Q:
hey there AS!
I have been loving so much of the inclusive and accessible strength training content being published here and have been following along as I embark on my own lifting journey, which in many ways has been great for my mental health and has made me better understand the concept of food as fuel after many years of seeing food as something to fear. I’ve been in and out of various therapy and treatment programs for disordered eating habits and have been pretty stable in my recovery for a while now. I mostly practice an approach to eating best described as intuitive eating, but I don’t follow any nutritionists or anything because even some of the best ones can sometimes say things that end up triggering me.
I KNOW I’m not eating enough protein, especially considering the lifting I’m doing and how I want to lift heavier and heavier. But I do not want to track my protein intake explicitly because I don’t want to do any tracking of my food intake. It’s just too slippery of a slope. I’m doing protein bars from time to time but honestly haven’t found one I’m crazy about (yes, I’ve read the ranking y’all did!). Plus, they’re kind of expensive and also seem to really boast their macros front and center on all the packaging, which I realize might be helpful for some people but isn’t so much for me.
Any tips and tricks for how to incorporate more protein naturally into my meals without tracking and without pre-packaged snacks grately appreciated!
A:
Hi! I’m so glad you’re enjoying our strength training content! Stef Rubino is doing a great job and also is my personal strength coach, so I’ve learned so much from them.
A lot of what you’ve written resonates with me. While I do sometimes supplement my protein intake with bars and other pre-packaged foods, my preference is to just get a lot of protein in every meal I make, without having to think about it too hard because I’d also rather not track/think about macros for similar reasons. Here are some of the things I’ve been able to incorporate in a lot of the food I make that ups the protein:
- Greek Yogurt – This is by far my favorite way to protein boost any meal. You don’t mention any dietary restrictions, so I’m going to assume dairy, meat, etc. are all fair game here. I love making savory dips with greek yogurt or having it with berries and honey in the morning. For things like chicken salad, tuna salad, potato salad, egg salad, etc., I’ll usually use a combination of both greek yogurt and mayo. So it’s not a substitute for mayo (I love mayo!) but just a way to supplement with a bit more protein. People also like to use cottage cheese in this way, but I personally prefer greek yogurt. Cottage cheese sometimes reminds me too much of early aughts diet culture.
- Feta / Paneer / Ricotta – I like to add protein-rich cheeses to salads or sandwiches, including feta and ricotta. Paneer also has more protein than you’d expect! My homemade saag paneer (with, you guessed it, greek yogurt mixed in with the cream) packs a ton of protein without sacrificing flavor.
- Rotisserie Chicken – Chicken in general is such an easy way to get protein, but when you don’t have time to prep and cook it yourself, picking up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store is efficient and cost-effective. I like to make a greek yogurt-based sauce for the chicken with grated garlic, lemon juice, and some herbs.
- Ultra-Filtered Milk – I don’t know why it took me so long to buy into the ultra-filtered milk thing, but damn this milk has literally double the protein and tastes just the same as any grocery store milk but is, I swear, creamier? So great for lattes, cold foam, etc. Fairlife is the main brand, but a cheaper alternative is the 2% ultra-filtered milk they sell at Aldi.
- Tinned Fish – Who knew my tinned fish obsession was compatible with my protein goals?! Smoked oysters, tuna, basically everything made by Fishwife?! It’s all pretty good on the protein front and easy to add to salads and sandwiches. As a side note, I recently learned how much protein is in a dozen raw oysters and WOW what an incredibly chic way to get your protein!!!!
- Frozen Soybeans – I always have these in the freezer because they’re super easy to add to quick soups.
Obviously, there are tons of other ways to get protein, including fish, meat, and legumes, but the above are some of the easy staples I keep around that can be added to so many things. Protein snacks have obviously become a big business, and that’s fine! But I promise you don’t have to be buying every protein fad to feed your growing muscles. Just adding a few things that’ll up the protein you’re eating can go a long way, and you’ll likely be able to feel the difference in the gym.
While I write this from the personal perspective of having dealt with disordered eating tendencies of my own, I of course encourage you to seek professional mental or physical health help if you do find yourself slipping backwards in your recovery journey. And I encourage anyone reading this who has their own tips to offer to throw them in the comments, because this is all just what personally works for me, but there are so many other ways to incorporate protein outside of buying pre-packaged products.
You can chime in with your advice in the comments and submit your own questions any time.
I swear I could have written this letter! Thanks for the helpful tips, and the always-compassionate tone <3
<3 <3 <3 i feel like it's a question that many could and should ask!
I’m in a very similar position as the letter writer (or at least I was at the beginning of my fitness journey around this time last year!). In addition to not wanting to trigger a dormant ED or create a new one, I’m a vegetarian, and so it’s always been really hard to get my protein. I also do not want to count my macros. I don’t want to log my meals and I don’t want to count calories etc etc. However, it’s pretty important I hit my protein goals if I want to get what I want to get done at the gym – lift heavy weights! What I’ve basically done is identified the “safe” high-protein foods for me and got a general sense of the protein I can get from them. I meal prep sometimes on Sundays, and that’s a really great way to make sure every day I get my protein in without having to think about it every single time I put a meal together (potentially three times a day). But when I don’t prep, well even if I do, I just have good protein sources in the house that feel safe to me and I know, generally, if I eat this chocolate bar, drink that milkshake, and have this protein pasta for dinner… I’m gonna hit my goals without having to think of the numbers behind them… if that makes sense. I’m never writing anything down or logging it into an app as I feel like that’s when it gets super clinical/obsessive for me.
