after menopause.
- Protein keeps us full. It’s the most satisfying of all the nutrients, so it takes the edge off that 4 pm biscuit-tin situation. You know the one. The lid’s already off, isn’t it?
And here’s the good news, the bit I’d like you to highlight twice: muscle loss is not a one-way street. With enough protein and the right strength work (gentle counts!), we can slow it right down, and even build some back. Our bodies are still very much open for business. They’ve just changed their opening hours.
So how much do we actually need?
Okay, numbers. Stay with me, I promise it’s painless.
The standard UK guideline for adults is 0.75 g of protein per kilo of body weight a day. But that figure was set for adults in general, not for women over 50 trying to hang on to their muscle.
Experts who study ageing muscles (including an international group called PROT-AGE) suggest aiming higher as we get older: around 1.0 to 1.2 g per kilo of body weight a day. And because plant proteins are digested slightly less efficiently than animal ones, it makes sense for us plant-based women to aim for the upper end of that range.
In real life, that looks like this:
| Your weight | Daily protein to aim for |
| 55 kg (8 st 9 lb) | about 55–66 g |
| 65 kg (10 st 3 lb) | about 65–78 g |
| 75 kg (11 st 11 lb) | about 75–90 g |
But here’s the plot twist: the total isn’t the whole story. How we spread it matters just as much.
Think of your muscles as a builder who only works short shifts. Dump a mountain of bricks on them at dinner after a toast-and-jam breakfast, and most of those bricks just sit in the yard. Give them a decent pile at every meal, and they keep building all day. A good target is around 25–30 g at each main meal.
Breakfast is where most of us fall short (hello, past me and my virtuous fruit bowl), so that’s usually the easiest win.
A quick but important note: if you have kidney problems or another health condition, check with your GP before increasing your protein.
Meet the plant-protein all-stars
Here’s what I love about plant protein: it never turns up empty-handed. It brings fibre, minerals and a whole lot of goodness that a steak simply doesn’t bring to the party. These are the guests who arrive with a bottle and offer to do the washing up.
Here’s the guest list, with roughly how much protein each one brings:
| Food | Portion | Protein (approx.) |
| Seitan | 100 g | 20–25 g |
| Tempeh | 100 g | 17–20 g |
| Firm tofu | 100 g | 12–16 g |
| Lentils, cooked | 200 g (a generous bowl) | 18 g |
| Chickpeas, cooked | 200 g | about 18 g |
| Edamame beans | 100 g | 11 g |
| Hemp seeds | 3 tbsp (30 g) | 9–10 g |
| Pumpkin seeds | 30 g (a small handful) | 7–9 g |
| Soya milk | 250 ml glass | 7–8 g |
| Peanut butter | 2 tbsp | 7–8 g |
| Quinoa, cooked | 185 g (a cupful) | 8 g |
| Porridge oats | 50 g (dry) | 5–6 g |
Numbers vary a little by brand, so it’s worth a glance at the label, especially with tofu, which ranges from « silken and shy » to « extra-firm and ready for anything ».
Honourable mentions: nutritional yeast (cheesy, a couple of grams per spoonful, and yes, it really does taste like cheese if you squint), wholegrain bread, peas and plain soya yoghurt. And if you’re a smoothie person, a scoop of pea or soya protein powder adds around 20 g in seconds. Totally optional. No bodybuilder energy required.
Three protein myths I’m happily showing the door
Myth 1: « You have to combine proteins at every meal. » Remember the old rule about eating beans with rice so the protein « counts »? We can let that one go. Our bodies keep a pool of building blocks through the day, so as long as we eat a variety of plant proteins across the day, it all adds up. No food-pairing homework. No mealtime maths. You’re welcome.
Myth 2: « Soy is bad for women. » Soy has had some very dramatic press over the years. Honestly, it’s had more plot twists than a soap opera. But research on whole soy foods like tofu, tempeh, edamame and soya milk has been largely reassuring, and in Japan, where soy has been eaten for centuries, women have long enjoyed some of the best health in later life. For most of us, a few portions a week is a perfectly good idea. (If you’ve had a hormone-sensitive cancer, it’s worth a chat with your doctor first.)
Myth 3: « You can’t get enough protein on a plant-based diet. » We absolutely can. It just takes a little more intention than it used to, which, let’s face it, is true of most things after 50, including getting up off the sofa.
Easy upgrades (no tofu-only diet required)
The best part? We don’t need to redesign anything. Small swaps at each meal add up surprisingly fast.
- Breakfast: make porridge with soya milk instead of water and stir in a spoonful of hemp seeds or peanut butter. Or try a tofu scramble on wholegrain toast. This is the meal I was getting wrong, and it’s the easiest one to fix.
- Lunch: throw a scoop of lentils or chickpeas into salads and soups, and scatter over some pumpkin seeds. A hummus-and-falafel wrap counts too.
- Dinner: flip the plate. Build it around the protein first, then add the veg and grains. Tempeh stir-fry, lentil bolognese, chickpea curry, tofu traybake.
- Snacks: edamame with a pinch of sea salt, a handful of roasted chickpeas, apple slices with peanut butter, or a soya yoghurt with seeds. Your 4 pm self will thank you.
What a high-protein, plant-based day can look like
| Meal | What’s on the plate | Protein (approx.) |
| Breakfast | Porridge (50 g oats) made with 250 ml soya milk, topped with 3 tbsp hemp seeds and berries | 24 g |
| Lunch | Lentil and quinoa salad (200 g lentils, 100 g quinoa) with 30 g pumpkin seeds and a lemony dressing | 30 g |
| Snack | A bowl of edamame (100 g) | 11 g |
| Dinner | Tempeh stir-fry (100 g tempeh) with broccoli, peppers and a little rice | 25 g |
| Total | around 90 g |
That comfortably covers most of us: no pills, no powders, and not a single sausage roll in sight.
The bottom line
After 50, protein stops being a background extra and becomes one of the leads. Not because plant-based eating has let us down, but because our muscles need a little more backup to stay strong through this stage of life.
The recipe is simple:
- aim for around 1.0–1.2 g per kilo of body weight a day
- spread it across our meals (25–30 g each)
- lean on the all-stars (tofu, tempeh, lentils, beans, seeds, soya milk)
- add a bit of strength work to the week
Our future selves, the ones still carrying their own shopping and opening their own jam jars at 85, will thank us.
And the next time someone asks where we get our protein? We can smile, mention tempeh, and change the subject to their cholesterol.
Your questions, answered
Is quinoa a complete protein?
Yes. Quinoa contains all nine essential amino acids, like soya (tofu, tempeh, edamame). That makes them handy all-rounders, but we don’t need to eat « complete » proteins at every meal if we eat a variety over the day.
What vegetables have the most protein?
The protein champions are actually legumes: edamame, peas, chickpeas, lentils and beans. Among the green vegetables, broccoli, spinach and Brussels sprouts give a useful little boost.
Does oatmeal have protein?
A little: a 40g bowl of oats has about 5g. Make it with soya milk and stir in seeds or a spoonful of nut butter and you can easily double that (see my protein porridge in 5 High-Protein Vegan Breakfasts).
Do I need protein powder?
No, most of us can get enough from food. A plain pea or soya protein powder can be a handy shortcut on busy days, but it’s a top-up, not a must.
Want a head start? My free 7-Day Anti-Inflammatory Meal Plan is full of plant-based, protein-packed meals, so the planning is already done for you. Grab it below.
This article is for general information only and isn’t medical advice. Please talk to your GP or a registered dietitian before making big changes to your diet, especially if you have a health condition or take medication.