Food Protein

In the past several months I have had to switch from a relatively protein-depleted diet to one that is over-the-top high in protein (100 grams/day). At first it was a challenge to accomplish with a vegetarian diet, but it ended up very do-able. I have found a great balance. Since others might benefit from my experience, I figured I would share some tricks with you here.

If you have tricks for adding protein to your diet, please share! Or if you have a favorite protein-rich food item, please share! There's no reason to keep this a vegetarian thread. Please feel free to share whatever protein you love most.

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So my first move when my doc said I needed more protein was to go for Clif Bars. I like them. They're tasty. They're also fairly expensive and have relatively little protein (10 grams). They just weren't a good solution for me. Sure, they worked in a pinch, but it would take way too many of them to get my protein levels where I needed. Oh, and their Builder line (20 grams) tasted disgusting.

I started looking at every single protein bar that I came across. I eventually stumbled on a brand called Pure Protein which makes a high-protein bar containing 30 grams of protein. While they come in a number of different flavors, they honestly don't taste like anything other than protein (still better than Clif Builder bars), they're not organic, and they're processed on shared equipment with fish, but I found it's worth it to have THAT MUCH protein in one sitting. One of these bars is practically a meal in itself.


Now, protein powder... At first I was discouraged because it seemed like every flavored protein powder on the market has a big, bold disclaimer that it is unsafe for pregnant and nursing women. I found one big tub of plain soy protein in the organic section of the supermarket that was acceptable, but the protein content was not impressive and the flavor barely palatable without adding flavoring of my own. It was especially good for baking protein-rich breads and adding to pancake mix, and I could occasionally hide some in chocolate milk. But I didn't feel like I could glug the stuff the way I needed. So I went on a search and found this wacky brand called Body Logix. It's only sold at a few retailers, but they carried it in my local Meijer pharmacy. It's inexpensive compared to many other whey proteins, and the flavor is delicious. It is sweetened with Stevia, so it is diabetic-safe (important for people like me with gestational diabetes). One scoop of this powder has twice the protein as the generic soy powder I was using previously.

So next we started looking into how we could sneak protein into my normal meals, rather than supplementing all the time.

BREAKFAST
Eggs. People told me that eggs would be the best way to cram a lot of protein into my breakfasts. With 7 grams of protein each, they're admittedly pretty good. But... fried eggs get pretty old if you make them for breakfast every day. Poached eggs are bland but quick to make in the microwave. Omelets are incredible but way too time-intensive. Scrambled eggs with omelet fixings save a bit of time but they're still more labor-intensive than I'm willing to invest on a weekday morning. Souffles... well, they're heaven but only something I make for special occasions.

After weeks of eggs, eggs, eggs I realized I could just add protein powder to stuff - and I would get even more protein crammed into my morning than I could with eggs alone. I started adding protein powder and an egg to my pancake mix. That packed a lot of punch and was super quick and easy to make on our griddle. When I used the stevia-sweetened vanilla whey protein I felt like didn't even need to use syrup. Just top with butter and fruit, and that's pure heaven.


Another option is yogurt. Whey protein powder mixes in smoothly with cheap yogurt and thickens it up to the point where it becomes almost like greek yogurt. Mix it in with fruit, yogurt, bran flakes and wheat germ and you have a pretty delicious, densely protein-packed meal.


Wheat germ is not only protein-rich, it has the added benefit of folic acid and B-vitamins - all essential for pregnant women like me.




LUNCH

I found a generic unflavored unsweetened organic soy protein powder and started making my own protein-rich bread (general guidelines for making it in the section on what to do with protein powder below). It worked. With a bread-maker, it wasn't particularly labor-intensive. But it was difficult to make it the right consistency and it didn't keep for very long. After a while my husband stumbled on a mass-produced alternative. Brownberry (Arnold, Orowheat - Bimbo brands) Double Protein bread.

It is delicious, has the consistency of a normal high-end sandwich bread, and has a ridiculous amount of protein in each slice. It also has a lot of fiber, which is a necessity when suddenly changing to a protein-rich diet. I still make my own dough for rolls and other specialty-type things, but it's a definite time-saver to have a pre-sliced sandwich bread for lunch sandwiches. It's generally pretty expensive in the stores, which is a downer for the frugal-minded. But luckily around the corner from me is a discount bakery that carries the entire line of Bimbo-family breads. I can get a loaf of double protein bread for under $1.50. At that point, it's less expensive than making my own bread all the time.