In addition to Kayla’s suggestions, as a much pickier eater than her (jealous!!), I really like:
– protein pasta, pasta is a safe food for me and can eat for lunch in a pasta salad or dinner bowl of pasta, and they make great protein pastas now!
– edamame
– chickpeas
– black beans
– chobani protein yogurt drinks (20g in a small sip bottle!)
– MUSH products
– me and other ARFID folks SWEAR by fair life core power protein milkshakes. 42g and you’d never know you’re consuming a protein product.
Good luck in your journey!
i may add
lentils
tofu
almonds
oatmeal
yes to all! my texture aversion does not let me enjoy tofu, as much as I’ve tried. I found a great protein oats though from Bob’s Red Mill and even started making my own flour from them for baking with protein!
yes to edamame! (basically the same as soybeans). love all these additions. also please tell me a protein pasta you like because i don’t fw banza!
Also, peanut butter (the type that’s made of just peanuts, common in Europe) on anything whole grain, peas and beans (Lima are delicious with sun dried tomato).
I like Barilla! It’s so good! They used to have a homophobic president or CEO or something decades ago but then he got booted and they’ve been donors to LGBTQIA orgs ever since so I stan. Italian and Gay approved.
This detailed answer (with Motti’s vegetarian suggestions) is extremely useful in and of itself but then you casually mention
homemade saag paneer… with greek yogurt mixed in with the cream
and I am undone.
yes! how do you do it?!
it requires blending the greek yogurt with the cream ahead of time so you’re not adding them separately and making sure to add on no heat/low heat so it doesn’t split.
the actual paneer part is easy! here’s a super thorough guide: https://www.bonappetit.com/story/how-to-make-paneer?srsltid=AfmBOoqHnvV58_QDmSes5mn72BpyOkBdcxzU-2ZuIL24paS_KD72NOJY
but i learned from my grandma and the closest to her simple process i’ve found online through the years is this one: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/aarti-sequeira/saag-paneer1-1927603
also it’s a very similar process (just minus a couple steps) to make homemade ricotta. if you make your own ricotta or paneer, def use Fairlife or another ultra-filtered milk for even more protein! making cheese is a super rewarding process imo.
Squeee!
Thank you ❤️
I’m also using intuitive eating to replace disordered habits with food. And I’m vegetarian so protein can be a struggle. I’ve been leaning in to pleasure. You wrote about a couple protein sources that haven’t been a great fit, but what are the ones you really enjoy?
For me, keeping the extra high protein sources I really enjoy on hand helps me eat more protein. That’s cooked tofu so I put in the extra effort to meal prep frozen cubes for soups and roasted slices for sandwiches, snacking, diced in a salad etc. I try to have both meal and snack sources plus, since I have a chronic illness, some no-prep options. For snacks I like Louisville vegan jerky though it’s very salty. My bad day options are cutting up a Morningstar burger over whatever I’m eating, adding Tvp to pasta sauce, TJ’s fake beef bulgogi, or I just discovered Field Roast Grain vegan sausages.
Good luck and congrats on maintaining recovery!
Morning Star burgers are sooooo good! Love eating them as veggie burgers or like you said chopping them up as a “ground beef” substitute.
just want to echo the ultra-filtered milk suggestion, it’s been a game changer for me.
My tips as a vegetarian who also has a milk intolerance:
I mix pea protein powder into my porridge in the morning, and eat my porridge with a spoon of pure crunchy peanut butter (no ingredients apart from peanuts) which I really love and overpowers the taste of the peanut butter, and high-protein soy yoghurt. It’s a habit and then I already start the day with proteins!
For lunch and dinner, I love dals, or chickpeas, and there are so many delicious dal and chickpea recipies to try, e.g. in Indian cuisine, so I’ve cooked through whole Indian cookbooks and love it.
For protein noodles, I like the ones made from black beans best, to me they taste much better than wheat noodles (I get the “Just Taste” brand but I live in Europe, no idea what brands there are where you live).
Otherwise, I add tofu or eggs to most dishes. I got an egg cooker which is a really convenient device, and for when you don’t have time to marinate etc. tofu, there are already flavoured tofus like smoked tofu, or tofu with added dried tomatos or olives or peppercorns etc. which I really like, both raw and fried.
There are also delicious recipies for marinated silken tofu.
And I also love tempeh, and where I live, they also sell already marinated tempeh or tempeh made from black beans.
Finally, what’s been motivating for me to eat proteins is that I find it helps so much with recovering from workouts – I get so much less sore and can work out again sooner.
I don’t measure / count any food either, totally get that this would be triggering for you, I just make a habit of having proteins in every meal.
ah of course I meant the peanut butter overpowers the taste of the protein powder