Help with getting more protein!!!!

I know I need more protein in my diet and less carbs but I can't think of new ways to get it in....

I eat eggs, lean meets, low-fat cheeses... but I still can't get enough in...

Any suggestions?

There are a lot of things you can do to add protein . Buying a protein powder (I'd go with a whey protein isolate) to make protein shakes is a good way.  Also protein bars are another good source of protein.  I believe the pure protein brand of bars has about 20g for each bar,  and not completely terrible tasting. 

I would suggest trying to get your protein from the foods you eat rather than messing with protein shakes and bars.  There are plenty of choices for you, aside from eggs, lean beef, chicken, fish, and low-fat cheeses.  There's cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and/or kefir (particularly greek yogurt), beans and legumes (very many varieties!), soy, tofu, nuts and nut butters... also whole grains have a good amount of protein, as does chocolate (unsweetened cocoa).  You may want to give quinoa a try, it is a delicious rice-like (or couscous-like) grain that can be prepared in place of rice and an excellent, complete source of non-animal protein. 

Anyway, as you can see there are plenty of natural protein sources and, in my opinion, the regular person can get a good amount of protein without needing to use processed powders/bars that contain lots of sugar and artificial ingredients... 

Original Post by missjaylene13:

I eat eggs, lean meets, low-fat cheeses... but I still can't get enough in...

Any suggestions?

How about eating more of the things you mention above?

Eggs, meat and fish and dairy products are great sources of protein. I usually recommend eating 3 small meals a day and including either eggs, fish or meat with each and then eating 3 "snacks" a day consisting of a whey protein shake (preferably one without sucrose or fructose. ) If you are doing that you should be getting plenty of protein.

Its good to see you are interested in getting more protein - high quality dietary protein not only increases satiety it actually appears to increase metabolism and burn fat. Calcium - especially in the form of dairy products - also increases weight loss. So keep going with it!

How do you know you need more protein?

I’m getting nowhere NEAR what is supposedly recommended when you look at the total amount in grams.  But I eat protein with every meal and it accounts for about 15% of my total calories which is the low end but still meets the recommended daily values.

I have no idea how I would change my diet and stay within my calorie limits other than to eat nothing BUT protein.  And that’s no good either.

Since what I’m doing is working for me - I’m losing about 1.6 pounds a week on average and I’m very happy with and enjoy my diet – I’ve given up trying to get more protein in.  Maybe when I hit maintenance and am able to have more calories I’ll try to work more in.

Thanks for all input and suggestions.... I will work on getting more and adding it to my meals...

Carrie33- I knew I needed more because the pie chart for diet was mostly carbs and not enough protein

I certainly understand your problem. I've recently started reducing my calorie intake again and am having trouble fitting in enough protein while still keeping the calories between 1200 and 1400. (CC suggested 1200 as my limit, but that seems too low to me.) I'm finding that I have blood sugar issues when my protein levels fall below about 20% on a daily basis, so I'm having to find low calorie ways to squeeze it in.

Original Post by missjaylene13:

Carrie33- I knew I needed more because the pie chart for diet was mostly carbs and not enough protein

Well, you SHOULD get more carbs than protein in your diet. The recommended percentages are between 45-65% carbs, 10-35% protein, and 20-35% fat. As long as you're in that range you don't really need to worry, unless you're trying to build a lot of muscle.

Original Post by cosmographer:

Well, you SHOULD get more carbs than protein in your diet.

Says who? based on what? 

Egg whites and lots of fish have helped me up my protein.  Egg whites are almost completely protein with very little fat, and according to CC there's 16 calories in the raw whites from one egg.  I usually make myself a veggie egg white omelete for breakfast with 3-4 egg whites; it's a great way to start the day!  If you don't like the (lack of) flavor, try doing one egg with 1-2 egg whites... Fewer calories, more protein.

Also, I'm big on fish, especially leaner fish like canned light tuna (lunch) and grilled or poached tilapia.  I occasionally eat salmon, but that's pretty fatty (good fat, though!).

