Yes, I agree about the protein obsession. I never had issues when I first committed to eating vegan back in 2006/2007 - and I did stick to it for 4 or 5 yrs without having as many resources as there are today. If someone in the western world really gets a protein deficiency (and does not have some rare disease) I think it's highly likely they have some weird "sub-diet" (like eating only fruit or trying to subsist on veggies) and/or not eating enough calories.