Essentially there are three types of vegetarians: ones who eat eggs (ovo vegetarian) and ones who eat dairy products (lacto vegetarian) and ones who eat both called ovo-lacto vegetarians. Vegans are people who do not eat any animal products at all. So you normally call a person vegetarian it is meant that he or she would diary and/or eggs. Many people who might want to become vegetarians, often shy away thinking that perhaps vegetarians actually deprive themselves of high-value proteins in their diet. Many people who are keen on building muscles would likely to be of this opinion. But it is actually possible to be a vegetarian and have a high-protein diet (and also build muscles) if you know the nutritive value of some of the vegetarian protein foods and the composition of such proteins.

First of all it is important to understand that amino acids are called the building blocks of protein. Thus to maintain some body functions and build muscles the body needs amino acids which it gets from the foods that we take. These are called essential amino acids. There are also non-essential amino acids which the body manufactures by itself but then essential amino acids are required to make the non-essential types. When a food contains all the essential amino acids it is called a 'complete' protein and animal protein is considered complete protein. On the other hand, vegetables, fruits, beans and nuts all contain protein but in some they are not complete and would need other foods to fill up the gaps and make it complete. The only exception perhaps is soy, which is a complete protein and does not require any complementary foods to bridge the gap of missing amino acids.

Thus a complete vegetarian can have a high-protein diet if the person has eggs, dairy and soy products (not soy sauce) as all these are considered to be complete proteins. For vegans, dried beans and soy could be the primary source of proteins and dried beans could be complemented by nuts, grains, corn, eggs, and dairy or soy products. Of course for vegans the eggs and dairy products have to be omitted.

so if you are a non-vegetarian and wanting to switch to a vegetarian diet and worried about from where you are going to get your protein supplies, fret no more. You can always make a wholesome protein-rich diet adding beans and nuts to your meals which incidentally are packed with essential phytochemicals and antioxidants.