Explainer –
When Jennifer Anastasiou decided to go vegetarian after learning about the environmental impact of livestock, she worried at first about her protein intake.
“It was kind of hard because when you eat meat your entire life, you don’t even have to think that way,” said Anastasiou, who grew up eating plenty of meat in her Irish-Catholic family in Philadelphia.
Now, she relies heavily on foods that dietitians recommend for those cutting down on meat: high-protein legumes like lentils, chickpeas and beans, vegetable-based protein shakes and other sources.
Many people consider eating less meat, be it for health, environmental or animal-welfare reasons. (Livestock accounts for nearly half of agricultural emissions fueling climate change.) But they sometimes hesitate because they are concerned about how they would replace all that lost protein.
The USDA has a calculator …