I have long known that a solid protein intake is very important for overall health, plays a crucial role in body composition, muscle growth and recovery, and much more. (Even before I read Peter Attia’s Outlive, lol!)
I first tracked my macros back in ~2014 for a few months, which was quite eye-opening and educational. It was a relatively short-lived endeavor for me, although I have done it occasionally other times since then. I will say- I am extremely glad that I took the time to learn about macros and food composition. Everything just makes more sense when you really understand food + the macronutrients that make it up (grams of fats, proteins, and carbs), your body’s needs, calories, etc. That knowledge has paid dividends for me over the years.
However, this post is not about macro tracking! Or dieting. (I’m not dieting!) Don’t worry. 😉
I know that I should be eating at least ~110 grams of protein per day (based on my ~135 lb body, and general goal to eat a minimum of 0.8 gm/lb), but I have been paying very little attention to my protein intake lately. Meaning, not only have I not been tracking it, but I also haven’t even half-heartedly been trying to consume sufficient protein. I basically knowingly just eat too little protein.
I go in spurts where I just sort of tune out/ “don’t care”. And that’s fine. I mean, it’s not the end of the world.
But I do know that historically, I feel better, look better, train better in the gym, all of that when I consume sufficient protein. So…. I’m making an effort to get back on the protein train. I also truly do buy in to the numerous studies that indicate that higher protein intake is linked to lower levels of frailty, higher muscle mass, increased longevity, and just overall combats aging.
So, I got groceries yesterday and stocked up on some of my tried-and-true protein sources!! Also got a bunch of my favorite supplemental items (fruits, veggies, carbs, etc.) that I like to pair up with my proteins.
I am NOT tracking my macros. I’m simply making an effort to pull protein back to the forefront when I’m choosing my meals.
*Disclaimer: I will admit I’m slightly hesitant to share specifics about my grocery haul, because, well, the world can be a strange place. People like to argue over all sorts of things. We do not buy much organic food. We aren’t “fancy” shoppers who only buy the cleanest, greenest, earthiest, most sustainable brands at Whole Foods. We buy a lot of your basic, probably overprocessed American brands and regular old basic eggs, meat, chicken, etc. I apologize in advance if this offends anyone. Not saying I’m right or wrong here- this is just what we currently do and I don’t have a lot of bandwidth right now to worry about it at the moment.
Current protein haul:
Eggs and egg whites:
I prefer regular eggs, but 1 egg= 5 g of fat. So that can add up rather quickly. So, while I have NOTHING against eating regular eggs, I like to keep egg whites on hand to mix with 1-2 regular eggs sometimes. It’s an easy way to up my protein intake without the extra calories/ fat from a regular egg. And it increases the volume! (1 egg white= 5 g protein and nothing else.)
I’ll often do like 2 regular eggs + 2 egg whites scrambled (= 20 grams of protein total) topped with salsa or mixed with veggies.
Tuna:
I will eat this just plain, in a salad with apples + parmesan cheese, mixed with a hard boiled egg, doused in salsa… really any way. SUPER great protein source and low fat/ carbs.
Meat:
Pretty self explanatory. From the top, clockwise….
- cooked/ diced chicken breast. Love these for when I’m pressed for time. I literally can just microwave a handful from frozen and it’s pretty good! I sometimes just heat some of these + a cheese stick and some fruit or celery for a quick lunch. Or toss on a salad. I also weirdly like to eat solo and dip them in ketchup….yum.
- shrimp
- chicken breast
- seasoned turkey burger patties. These are another great option if I need a solo dinner option…. can also cook from frozen. I eat them plain with a slice of cheese on top (usually don’t eat as a real burger), and I also like to chop and top a salad with these!
- ground beef. (1/2 package shown as I froze the other half… using that for dinner tonight.)
- 99% lean ground turkey. I actually like the 93/7 better but grabbed the extra lean this time. I love this sauteed and then simmered in some spaghetti sauce… serve over chopped cooked zucchini and top with parmesan cheese.
- deli meat. Very basic. I like to add some ham or turkey to my eggs sometimes, eat on sandwich thins with lettuce and avocado, or sometimes I’ll make a snack plate with some deli meat, cubed cheese, some almonds and a few Triscuits.