So, once I figured out a sandwich bread, I started looking at the protein content in various soy lunch meats. Previously I just had cheese sandwiches for lunch. They looked like this. The photo is of one I made on generic wheat bread, before I found the protein bread.

Soon I realized that I could add more protein if I were just willing to turn to meat-like soy materials. Generally I dislike the taste of fake meat. But I do like smoked cheeses, so I figured I might as well try some smoked tofurky lunchmeat. A few of their other flavors are not overly meat-like, so they work as well. For every 5 slices, there's 13 grams of protein. But tofurky is pretty pricy, and I'm always looking for a deal.

I eventually stumbled on Yves meatless salami. It's seasoned and quite delicious, though the slices are a bit difficult to pull apart from one another in the package. It's generally cheaper than tofurky products and has quite a bit of protein - 15 grams for every 4 slices.

Lightlife brand roast turkey is also pretty decent and usually inexpensive, but it's a bit to meat-like for my taste. If I pair it with a strong cheese and douse the bread in ranch or italian dressing it's ok. 14 grams protein for 4 slices.


DINNER
So, once I have crammed massive quantities of protein into breakfast, lunch, and snacks I usually don't have to worry about it at dinner time. On those days when I haven't been as diligent, I'll slip in some protein-rich mushroom meatballs, warm some myco-protein quorn, or throw some slices of marinated tofu on the griddle.



In all, I'd say that my protein-heavy vegetarian diet has been a wonderful experience. It's not too difficult once you figure out how to navigate the system, and the health benefits cannot be denied. Now, it's difficult to distinguish what benefits are coming from this new protein-heavy diet, what is from the pre-natal vitamins, and what comes from the pregnancy hormones, but I have enjoyed increased mental acuity, high energy levels, and clear skin. Definitely something I plan to continue long after this baby is born.
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Here are some things I do with my protein powder:
1) mix in with yogurt, fruit, and bran flakes for a healthy, hearty breakfast
2) add to steamed milk and a shot of decaf coffee to make a vanilla latte
3) 1 scoop whey or soy protein to 3 scoops pancake mix for a delicious batch of protein-rich pancakes
4) In place of flour (in a 4-cup flour bread recipe) 1 cup soy protein along with 1/4 cup wheat gluten when making bread from scratch. Use an egg-bread recipe and it's even more protein-rich.
5) mix it with water when I feel queezy and don't want to eat anything but know I should. It's a light and refreshing beverage that gives an incredible amount of energy.

 

I tend to eat almonds, peanuts/peanut butter, and cashews as snacks in between meals, which helps boost overall protein intake, as well as other nutrients.

I'm also a huge fan of hemp seeds.

In places where you'd use wheat germ, consider hemp hearts. Also even hemp protein powder is rich in fibre and omega-3s, including GLA. You can use hemp hearts in lot of things actually. I've used them in cereal, salads, wraps, etc.

Also, this rice protein powder is top notch:

Best Vegan Protein Powders – Buy Plant-Based Supplements | Sunwarrior | | Classic Protein

 

Hemp protein alone is disgusting. I don't like the flavor. I prefer brown rice protein if I'm going to have straight-up protein powder.

That said, it is in Vega, and I LOVE that stuff: MyVega.com | Vegan nutrition for a whole food plant-based diet

Personally, to get more veggie protein, we eat tofu in a variety of ways, for one. Tofu can be run through the food processor or chopped up well and cooked just like eggs, and flavored any which way you want to. Tofu for breakfast is awesome. We eat a lot of edamame too, as snacks. Tempeh makes a great substitute for lunchmeats. Slice it thinly, lightly fry it, and season it anyway you like, or boil it in a little water, pat it dry, cut it up, and use it in this recipe for mock chicken salad:

1 block tempeh, small dice
1/4 cup celery, small dice
1/4 cup apple, small dice
1/4 cup onion, small dice
2 tbsp. mayonnaise
1 tbsp. raisins or craisins
1 tsp. curry powder (or more to taste)

And if you find yourself craving noodles, look for Shirataki noodles. They require a good rinse, but they're very low-carb.

Generally, we avoid the meat substitutes, preferring to cook vegetarian sources of protein like tofu, tempeh, or seitan instead. That way we can control the amount of sodium in them.

 

Also, talking to Zweiblumen reminded me that I tried this yesterday for the first time: Welcome to siggi's, Icelandic style skyr strained non-fat yogurt If you can find it, it is very high in protein, and quite delicious.