Tips for getting more protein?

[bluebug32]

I've been tracking my diet lately on fitday.com to see how my nutrition is shaking out every day. I think I'm eating too many carbs to fill up and not enough protein (which causes me to eat too many calories a day). I don't really enjoy eating a lot of meat. I like turkey and chicken and the occasional burger or piece of pork. How do you get enough protein (without eating meat at every meal)?

[michelem]

Try these links:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=26752

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=26576


Personally, I eat fish every day. Wild salmon, wild cod, sardines, tuna (only on occasion since it is higher in mercury and stuff) . . . Costco carries a really yummy, reasonably priced canned wild salmon that you can use the way you would use canned tuna. Just beware, the Kirkland (Costco brand) is MUCH pricier than the other brand they carry (Bear and something?) and in my opinion there isn't a difference in taste that I could discern.

Also, several times a week I have omega-3 eggs. Usually one egg with the yolk (which is where the omega 3's are) and a couple of whites as well (which is where all the protein is).

I eat soy as well, but definitely not every day as it is a controversial food, especially for women. But, I do like tofu and soymilk. I get the organic unsweetened soymilk and like to put it in my hot chocoloate (organic unsweetened cocoa powder, a few drops of stevia [which, yes I know is controversial as well and probably not the greatest to us fake sugar], hot water and soy milk -- yummy). Nut butters are awesome -- almond butter and macadamia nut butter are my favs.

I really like quinoa as well, and it is a complete protein!

I do eat chicken on occasion (once a week at the very most) and red meats even further and farther between (special occasions, like a fancy restaurant, which happens MAYBE two or three times a year?). Oh, and around Thanksgiving and Christmas, lots and lots of turkey! My dh buys turkeys the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas and gets awesome deals on organic, free-range turkeys.

Well, of course, there is more out there, but you get the idea. You really don't have to rely solely on meat to get protein.

Good luck to you!

[OakLeaf]

Like you, I really struggle to get enough protein unless I eat fish 2-3 days a week, and sometimes I even crave meat. That's especially the case since I've had to start restricting my soy intake. I'll be interested to watch the other answers here, but my body really feels the difference. (I'm always careful about combining proteins, eating plenty of beans and vegies, so it's not a careless diet.)

One thing that helps cut down on carbs is to snack on raw nuts. They have a good dose of protein, lots of healthy fatty acids, and most importantly high satiety (unlike carb-rich snacks, nuts actually satisfy you and don't leave you craving another snack half an hour later). OT, but DH has lost 12 pounds over the summer making no changes other than snacking on pistachios instead of cereal and Clif bars.

[Kalidurga]

Beans. Nuts. Peas have protein, though they need a boost for it to be complete. Oatmeal has protein.

Check this out.

[Over50Newbie]

I do all of the above and I also drink protein shakes.

My favorite protein powder is Beverly's Chocolate Muscle Provider.

Lynette

[tulip]

I have not seen Fitday before, but it sounds like it's giving you some valuable information. Turkey and chicken are great, and if you get a good cookbook, you can find lots of different ways to prepare delicious recipes. I eat red meat about once a week, fish once a week, and chicken about 3 times a week. That leaves me with a couple of days of beans and rice. I love black beans and rice with salsa, avocado and a bit of cheese. If you combine legumes (beans) with grains (like rice), you end up with a complete protein.

For me, the key is to get a good cookbook and spend time learning how to cook a variety of dishes with adequate protein. You might also want to take a cooking class.

[Crankin]

I eat beans and rice regularly and a couple of years ago I started eating nuts (walnuts or almonds) for snacks. Sometimes, I combine the nuts with a few dried cranberries. I like meat, but I would say i only have steak maybe once every two weeks or more. I eat lots of chicken, fish, ground turkey, occasional tofu, along with very thinly sliced pork. Also, I started buying some of the low fat string cheese to eat as snacks.
I feel better when i eat more protein. For years I lived on carbs (even though they were low glycemic ones) and it just wasn't working as I got older.