Beans:
TBH these would be more of a carb source, since you’d need an entire cup of pinto beans (44 grams carbs and 240 calories) to even get 12 grams of protein. (12 grams is not terrible, but it’s not that great, considering the protein to carb ratio is kinda bad. In comparison, 2 large eggs= 10 grams protein and 0 carbs/10 fat/~150 calories.) But, I like beans, and they are a nice supplement and are a good way to get a little extra protein topper.
Cheese/ Snack meat:
I love these Reduced Fat Sharp Cheddar sticks. I have no qualms about eating full fat cheese- and I do, often- but I honestly love the taste of these reduced fat cheese sticks. I don’t love regular mozzarella string cheese, so these are a good option for me. 60 calories and 5 g of protein in one. Not a ton alone, but nice to pair up with other protein sources. Or, I can eat two. 🙂
The turkey sausage bites I blame Asher for… he loves these things and always packs for his swim meets. They are really good! 8 pieces = almost 10 g protein for only ~110 calories and 6 g fat. Pair very nicely with a cheese stick, hard boiled egg, almonds, etc for a pretty healthy snack.
Protein shakes:
Haven’t been having protein shakes lately but will probably reincorporate some now. I tend to use Unsweet Cashew Milk (Silk) and blend with protein powder.
Currently have these on hand- a brand I tried back in the day and thought was pretty good. 1 scoop= 24 g protein. These are Cookies and Cream and Chocolate Mint. They are solidly just okay. But since I paid for them, I will drink them. Lol. Next time I just want plain chocolate or vanilla though…. (These were on sale… :/)
Sometimes I’ll just mix the protein in a shaker with water, but I like it much better mixed with cashew milk or even just regular milk. Another great post-workout or late afternoon snack idea.
Yogurt….
You might be asking, Why is the yogurt next to Cool Whip? There can’t be much protein in Cool Whip….. No, no there’s not. Haha.
But here’s the thing. I do not like actually like yogurt. HOWEVER, this particular yogurt is one I’ve tolerated in the past if I add a scoop or two of Cool Whip in and then top with berries, nut pieces, oats, etc.
I just really want to love yogurt!! So I’m giving it another try. It’s such a great protein source that is not more meat, chicken, etc. and is a nice bedtime snack or “dessert” option. I haven’t bought it in a long time, but am going to see what I think this time around. 🤷♀️
Almonds
Again, nuts are more of a fat source. In 24 almonds there is only 6g of protein (= 1 egg). BUT, there’s a whopping 14 g of fat (quite high!) and 160 calories. So nuts are very calorie dense and not much “protein bang for your buck”. They are a nice little supplement though along with other sources. And, they’re tasty! Just don’t think you can get all your protein from nuts. In order to get enough protein from nuts or nut butters alone you’d be eating a tonnnnnn of calories, which may not be ideal.
Other stuff!
One cannot live on protein alone, obviously, so here’s some other items I tend to buy when I’m focusing on eating healthier/ more protein:
Fruit
Carbs… and celery 😅
Ok not entirely sure why I set the celery among the bread items. Maybe because I like PB + celery together?
Anyway, I love plain salted rice cakes (but only if they are topped with something yummy!! They literally taste like cardboard otherwise. Hahaha!). Favorite toppings= Nutella, PBJ, or pepper jack laughing cow cheese with jalapeno slices!
Multigrain sandwich thins are a nice lunch option with deli meat, lettuce, cheese. Or I sometimes do an egg sandwich on these.
English muffins…pretty standard. Sometimes just alone topped with butter or PB + side of eggs, or I make an egg sandwich. I also like to make “open faced sandwiches” on these out of hard boiled eggs! Toast the muffins, chop 2 hardboiled eggs, salt/pepper, then sprinkle shredded cheese and microwave briefly to melt the cheese. I love to top with avocado and/or jalapenos!
Veggies:
Mini bell peppers are a nice snack with cheese stick, some almonds, hard boiled eggs, etc. Also like to chop and add in with meat like a quick little stirfry.