Original Post by cc31:

I would suggest trying to get your protein from the foods you eat rather than messing with protein shakes and bars.  There are plenty of choices for you, aside from eggs, lean beef, chicken, fish, and low-fat cheeses.  There's cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt and/or kefir (particularly greek yogurt), beans and legumes (very many varieties!), soy, tofu, nuts and nut butters... also whole grains have a good amount of protein, as does chocolate (unsweetened cocoa).  You may want to give quinoa a try, it is a delicious rice-like (or couscous-like) grain that can be prepared in place of rice and an excellent, complete source of non-animal protein. 

Anyway, as you can see there are plenty of natural protein sources and, in my opinion, the regular person can get a good amount of protein without needing to use processed powders/bars that contain lots of sugar and artificial ingredients... 

With the quinoa or couscous type of grains you can add some legumes, some chopped parsley, chopped tomato and cucumber, a squeeze of lemon juice and have it as a side dish to your salad and lean meat or fish.

I'm a big fan of international food flavours and middle eastern diets have lots of vegetarian types of dishes that are low in fat and high in flavour and protien. Check out some recipes to see what tickles your fancy. You might find some new combinations that will kick start your menu again. :)

Also if you are exercising as we should be doing here it takes protien to help power the human machine and as mentioned above it helps reduce hunger and for me personally helps keep the blood sugar in check.

Good luck on your journey!

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by cosmographer:

Well, you SHOULD get more carbs than protein in your diet.

Says who? based on what? 

Says the Institute of Medicine. Based on studies. I did say that if you're trying to build muscle you should aim for more protein, but for the average person it is completely normal and healthy to get more carbs than protein in your diet. I wanted the OP to know that it is fine to get more carbs than protein in her diet.

PROTEIN SUGGESTIONS FOR YOU (I am a protein FREAK! ha ha!)

- Salmon, Shrimp, Scallops, Sable Fish, Sardines, Mackerel, Tuna, Escolar, Sea Bass, Eel, Clams, Mussels, Lobster, Halibut, Trout, Scrod, Orange Roughy, Tilipia, Octopus (it's delicious grilled in olive oil & paprika & olives)

- Chicken & Turkey Breast

- Whole Omega 3 Enriched Eggs (make sure they give you some of that good fat!)

- Free Ranged Red Meats & Wild Game: Beef, Bison, Elk, Ostrich, Venison, Goat, Lamb, Emu, Yak, Alligator (ok, I'll stop with the real exotic meats because they are sometimes hard to find)

- Hemp Seeds

- Lima Beans & Pinto Beans & Collard Greens (who would have thought on the last one, right?)

- 4 ounces of Parsley has 35 grams of protein: WOAH! ha ha! Although I'm not sure what's bigger, the protein serving or the ACTUAL amount you'd have to eat!

**The reason for me not listing dairy products is because I do not advocate them, but they do have protein in them as well.

Original Post by cosmographer:

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by cosmographer:

Well, you SHOULD get more carbs than protein in your diet.

Says who? based on what? 

Says the Institute of Medicine. Based on studies. I did say that if you're trying to build muscle you should aim for more protein, but for the average person it is completely normal and healthy to get more carbs than protein in your diet. I wanted the OP to know that it is fine to get more carbs than protein in her diet.

Well, the Journal of the American College of Nutrition  says otherwise. The 0.8g/kg is only valid for sedentary individuals who aren't dieting.

 Dieters need as much protein as strength trainees do, 1.8g/kg, or put another way the RDA is less than half your daily needs while dieting. If you're also exercising and you're only getting about 15% of your calories from protein you're getting somewhere between one-quarter and half of what you need for optimum health.

 You can probably get away with a somewhat lower intake, a lean-mass-based recommendation would be 2.0g/kg lean mass but that's only useful if you actually know your lean mass.

