Protein, how to increase the amount in my diet?

[Esya]

I tracked my food for a week and a half now and while I understand and know how to deal with the calories side of it and am in control of that part, I seem to be struggling with the macronutrients side of it. The breakdown on my Fitbit log shows me that I eat about 11-15% in protein, which I believe is rather low. I would like to try to increase it and see how this affects me, so I can decide if that works better for me or not. So I have a few questions as I seem to struggle with this.

When people say they eat 20% or 30% protein, is this the protein % as shown in the breakdown of the food eaten or do they count certain foods as protein? Like how egg and chicken are high in protein, but still not 100%? Am I comparing the same percentages? (I hope you get this question, I find it a bit hard to explain in text.)

I try to limit the amount of animal protein that I eat. I hardly eat meat and most animal proteins I eat is during lunch, which is typically some cheese, eggs or fish. For snacks I eat fruit during the day and if I have an evening snack it is likely to be dried fruit, nuts or rice crackers with peanut butter. Can you suggest any protein snacks that are (mostly) unprocessed products (meaning no bars or shakes/powders) to try as an evening snack? Maybe I should consider replacing a fruit snack too, as I eat a lot of vegetables and fruit anyway. So that leaves breakfast and dinner. At the moment I eat a smaller portion of my dinner for breakfast. This I could easily change and then I would cook dinner just less often. For dinner I try to make sure there is protein in the form of beans, soy or typically another plant based form. I used to have yoghurt with muesli for breakfast, but I moved away from that as I tried to limit the amount of animal protein that I eat, but now it seems my intake on protein is rather low. So any breakfast suggestions are welcome too. In the meantime I try to get my hands on hempseed.

[USAF-Larry]

@Esya, check out this list of 40 High Protein Foods. I don't try to avoid meats, so I can't make any suggestions on how to do that.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/ultimate-list-40-high-protein-foods.html

[Esya]

Thanks, that already gives some good insights and ideas. Will need to read a few times to fully process.

[TravellingSunny]

For breakfast (or if you're like me, dinner) there's a high protein cereal called Kashi that's not bad.  🙂

[Esya]

@TravellingSunny

I am not sure we have that in The Netherlands. I can look into other cereals. But what would you pair cereal with if you don't want to do yogurt or milk?

[Anniesusie]

Quinoa, Pea protein, hummus. I personally load up on egg whites. they are my favorite protein and keep me more satisfied than anything. But I know, animal.

[Esya]

@Anniesusie

It is not that I am vegan or vegetarian. I actually eat eggs on quite a regular basis and some other animal protein for lunch, I just want to limit the amount of most of them. Still I somehow get low protein %, I think mainly due to my dinner/breakfasts. The link @USAF-Larry provided and you pointing out some obvious choices ones again actually gave me a few good ideas. It seemed I understood what to eat for protein, just did not get my head around how to implement it into my eating pattern. But I feel with this information I am starting to get there.

So today I bought lentils. And I learned it is quinoa > couscous when I consider those two if I want the higher protein option. And I rediscovered the health section in my supermarket. I knew it was there and already shopped from it, but never realised it has so many plant based protein products. Seems I have found a few things to try and I am pretty confident some will stick.

[TravellingSunny]

@Esya - I find the cereal is pretty tasty and similar in texture to granola.  So, you could eat it dry, or maybe maybe mix some berries in with it.

[Dominique]

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@Esya wrote:

The breakdown on my Fitbit log shows me that I eat about 11-15% in protein, which I believe is rather low.

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Protein is the building block for your lean mass: it is therefore more appropriate to consider your protein intake in relation to your body weight (or lean mass) rather than as a ratio of your total calories. Carbs, OTOH, are usually the main fuel for your activity, so they should depend on your activity level: couch potatoes don’t need much, very active people need a lot. Fats are need for things like hormone regulation, to favour absorption of protein etc.

So rather than wondering whether protein should be 15%, 20% or 30% of your total intake, consider instead how much your protein intake is in relation to your body weight (people who are looking to lose a lot of weight may want to use their target/ideal weight instead), in grams of protein per pound (or maybe kilogram for you) of body weight. Now opinions differ widely on what’s the "right" amount of protein for various people and situations, see this older post, for instance.

Once you’ve determined your protein intake, you can split the rest between carbs and fats according to your personal preferences, according to your activity level and according to your goal in terms of weight management (lose, maintain or gain).

Sorry, this is not an answer to the question you asked, but I think it’s important.

[Esya]

Thank you @Dominique. That is some really useful insight that I will be using. I checked my data and while it is all over the place (I don't eat the exact same thing every day) it looks the average amount is on the low side in relation to my body weight. So this only confirms that I want to increase the amount of protein I eat.

[Bhuvana]

@Esya:  You can pair cereal with unsweetened soy milk which has 7g of protein in a cup and also less calorie.

When I prepare a salad, I make sure the star ingredient would be protein like Quinoa, Beans, lentils or even edamame. Even for a simple green salad, sprinkle some hemp seeds or hemp hearts or some nuts. 

[Esya]

@Bhuvana

Thanks for the suggestion, somehow I did not really register that option. I just checked almond milk (Alpro) in the supermarket, but got a bit thrown off by all the additions. Some I could not even pronounce. I might be getting too critical about my food, but I like to know what I eat.

I am really sad I cannot get edamame over here. I love it, but looks like I will have to order online.

[Dominique]

@Esya: what you may be able to find locally is amaranth. I recently bought some (for the first time) at Lidl (under their brand, Golden Sun). This is the product in question:

https://world.openfoodfacts.org/product/4010355119001/amaranth-dm-bio

It looks very much like quinoa and has 15.1 g of protein per 100 g, and 12.8 g of fiber (so actually better than quinoa on both counts). I’ll actually cook some this evening .

[Esya]

@Dominique

There is a Lidl next to the door of my appartment block 😄 .

I have to say that with all the replies I got so far I already was able to make some changes to my diet and meeting the amount that I should in relation to my body weight for 2 days now. Thanks to the input I learned a lot and I already notice I changed the way I think about it and look at the food, so I am confident I will find a diet that works for me and that sticks.

[Bhuvana]

@Esya: One more protein rich idea: If you like soft tofu, you can incorporate this in your smoothie for breakfast. 

Here is the link to make home made soft tofu. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/homemade-silken-tofu

[macknife74]

I like low fat  cottage cheese for a snack or I will eat it for breakfast.

One cup (226 grams) of low-fat (1% milk fat) cottage cheese provides (1):
Calories: 163.
Protein: 28 grams.
Carbs: 6.1 grams.
Fat: 2.3 grams.
Phosphorus: 30% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI).
Sodium: 30% of the RDI.
Selenium: 29% of the RDI.
Vitamin B12: 24% of the RDI.
Riboflavin: 22% of the RDI.
Calcium: 14% of the RDI.
Folate: 7% of the RDI.

[Esya]

What a coincidence, I had cottage cheese for the first time today 😄 .

[OldPup]

You would be surprised what goes well mixed with cottage cheese. From fruits to veggies. Tomato and CC is one of my favorites, and in the US stores sell a pineapple & CC that is great. Who knew. I sometimes add salt, pepper, dill weed or a couple other spices to jazz it up. You might try a small mixture to taste test to your liking. Cottage cheese isn't bad by itself, but sometimes it is good to flavor it up and you can get other nutritional stuff added in.

[macknife74]

What did you think of it? I know the taste varies from one producer to the next.

[macknife74]

I have mixed in tuna fish for more protein and it tastes great!