Broccoli slaw I love to eat raw mixed in with tuna and topped with salsa! I also like to toss broccoli slaw in with my eggs to get some veggies in. Or sprinkle on my sandwich. I also like to make a little “snack salad” out of chopped hard boiled eggs + broccoli slaw, salt and pepper and some shredded cheese. Anyone picking up on that I eat a lot of cheese??? 😁 They don’t call us Wisconsinites “Cheeseheads” for nothing.
Spinach and Romaine…. for salads, or mix spinach in with my eggs.
Zucchini= one of my fav veggies. Eat plain cooked, scrambled with eggs, with chicken, with pasta sauce over it…I like it any which way.
Not shown: Other veggies we already had, like tomatoes, tomatillos, onion, jalapeno… all staples in our house (the base of all Mexican meals….), some carrots, potatoes. Oh! And I bought a couple sweet potatoes- forgot to photograph. Love a sweet potato with chicken for lunch.
So there you go! Most of my go-to protein sources from the past ~10 years or so.
OF NOTE, I do not always eat like this. This is more my “ideal state” diet. Hehehe. My diet can fluctuate a lot, often to the “crappier” side of the pendulum. So please do not be all impressed and think that I eat all this protein all the time. Work In Progress over here, just like everyone else.
Also of note, like I said, I’m not dieting or even tracking my food. I might loosely track my protein intake, but will more likely just sort of eyeball it and make an effort to eat protein at every meal + a couple protein snacks!
What are your favorite protein sources?? Always looking for ideas! (*Just don’t say cottage cheese. 🤢🤢 I can’t. Those little bumps…. blech. Reminds me of curdled milk!!!)
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful for it staying light out later and later every day… Noticed this the other day! Inching toward spring…
GRATEFUL KAE 
Love this post!!!! I would love, love, love to get 100g of protein every day (although probably my target is a little higher than that), but it is SO HARD. I think that’s because I hate eggs and protein powder LOL. (I do love cottage cheese – sorry!!!!!) Beans and nuts, YES. But, as you point out, they are not as high-yield in terms of protein vs fat/carbs. Sigh.
You probably have tried some of the thicker yogurts already — Fage and Siggi’s come to mind. The texture of yogurt makes such a huge difference in my enjoyment of it. I like a nice, thick yogurt… and if it’s only available “plain,” I add a couple tablespoons of granola or a teaspoon of honey to dress it up.
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I have actually not tried very many yogurts. I am just so leery in general of them. I feel like extra thick might actually gross me out more? Like the texture of it like that might not work for me. On the plus side, I made one of my “yogurt bowls” post workout yesterday and it was good! I didn’t mind it. I topped with plain oats, berries and a dollop of Cool Whip 😉
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I do not like cottage cheese either!
I love eggs; one of my favorite new things is topping a hard-boiled egg with tuna filling (I LOVE tuna) and then dipping that into crispy roasted quinoa. SO GOOD.
Pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein. So are walnuts (and they also help manage hunger cravings). Just today I made a smoothie with a big handful of walnuts blended up as part of the smoothie (along with Greek yogurt, protein powder, flax and chia seeds + banana + oat milk) and it was SOO good and tons of protein. I put flax and chia seeds on just about everything – lol.
Walnuts are great to make into date balls, too! Easy and delicious.
Putting a big glob of hummus on a piece of deli meat and rolling it up is a trick I learned from a Tim Ferris book.
Keto mug cakes are a quick easy protein kick – peanut butter, egg, butter, and coconut flour + a bit of sweetener if you like, and 1/2 t baking powder. If I make them, I usually top them with a dollop of PB and, you guessed it, chia seeds and flax!
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Oh, I forgot about pumpkin seeds! I love those too and they totally scratch the itch for me of something salty (that’s not like, chips…). I used to buy flax seeds but haven’t gotten those lately either. I used to buy an oatmeal that had flax seeds in it and it was so good! Thanks for these reminders! I also love walnuts! I think I’m out right now- I buy them for Christmas cookies but haven’t replenished. Those would be great on my new yogurt bowls too!
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BabyBel is my snack cheese of choice. The light blue ones. I like cashes a lot and natural peanut butter. I worry less about fat if it is unsaturated. I am really sensitive to salt (meaning I puff up like a balloon when I eat it) so I try to minimize deli meats though turkey is a favorite with veggies and cheese for a quick lunch. I like Wallaby Greek Yogurt and often have it for breakfast with pecans. I prefer to keep my protein vehicle super low in carbs and high in fiber like the celery but again this is aspirational. I do not actually eat like this all the time.