[redrhodie]

Cottage cheese has 16g of protein per half cup serving. I eat it with fresh fruit as a snack, or put a scoop on a tossed salad.

[bluebug32]

Thanks, everyone.

In the one link, it said seitan is very high in protein. Does anyone have a good recommendation for cooking with it? I was a vegetarian for a few years and remember having it, but haven't touched it since.

I love nuts, but they seem really high in calories (or perhaps I'm just bad at restricting how many I eat!). One thing I have discovered is greek yogurt, which has between 15 and 20 grams of protein.

[spokewench]

Peanut Butter has protein; beans and rice together is a complete protein

[Smilie]

I have a protein queston-not meaning to hijack the thread, but didn't want to start another thread on protein!

I have always craved 'meat', stemming from very heavy periods is my guess, but since I have had a hysterectomy, I no longer have that issue. But I still crave protein and I assume my body needs it. So I think I am eating adequate protein. I donate plasma and have never had low protein counts. I have a friend that eats what I eat, is a hard core cyclist, donates plasma, but he always gets low protein counts.

We do the same workouts, I think I eat a little more protein than he does, I donate plasma several months in a row with never an issue with low protein levels. He cannot donate more than like 3 or 4 times in a row without lower protein counts. Why is this?

I think it is because he has such large muscles, and really works hard in our training classes, his muscles require more protein so metabolizes it faster than I do. That is my guess, is this accurate?

I don't know how donating plasma would cause lower protein, since you get your red blood cells back, so we are at a loss of why this is always happening. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

I am planning on changing our diets so he will eat more protein rich foods. He already drinks a LOT of milk, cheese, and meat. So I will just increase the beans, rice and yogurt and eggs. Hopefully this will help.

[michelem]

Good suggestion, redrhodie! I always forget to recommend dairy because I'm allergic to it.

[badger]

I may be wrong on this, but I understood that there's no such thing as an "incomplete" protein. All foods have protein, and nobody's ever lacking protein in the developing countries.

[OakLeaf]

I love nuts, but they seem really high in calories (or perhaps I'm just bad at restricting how many I eat!).

By "seem," do you mean you're going by some book, or did you actually try snacking only on nuts and find that you gained weight? If it's the former, really, try it. The satiety level is so much higher than with high-carb snacks that you wind up eating fewer calories; and because they're so high in healthy fats, they'll actually help you lose weight provided your total calorie intake is reasonable.

I started looking up protein contents in formulating this reply, and I guess the key is to eat beans with EVERY meal. Because when I looked it up, it turns out that two cups of cooked kidney beans, a cup of cooked long grain brown rice and a medium stalk of broccoli gives you about 35-40 g protein in only 700 calories, which is plenty reasonable. I'm used to a breakfast of cereal, fruit, rice/hemp/soy milk and 3-4 tbsp of nuts, and loading my protein very heavily toward dinner. So I guess maybe I have to start looking harder at getting more protein earlier in the day and I won't be so reliant on animal products.

[OakLeaf]

nobody's ever lacking protein in the developing countries.

you're not serious, are you?!


As for "complete" protein, what that means is that the human body needs eight amino acids in a certain balance to be able to repair tissues. Those are called "essential" amino acids. Only meat contains all those amino acids in that balance (because basically, our bodies need to be able to make meat out of our food). The concept of complementary proteins means combining foods like beans and grains which together provide all eight amino acids in roughly the balance the human body needs. That's why historically people learned to combine those foods in traditional diets.

In traditional cultures, where people are able to raise and hunt the food they've learned to eat for millennia, it's true that they don't usually have a protein deficit without a corresponding calorie deficit (but crops do fail and hunger is very common). In "developing" countries, where people have been forced out of subsistence farming and into either cash-cropping or non-agricultural work, protein deficits are EXTREMELY common.