Vegan, Omnivore and Meat-Eater: Here's Your Visual Guide to Protein - CNET

If you struggle to eat enough protein each day, this visual guide to 100 grams of protein could help your meal preparations.

Here's one easy breakfast idea to help you start your day with a protein boost.

Whether you get it from eating meat, tofu or another source, a key part of any well-rounded diet is protein. You need it to help your body perform important functions, such as regulating hormones, transporting molecules and building muscle.

Because the amount of protein your body actually needs to function the best it depends on your health and activity, it's best to consult a dietician or doctor about your specific needs. There's a calculator available on the US Department of Agriculture's website which you can use to find the minimum amount of protein required to meet basic nutrition requirements.

However, many people are interested in keeping up with their protein intake because they're highly active or looking for muscle gains. For many people, then, hitting around 100 grams of protein (or more) may be more in line with their needs. To make meeting your protein goals easy, this visual guide puts 100 grams of protein into perspective, whether you follow a vegan, vegetarian or omnivore diet.

The grams were calculated by taking the information from the nutrition facts label on packaged items and weighing them when necessary. The gram amounts listed in this guide are specific to the products used for this experiment, so your numbers may vary if you look at a different brand for the following products.

Eating 100 grams of protein per day should be pretty easy if you don't have any dietary restrictions. Here's one way to do it:

Everything pictured above comes to 103 grams, which puts you slightly over the goal of 100 grams.

As you can see, getting 100 grams of protein from animal products doesn't take much:

This amounts to a perfect 100 grams of protein. If you ate all of this in a day, plus bread and other nonanimal products, you would easily surpass 100 grams of protein in a day.

For vegetarians, 100 grams of protein might look like this:

This actually comes out to 99 grams of protein, which is pretty close and still a great number to hit for a day.

What you see isn't totally what you get with the amount of protein here:

This amounts to 79 grams of protein. If we double up on the mixed nuts, chia seeds and hemp seeds, this brings us to 93 grams of protein. You could add an extra tablespoon of peanut butter or eat a full cup of oats, instead of half a cup, to come closer to 100 grams.

This plate also excludes high-protein vegan meat substitutes, such as tofu, tempeh or plant-based meats like the Impossible Burger. Those food sources can make it easier to get 100 grams of protein for someone who eats a vegan diet.