I generally don't like percentage-based recommendations 'cause you wind up either under- or over-consuming protein depending on your activity level - your protein needs are relatively fixed, your EFA needs are too, so you should really be varying carb and non-essential fats to achieve the requisite calorie intake.

 Underconsuming protein is harmful, over-consumption is unneccesary and wasteful but not a health risk - so it's generally better to be a tad on the high side. Which doesn't mean going full-blown Atkins; carb-phobia is counterproductive for anyone looking for fitness results.

• greek yogurt
• cottage cheese
• peanut butter
• nuts
• veggie burgers
• turkey, chicken
• pork, beef
• milk
• protein powder
• protein bars
• eggs, egg whites
• cheese 

I was looking into getting protein shakes to help get my protein intake higher. for the price they charge for them, and the amount of protein in them, you might as well just have a glass of milk. it will give you the protein, has less calories, and is WAY cheaper..

Thanks for the suggestions! I will take the ones that I would eat (I'm a very picky eater and I don't eat fish so...) and pick them up at the store over the weekend.... I bought some chicken breast so I can grill it up over the weekend to have for next week!

Thanks again!

Original Post by melkor:

Original Post by cosmographer:

Original Post by floggingsully:

Original Post by cosmographer:

Well, you SHOULD get more carbs than protein in your diet.

Says who? based on what? 

Says the Institute of Medicine. Based on studies. I did say that if you're trying to build muscle you should aim for more protein, but for the average person it is completely normal and healthy to get more carbs than protein in your diet. I wanted the OP to know that it is fine to get more carbs than protein in her diet.

Well, the Journal of the American College of Nutrition  says otherwise. The 0.8g/kg is only valid for sedentary individuals who aren't dieting.

 Dieters need as much protein as strength trainees do, 1.8g/kg, or put another way the RDA is less than half your daily needs while dieting. If you're also exercising and you're only getting about 15% of your calories from protein you're getting somewhere between one-quarter and half of what you need for optimum health.

 You can probably get away with a somewhat lower intake, a lean-mass-based recommendation would be 2.0g/kg lean mass but that's only useful if you actually know your lean mass.

I generally don't like percentage-based recommendations 'cause you wind up either under- or over-consuming protein depending on your activity level - your protein needs are relatively fixed, your EFA needs are too, so you should really be varying carb and non-essential fats to achieve the requisite calorie intake.

 Underconsuming protein is harmful, over-consumption is unneccesary and wasteful but not a health risk - so it's generally better to be a tad on the high side. Which doesn't mean going full-blown Atkins; carb-phobia is counterproductive for anyone looking for fitness results.

I agree with you, but my original point that it is fine to get a larger percentage of your calories from carbs than from proteins still stands. 

From the second site you linked to: If you eat excessive protein, you’re probably not getting adequate carbohydrate.  Carbs are the muscles' only fuel source during high intensity anaerobic exercise (like weight training).  If your muscles are carbo-depleted because you loaded up so much on protein, you’re not going to be able to train as hard and you won’t be able to build as much muscle. 

The formula used by professionals, i.e. NFL, pro boxers, body scuplters, weight training for competition, etc.  To gain lean mass it is 30% fats, 30% protien and 40% carbs precisely. To lose and/or cut to define it is 30%fats, 30% carbs and 40% protien. These percentages will be effective only when coupled with exercise. For example lifting heavy weight will apply to to 1st set of percentages & lifting light weight and high reps would apply to 2nd set of numbers. But of course, I am sure the numbers would be different for someone who doesn't exercise or is not capable of a rigid diet and exercise.

I'm suprised nobody has mentioned Edamame (aka soybeans).   The Seapoint farms frozen, sea-salted Edamame in the pod makes a good snack instead of chips or popcorn.  

http://www.seapointfarms.com/products.asp?pro d=78&cat=42&hierarchy=0

I split a bag with my husband - a half a bag is just a little over 100 calories.  If you have trouble finding it, try the frozen vegetable section at any super walmart.