Recommended Lean Protein Choices
“The key to weight management is muscle preservation.” Stimulating muscle during strength training sessions causes your calorie burning systems to kick into higher gear up to 24 hours after that workout session. To insure you are recovering from and building new, healthy, calorie burning muscle, make sure you are getting enough protein in with each meal. Each meal including snacks should have complex carbohydrates, protein and a little healthy fat. Protein slows down digestion, making blood sugar levels more even and staving off hunger.
Here are some of the best choices based on leanness and tastiness:
Chicken breast-3.5 oz, 30 grams of protein, go with boneless, skinless for the leanest choice (Look for leaner versions of this, some ground chicken, similar to turkey, is ground up with the skin, making it fattier than you would think. You can find 85% or more fat free in your stores.)
Ground beef - look for 85% to 96% fat free in your store. (Great for burgers, or to brown the meat in a skillet and drain the fat, then mix for taco meat, sloppy joes, or other ground meat favorites.)
Turkey-3 oz, 21 grams of protein If using ground turkey, use ground turkey breast. (Ground turkey has the skin included, look for 99% fat free in the store. Ground turkey is great to use for taco meat, burgers, and meat loaf.)
Tuna—6 oz can, 40 grams of protein (Use the water packed variety, and eat plain, or mixed with low fat/fat free Miracle Whip or mayonaise, pickle relish, or mustard.)
Lean deli meat - find low sodium versions of deli meat in your grocery deli. Unless you have high blood pressure, are taking a diuretic, or do not sweat enough during your workouts, a lean deli meat sandwich a few times per week is a great source of protein with a high fiber (>5 g of fiber) 100% whole wheat bread.
Salmon-3.5 oz, 27 grams of protein
Eggs-1 large, 7 grams of protein
Egg Whites - 3 g of protein. (*remember an egg has 6-7 g of protein, 3 in the white, 3 in the yolk, so to mix an omelette with one whole egg and one egg white is a great way to get some protein in for breakfast.)
Vegetarian Choices
Milk-1 cup, 8 grams of protein, go with skim. If it seems that skim tastes like water, work your way down the percentages of fat in milk, start with 1%, then go with ½% and eventually, go with skim.
Cottage Cheese-1/2 cup, 15 grams of protein, go with nonfat
Almonds, Peanuts, Cashews-1/4 cup, 8 grams; 9 grams; 5 grams; 5 grams (A great snack to add to a yogurt, fruit, or crackers during the day to provide some protein and energy to make it to your next meal.)
Peanut Butter-2 tablespoons, 8 grams of protein
Yogurt-8-12 grams of protein (Also containing healthy bacteria which promotes a healthy digestion system, yogurt is a great AM or PM snack to have with a few almonds or small serving of fruit.)
Spinach-1 cup cooked, 5 grams (Look also for leafy salad spinach to have for lunch or dinner. Either mix an entire spinach salad, or mix it into your Romaine or iceberg lettuce salads for extra nutrients.)
Kidney beans- 1 cup cooked, 13 grams
Garbanzo beans- 1 cup cooked, 12 grams
“Protein Bars” - there are a ton of these on the market, you just have to find one you like, and one that is less than 250 calories, containing >12 g of protein, with less than 5 g of saturated fat. Many of these bars can be mistaken for candy bars they taste so good, but the reason is that they often have the sugar and fat of a regular candy bar. Try Balance, Cliff, Luna, Zone, and others as they offer many different flavors.
“Protein Water” - the two most popular on the market are Special K and Biggest Loser Protein (Designer Whey) protein water providing 5-7 g of protein and 5-6 g of fiber per serving. They taste similar to Crystal Light, with a little more grittiness, and are a quick convenient way to get a small dose of hunger preventing protein and fiber.
Take a minute the next time you are in the grocery store or your own kitchen to see how many grams of protein you may be taking in a day, or with each food you eat. Aim for about 1 g per kilogram of your goal body weight (Your body weight in pounds divided by 2.2 = your weight in kilograms.) Remember protein will (1) help moderate your blood sugar level, so you minimize any insulin rush causing a temporary sweet tooth, (2) cause you to feel full, so you do not want to eat until much later, and (3) is key for muscle maintenance and building. Mother Nature is only trying to take our muscle and bone mass away from us, taking in enough protein is one sure fire way to fight back against this.