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I actually haven’t tried those BabyBel cheeses!! I should try. I agree with you that fat itself isn’t a big concern especially when coming from healthy sources. I just have to watch it because I can REALLY easily way overeat on things like cashews, almonds, etc. They’re so good and they go down too easily!! haha. I’ve also not tried Wallaby Greek yogurt. I’ll keep an eye out for that, now that I’m tiptoeing back into yogurt-land over here…. 😉
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Great to see and I think I’ll try your ground turkey, spaghetti sauce and zucchini combo-that sounds yummy!! I cannot with canned tuna or chicken. I wish I could but nope, just the smell. I love Greek yogurt with frozen berries I warm up and add some protein granola on top. Agree on eggs + egg beaters, it can end up being a big meal. I’ve been doing chicken with a quinoa/rice mixture (90 second microwave version from target) + Kalmata olives and Greek dressing for lunch. I also LOVE salmon with anything. Could eat that all week (but not canned!). Sometimes we’ll do pork loin for dinner which is easy and tasty too.
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Ooh, I always forget that olives can be added to regular meals! I LOVE olives but tend to only really buy them for holidays or parties to set out in a little bowl. I should totally add them to some “regular meals” to spruce things up a bit!
How do you prepare your salmon? And do you make a big bunch as a sort of meal prep and then eat it for several days, or just make it frequently for family dinners? I actually also eyed a big turkey tenderloin and thought I should grab one of those sometime soon and make it for myself just for lunches, etc all week!
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I love the Mowi brand they sell at Target. I’d buy the 6 serving pack, have half for dinner with fam and use the other three for lunches. I simply bake it at 400 for 15 min with salt and pepper. With the higher fat in salmon, to me it doesn’t need much else on it. I’ll use it in places I’d use chicken but so much more flavorful.
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Fun post! Try Fage or Chobani plain yogurt in your smoothies with protein powder, milk choice, maybe a little pb to mask the yogurt. Its such a big bang of protein, if you can mask the taste!
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Yes, I really need to try adding yogurt to smoothies! My son does this but because I’m historically nervous about yogurts, I tend to avoid it. But I seem to do okay with yogurt when mixed with other flavors, so I think it would be fine! And yes, a great source of protein!
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I’m always interested if we’re talking about food, and I loved this post…BUT can I tell you that trying to focus on protein doesn’t work for me? It makes me feel like I “have to” eat foods that I don’t want or food that I’m not hungry for. To be fair, I don’t think I’ve ever really eaten high protein because I can’t tolerate it, but at the times when I’ve tried I haven’t gotten a benefit. I don’t feel any better, I don’t work out any stronger, and in fact overall I just don’t feel great.
For my own sanity I’ve gone back to the only style of eating that’s ever worked for me, which is eating what I feel like eating in the moment and trying not to eat too much. I know this is against the trend that everyone else is doing and what a lot of recent sports nutrition is saying…but also I feel so much better physically than when I was trying to get All The Protein. So that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!
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I hear you! And it’s okay! I have felt what you’re describing but only when I really push the protein up to like the 135-140 g range. I seem to do okay and feel good in the ~100-110 g range. But above that I can start to just feel too full and yucky. I think this happens also in part when I have tracked macros in the past and ended up eating too many “high volume” foods. I can think of a time where it was like 8 pm and technically I still needed another 30 g of protein or something, but I was completely full/satisfied already. I just really didn’t want to eat anything else that day, but my app was telling me I should. At that point I realized I was not a huge fan of tracking macros long term and eating things just for the sake of eating things… It can feel unnatural. For me, I think it works best when I just choose things with protein instead of things not with protein, without super strict structure around it. I mean, I’m going to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner and probably a snack in there anyway. So I might as well go with protein heavier choices instead of just a bunch of carbs that don’t do much for me. (Although, I’ll admit sometimes I just feel like eating PB toast for breakfast or something, which obviously doesn’t have 30 g of protein in it…. which is fine to do sometimes, too!)
