Creatine is the Bottleneck in Vegan Proteins

( Or, how to save money on food, without sacrificing cognitive performance. )

Home economics breakthrough: I've cracked it.

The main cost of food, comes from meat. Roughly, 

Firm Tofu / Chicken / Beef : source

1x / 2.4x / 2.2x : gross protein mass yield, A

1x / 0.98x / 1.2x : essential amino acid mass yield, B

1x / 2.7x / 6x : raw price, C

1x / 1.125x / 2.72x : price per A = ( C / A )

1x / 0.42x / 2.27x : price per B = ( C / A / B )

... so tofu is cheapest for gross protein, but chicken is cheapest for essential amino acids; however ...

0x / 1x / 1.8x : creatine mass yield, D

∞ / 2.7x / 3.3x : price per D = ( C / D )

... ergo, tofu is useless for creatine, and chicken is again cheapest for creatine.

FOR MOST PEOPLE, ESSENTIAL ACID LIMITATIONS IN VEGAN DIETS ARE A RED HERRING. The real bottleneck for performance is dietary creatine. The goddamn molecule was named after meat, in the first place.

I should have known better. I wish I'd figured this out way back in college, but at least I'm glad to have figured it out before I turned 40. Onward to further optimisations.

So for now, tofu + creatine supplementation will be tested for cognitive performance. Targeted essential amino acid supplementation only when building muscle.

I've used creatine for years. Didn't figure it was the veggy protein bottleneck.Also checking the doses, I now understand better why the "standard doses" are too high for me. Athletic products are dosed at 5g ... which is like 800g of beef equivalent. I usually took less than 2.5g ... today tests have been closer to 1+g which feels just nice, no overreactions ... About 150g beef equivalent.

Otherwise, the body synthesises it at 0.04-0.08g/hour ... much slower than shots.