Vegetarian Beauty Nutrient

Experts have long known that protein is an essential beauty nutrient, helping to replenish skin cells and keep hair and nails growing and healthy. Now there are more ways than ever to get the essential proteins your body needs.

"It's cheaper and healthier to eat vegetarian proteins, because they don't contain saturated animal fat and the contaminants of production-fed meat," says Paulette Lambert, director of nutrition at the California Health & Longevity Institute, who advocates quasi-vegetarian diets to help the environment. "Eating one vegetarian meal a week as a family saves 21,000 gallons of water a year."

Grocery stores and online specialty shops offer a stunning range of beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains that are high in protein and satiating fiber, low in cost and absolutely luscious. With benefits that go way beyond the cosmetic, these proteins may cut your risk for heart disease and cancer, and they help the planet as well.

Heirloom Beans

Bored with black beans and kidney beans? Expand your legume repertoire. Top chefs, like Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame, are turning to heirloom beans that have been cultivated for centuries without genetic modification and are now being rediscovered and replanted. There are about 10,000 varieties of legumes, carrying exotic names such as Tongues of Fire, so you'll never have trouble finding something novel to try.

Healthy Whole Grains

Most people think of them merely as carbohydrates, but grains can also pack a powerful protein punch. The ancient grain quinoa, considered sacred by the Incas in the Andes of South America, contains more protein than any other grain. What's more, quinoa is a complete protein, which means it has all the essential amino acids for building muscle, skin and bone. With a wonderful nutty flavor, quinoa can be used as a substitute for rice or couscous.