In terms of body composition, I do think protein makes a big difference long term. (Maybe you didn’t give it long enough?) For me anyway, if I eat too little protein I start to feel “skinnier” sometimes, but then I realize I actually just look sort of more “skinny fat”, like a smaller but flabbier version of myself. Probably due to some muscle loss.
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this is very timely for me because my husband is reading Outlive right now and I just had a long discussion with friends about the benefits of protein and trying to get more… it’s tough!! Also included in that book, I guess (?? I haven’t read it) is a discussion of blood sugar, right? So that also has been a discussion point – ways to keep blood sugar more stable. Honestly I don’t know why nor do I care lol…. I’m not going to read that book but it makes logical sense to me to avoid spikes, I guess. There are some interesting instagram accounts that cover this too, for those (like me) who can’t make it through a nonfiction book. @glucosegoddess is one, and she writes about doing a few somewhat easy things to manage spikes, one of which was eating a savory breakfast. ANYWAY, all this to say I make smoothies every morning (frozen mango, banana, greek yogurt and spinach) and honestly I LOVE them, but I’m trying the savory/protein filled breakfasts for a few weeks to see if it….helps?? No clue what I’m trying to change really, just tracking my food for a bit to see what kind of protein/carb/fat/calories are in them. I’ve done this before and it is fascinating! I certainly could stand to lose weight – however, I don’t weigh myself, but I know my clothing size has gone up over the past few years.
Today I got to 99g protein with pretty minimal effort so that was exciting for me 😛 (That did also include a lot of carbs because we had burgers for dinner)
I deeply love cottage cheese so that is a huge winner for me – I made some cottage cheese egg bites with veggies to bring to work for breakfasts because the smoothies benefit to me is that I can transport it to the office easily! I know a lot of people who can’t handle the texture blend it up and that works for them.
Anyway very long winded comment to say that this was fascinating to read and thanks for the discussion and ideas!
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Ooh, super great stuff in this comment too! And yes, I recall him talking some about blood glucose and spikes etc too. (If I remember correctly, that topic also gets covered in depth in the book Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes that I read last year.) Sounds like you have some really good staple options with the smoothies and cottage cheese! I feel like it’s not “that” hard to boost protein up to that 100 g mark. When I tracked macros and needed 135 for a while, that felt like a whole other ballgame. Doesn’t sound like that much difference, but it sure felt like it!
And I highly, highly recommend tracking even just for a while, not that you should do it long term, but you can’t “unlearn” what you learn during that. Like I’ll never see an egg again without knowing there’s 5g of protein in it. I just have a much better general idea of approximately how much fat/protein/carbs are in many staples that I regularly eat. Also, it teaches you about portion sizes. If you’ve never measured out 2 Tbs of peanut butter, for example, what you think it is will probably be pretty different from what it really is! I just have found it to be such a valuable lifelong skill! Makes it much easier to eyeball foods forever after that and make smarter choices.
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I love seeing people’s groceries… am I weird? i feel like we all kind of fall into a routine until we get inspired by others.
I’m really into protein now, per outlive and per my running coach. As my mileage goes up, he’s telling me to focus getting extra protein for muscle repair. I’ve started with this probably a month ago, when i was feeling starving most of the days when I was mainly carb based (whole food carbs even). A month later I feel I am not that hungry all the time anymore, I’m recovering from my hard and long runs faster, and overall feel good energy level wise. My insurance policy is to get 30-35 g of breakfast to start the day, then a protein heavy lunch, and then dinner is more flexible. My protein sources: eggs, egg whites in my oatmeal, protein power (organic protein powder is the one I love), tofu, tempeh, seafood occasionally, chicken sometimes, but mostly plan sourced protein. I am not concerned about carbs from beans because I need carbs too, but otherwise I agree with you that protein/carb ratio is not that great.
I am getting close to 100g of protein per day now, and it’s not too hard I must say if you focus on real food and remember to have some protein in each meal.
good luck and please share your meal ideas. Always curious to see.
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I like the idea of frontloading a lot of protein into breakfast. I have been guilty in the past of craving higher carb breakfast like just some PB toast or something, but then it makes it nearly impossible to get all that protein in later in the day. Definitely smart to aim for a lot in the beginning of the day.
