Hi CMTMatt, Each to their own, but I have to say that it's absolutely possible to get enough protein eating a plant based diet. At first I was sceptical as well, but once I got into a different mindset with the groceries I was buying and the types of meals I was preparing and making sure I was getting enough variety, it becomes second nature.

An interesting situation happened to me over the past 6 weeks. I'm on a treatment for an illness and need to have extensive blood tests etc. contantly. For the past year I've been on this treatment I have not experienced any problems with my blood tests. Then I decided to add a protein powder to my daily intake. I wanted to see if that would make me feel a little stronger. 3 weeks after adding that protein powder to my diet twice a day my AST and ALT became raised. Having raised LFTs while on this treatment could be extremely dangerous and would mean I would have to stop and that's frankly just not an option right now. In searching PubMed for further information about protein powders I came across other instances where people had become ill from eating added protein even at quite minimal amounts.

Using process of elimination, my oncologist suggested I stop the protein powder and see what happens. So, back to the oncologist last Monday and all my tests were normal. We had a conversation about diet and protein and he said that if a diet is well balanced, there should never be any problem with getting enough protein whether a person is vegetarian like myself or if they're eating plant based only.

I can honestly say that every person I actually know personally who eats no animal protein seems extremely mindful of the extra nutrients they may need i.e. B12, Iron, Calcium, Zinc, and others.

Obviously there are situations when people should not change their diets and it's always a good idea to ask for professional guidance especially if they have certain illnesses. I didn't do that myself and I had no illness at the time I changed my diet. In more recent times I've always made my medical specialists aware.

Added: Main point for me just to clarify is that I was already getting more than enough protein from my vegetarian diet. I should not have added the powder supplement so please be aware.