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.

[Esya]

@macknife74

I actually really liked it. We have a supermarket chain that does organic vegetarian cheeses. Luckily I am Dutch, so cheese is a big thing around here.

[macknife74]

I live in Michigan and we have an over abundance of everything,,,lol 

[charkar]

Have you tried switching the museli to oats? Porridge made with non-dairy milk can be quite high in protein, and you can add pretty much whatever you want to it to change it up day to day.

[SwapnilP]

When people say they eat 20% protein it means 20% of their total caloric intake comes from proteins. For eg. If a person consumes 2000 calories in a day, with a 20% intake of proteins, it means 400 calories out of the 2000 calories come from consuming protein.

Few suggestions I could give you to get more proteins in your diet would be-

Have a good portion of chicken breast/fish during your lunch. Breakfast could include egg whites, skim milk. Dinner could include beans/legumes/tofu which have a decent amount of proteins too. Snacks can include greek yogurt/low fat skim milk cheese sticks/nuts and seeds. It isn't that difficult. Potentially all kinds of whole grain foods and fresh produces including veggies and fruits too contain some amount of proteins in them. They might not have a complete protein profile though if you eat a variety of natural foods, your body combines these foods and creates a complete protein profile. Hope this helps! Good luck.

[USAF-Larry]

Saw this article today, How Much Protein Do I Need?, that has a pretty good description of the amount of protein in various food types.

To give you an idea of how important protein is to the human body, consider the word’s origin: protos. That’s Greek for “first,” as in top, or of foremost importance. Protein is responsible for the muscles throughout your body, as well as things like hair, hormones, blood, all manner of connective tissue and even the enzymes that power your digestive system.

Despite all that, most people continue to equate protein with bodybuilding, powerlifting and “bulking up.” True, protein is an essential part of any bodybuilder’s nutrition plan, but protein is absolutely essential for every one of us. The question is… how much protein do we really need?

Read full article here: How Much Protein Do I Need?

[mamatalesALL]

Hi there @Esya. 

While in school, we learned that very few people (in the US), are actually low in their macro of protein, especially with all the hype surrounding protein powders, bars, eating more meat, etc. That being said, I personally know from labs, I too, struggle with not getting the recommended protein to prevent disease! Yikes. I eat a lot of vegetables, which can be a great protein source, but of course incomplete. Since animal proteins' amino acids are more similar to ours, we don't have to combine them to make it complete. I am not vegetarian but simply don't crave protein often and notice it's harder to reach my macro's in that area. Do you use MyFitnessPal? If so, you should be able to adjust your macros, and that way, after completing your log, you can look at the "nutrition" graph at the bottom of your diary to see a pie chart, giving you details on your macros for the day. This can be an amazing tool as you try to add more complete proteins or complete your plant proteins to increase that subgroup. I'm sure others have answered this but I didn't read all the comments but eggs, (obviously chicken = animal protein), things like greek yogurt, etc, all contribute to your protein. It doesn't have to be strictly protein to count. For instance, greek yogurt is going to be in both your healthy fats and protein macro. 

For breakfast you could do things like: HB eggs (really eggs of any kind), hummus, nitrate free turkey bacon, green smoothie with protein (like a nut butter or protein powder). 

I am going to try hard to add protein to my diet more too. Good luck!! I hope you've found something that feels it will work for you. 

[Esya]

@mamatalesALL

Thanks for your reply. This post is a bit dated, so I already changed some habits around. I don't use MFP and instead of going for a % I go for a certain amount as was suggested by @Dominique .  I can make it to 60 grams a day now. While advice varies on how much you need, it is somewhere in the middle of the 0.8 to 1.5 grams per kg of body weight that I found in various articles.

I start my day with oatmeal, nuts and different kinds of seeds with almond milk.

For lunch at work I was already settled as we can get tossed salads with meat, fish or a vegetarian option for protein. I am more mindful than before to pick protein options for the other ingredients if they are available (couscous, quinoa, beans etc.).

For lunch at home I eat hummus more often now and it is also when I might have an egg or two.

Dinners were already ok and I didn't really change anything there.

So basically I live a mixed lifestyle with mostly vegan, vegetarian and pescetarian dishes. It works for me.

[mamatalesALL]

@Esya Oh that's great!! I love that you have figured out what works for your body. Thanks for your reply. I loved hearing what you are doing!

[josephz2va]

If you're able to stomach protein shakes, you can either buy some from the grocery store in pre-mixed bottles or a powder keg. My sports nutritionist gave me GNC AMP Power and GNC AMP Casein kegs. But be sure to combat that with enough water as well.

[Onegative]

I know you said you don't want the powders, but this is what I use:

Vega Plant Based Protein & Greens

It's a plant based protein powder with greens. I use the chocolate flavor in unsweetened almond milk and it's a tasty chocolate treat after a workout or as a snack in the evening. I wanted more protein in my diet without all the nasty stuff typically found in protein powders. Here's some info on the product.

• 27 grams of complete protein from a multisource plant-based blend
• 9 servings of veggies via Vega's signature greens blend: kale, spinach, broccoli and alfalfa
• Only 110 calories, no added sugar
• Non-GMO; vegan, gluten-free and made without dairy, soy and artificial colors, flavors or sweeteners