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Great post thanks Kae. I’m allergic to dairy and absolutely cannot stand alternative protein powder so this is a bit tougher for me but I do manage to get 100g+ of protein per day. Like you, I eat a mix of eggs and egg white at breakfast and sometimes add chicken livers (for iron) or Turkey mince for hash. I eat plenty of tuna, white fish and chicken/turkey. Other than that, I try to bump up the protein by adding some beans to my soups/salads or adding quinoa as a grain with high protein or cooking grains in homemade chicken stock. I find those little things do add up over the course of a day and mean I’m not having to eat an enormous chicken breast for dinner.
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Sounds like you have a great system in place! Impressive that you regularly get 100+ grams! I want to but certainly know I have not been reaching that lately. But I’m determined to focus on it again now. It’s really not that hard with a little planning- having the right foods on hand is key. But I just also need to keep it in mind AND not take the easy way out (like not just eating something random that tastes good, like a bowl of Cheerios, for a meal.) haha.
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Protein is so hard. I’m really struggling with it right now. I think I’m just going to have to go back to eating meat, but if I’m 100% honest with you, poultry and pork skeeve me out, so we’re left with beef and fish. *sigh* It’s so expensive, too!
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I agree that it’s hard if you have a lot of restrictions or food aversions. Definitely it’s also harder as a vegetarian or vegan! I know it’s not impossible, but to me it seems like it would be way more challenging. A lot of people listed good ideas in the comments, and I listed over a dozen of protein options! Maybe try just incorporating a few new things to start with, or see if you can come up with meal ‘template’ so you don’t have to think about it too much??
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Ah, protein. About a year ago I learned that post-menopausal women actually need more protein than pregnant women, WHAT??? I really focused on it for a while after that, and now I haven’t been paying as much attention, so your post was good for me to read. I did start drinking a protein shake most days for lunch (mine is a combo of pea and rice protein) and that definitely helps. On days I don’t drink the shake, I try to add the protein powder to oatmeal, or if it’s “waffle Sunday” I put a scoop of it in my waffle batter. Our entire family loves tofu, so I eat a lot of that. Honestly, I don’t worry about other macros, so I get protein from peanut butter, beans, chick peas, Ezekial bread… my son and husband love the fake meat products like Beyond Burgers, but I can’t stand those. Anyway, thanks for the reminder to focus on it again.
As far as the “quality” of your groceries- I went through I phase where I bought everything organic, and it made me crazy. And it’s so expensive! Now I’ll buy organic when I can, but I would say most of our produce is not. And we’re still alive!
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We shop very similarly for you. Phil isn’t convinced of the benefits because you can have an organic field next to a non-organic field where they are spraying pesticides and such. This is just one example of his questioning of the benefits…
I have been trying to eat more protein but it’s hard! I have been adding protein powder to my oatmeal. I don’t love it but it’s a good way to get more protein at breakfast. I also eat hard boiled eggs and i love cottage cheese but Phil hates it so I understand that it is gross to some people!
I am glad at a point where I need to track what I am eating again. My weight has crept up lately. All of the travel doesn’t help as I don’t have the best control over what I eat. I try to eat salmon or some sort of protein when eating out since that is usually a healthy option. I used to stay at a set weight so easily and that has not been the case since having kids/entering my 40s. 😦
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Great post and I loved reading about your protein sources. I also try to incorporate more protein in my diet (although I am not doing too poorly). My favorite sources are probably eggs, soymilk, greek yogurt, and lean poultry.
Do you plan out your protein intake daily or do you just try to incorporate more and hope that it shakes out? I have days during the week where I am easily over my goal and others where I fall short. Normal, i guess 😉
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Currently just trying to mentally aim for more protein in each meal and higher protein snacks! But I have tracked it more meticulously in the past. Not really interested in detailed tracking at the moment though.
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I am always on the hunt for interesting protein sources so thank you for this! Something that has helped me immensely is protein powder in my coffee. I always used those artificial French Vanilla type creamers but now, I just dump a scoop of protein powder in, use a froth-er to blend and voila – 30-ish grams of protein in my delicious coffee. I flip back and forth between chocolate and vanilla so never get bored of it.
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