I have been gluten free for one year, and a vegetarian for seven years. I am now lactose intolerant (this just started a couple of months ago!). Does anyone have any ideas on how to get enough protein into my diet? I don't eat dairy at all (the lactaid pills don't work for me, they make sick). Cheese doesn't make me as sick as the milk, but it does make me bloated and very gassy. I used to love eating beans, but they also make me feel sick lately. I don't eat a lot of pre packaged gluten free stuff because I am not crazy about the taste. I probably have pasta once a month, and I don't eat much bread or cereal. My diet consists of rice, vegetables, and fruits. Any ideas?

Can you eat eggs? Nuts and seeds? I eat chia seeds for protein. You put 1/3 of a cup of them in 2 cups of water. Stir them up and let them sit in the fridge overnight. Eat the gel as is or mix in a smoothie. You can make a dairy free smoothie in the blender with a soft banana, a couple of ounces of chia seeds and enough fruit juice to thin down.

I also eat Goraw pumpkin seed bars. Daughter likes Boomi bars but they have almonds in them and I'm allergic. There are all kinds of nuts seeds and butters out there. You can eat the nut and seed butters on raw veggies or fruits.

Sprouts are also high in protein. They need not be bean sprouts. Radish sprouts are very high in protein.

Tofu and quinoa are good sources of protein.

Try adding up the amount of protein you get on your regular diet. I would be surprised if you don't get enough. Our society has this obsession about protein. The average consumption is 110 grams a day. The RDAs are around half that. The RDAs were set, for "safety," about three times above what human studies indicated was necessary (15 grams for a woman, 20 grams for a man). What all this means is that it is impossible if you are eating enough food to have a protein deficiency, unless you are surviving on junk food. You also get sufficient essential amino acids from plant foods (although I saw one lecture when a doctor said that strict fruititarians would be short on one particular one).

So don't worry that you have to make a special effort to have beans or soy. It really isn't necessary.

Some good information about protein is at:
http://www.drmcdougall.com/med_hot_protein.html

Beyond rice, veggies and fruits, try investigating other grains (quinoa, millet, buckwheat, wild rice, corn [regular form or as polenta]), other legumes (if you don't like beans -- what of lentils? split peas? peanuts? soybeans [assuming you can tolerate them]), nuts & seeds. This isn't so much for protein as it is to get some variety in your diet.

Can you do soy? I drink Silk Soymilk plus omega-3 DHA and it has 7 grams of protein per cup.

Brown rice has 3 grams of protein per 1/4 cup.

Can you eat chick peas? My mom makes a great hummus (sp?) that I spread on crackers. I can get you the recipe if your interested. I have a can and need to learn how to make it myself.
They have 6 grams of protein per 1/2 cup.

I've never had it but as missy's mom mentioned tofu and quinoa, I've heard are good sources.

Eggs, if you eat them. If your worried about the cholesterol you can always just eat the whites.

As hathor said we really get too much protein in our diets anyway. I wonder how your numbers would look if you added up what you eat in protein daily. Too much protein is hard on kidneys and not good for us anyway.

I tookup eating 2 eggs every morning with a corn tortilla and when I went in for my cholesterol testing - it was lower than it has ever been, in fact so low it was ridiculous to have even been screened!