How to up ⬆️ your protein sensibly
and feed your gut microbes fibre and colour at the same time. Plus the BEST protein-rich chocolate "milk" shake you've ever had (no chalky powder involved)
12 eggs is not a healthy breakfast.
You don’t need to be a nutritionist to know that (no fibre there for a start! 💩).
However, social media has plenty of dozen-a-day fans.
Equally there are the protein deniers saying monitoring protein isn’t necessary at all.
As usual you’ll find me somewhere in the middle.
This is based on my experience having worked with hundreds of nutritional therapy clients. I see those who come to me on organic cornflakes or porridge with oat milk massively improve their health - from energy and satiety to mood and body composition - with the protein tips I’m sharing in this article.
Of course, aim for colourful bowls of fibrous food with some live foods for your microbiome as often as you can, but also try to get enough protein at each meal - the size of the palm of your hand being an easy guide.
This article is to give you some ideas on bumping up your protein sensibly beyond the 50g a day average (the rough figure out there depending on age, weight, and sex, which public bodies promote) and provide food for your microbiome at the same time.
If any of the following applies to you, increasing protein could be very helpful: eg
🏋️♂️🧘♀️🏃♀️You are exercising frequently - and need help with muscle repair.
😧 Chronically stressed (protein resources are prioritised to make lots of emergency adrenaline and cortisol etc rather than building and repairing your body).
🩸 Have poor blood sugar control - you will know if this is the case if you find that soon after eating white carbs (which turn to sugar quickly in the body) you get ratty, low energy and have cravings. You can slow down the sugar hit by including 20g+ of protein at each meal.
⏱️ Are over 40 - protein can help retain muscle as it declines, and improve balance.
🥕 You are vegan or vegetarian - where it takes a bit more effort.
The first 4 groups on this list I find usually do well on 75-100g a day - as needs are likely greater than the average person (which is none of us btw, we are all individuals with unique needs, so experiment and see what makes you feel your best).
So here are lots of tips for breakfast, lunches and dinners, plus snacks throughout your day.
Breakfast - how to get around 25g protein
🥣 If eating granola, add quark - It’s low fat (so not too rich if eating with all the rich nuts in the granola) and if you have about 100g (the size of a small yogurt pot) you get 8.5g protein. Add that to a small portion of my granola (16g protein) and you are up to almost 25g protein already.
If you can get hold of a quark made of kefir such as Biotiful’s quark, then you’ll get some live bacteria into your gut at the same time.
🥣 Dairy free? Then add unsweetened organic soy yogurt to your granola
Go for organic soy where you can - so not genetically modified (GM) and therefore not showered in pesticides which GM is designed to endure. Check your local health food store wherever you are. This Sojade one is common in Europe and includes some Bifidus Acidophilus (beneficial bacteria for your gut).
A 150g portion would deliver around 7g protein. (So if you have a large portion of my granola (21g protein) and add the soy yogurt you are up to 28g. 💪🏼
🍳 Eggs - you need 2-3 medium eggs - serve with a buttered slice of high-protein bread such as Heart of Nature (5g slice). This also contains lots of seeds to feed good bacteria in your microbiome. Scatter some cress on top - for some fresh greenery fibre and colour for your gut bugs too.
There are many varying estimates for protein content of eggs. I go with the text book bible Widdowson’s calculations of 7g per medium egg
So if you have 2 medium eggs and a slice of Heart of Nature, your breakfast is up to 19g, and 26g if you had 3 eggs.
But eggs aren’t everyone’s cuppa so how about this?
🍴 Beans on a piece of buttered high-protein toast with Worcestershire sauce drizzled on top with grated cheese (Manchego, Comte, Gruyere).
Half a jar of beans (8g protein) + a slice of the Biona protein toast (10g) and a cubic inch piece of cheese (4g+) = 22g, job done.
The Worcestershire sauce and said cheeses are all fermented - so deliver some good microbes to your gut too and the beans are a fibre feast for your microbiome.
BTW you don’t have to buy Heinz which involves navigating all the sugar and sweetener options. I tried Holland and Barrett recently and they tasted home made and have a good ingredients list. Plus you can eat half and put back in the fridge because they come in a jar with a screw lid.
If you’re reading this outside the UK, check supermarkets for protein breads - they are all the rage - even in Spain where I’ve been recently. Check ingredients lists contain only ingredients you would cook in your own kitchen ✅ (otherwise it’s a step into ultra processed food). This one’s from Eroski…
Lunch and dinners - tips to help get up to 20-25g protein per meal
Open sandwiches - the ratio of plants and protein to quick burning carbs are so much better, ie a bigger proportion of your meal is the plants (with fibre for your gut) and protein. Here are ideas for getting 20-25g of protein from an open-sandwich lunch.
Soups and salads - sprinkle with hemp seeds (6g of protein in just two tablespoons - almost double what is in chia or flax and it’s a really great fibre food for your gut bacteria). Serve with one of those high-protein breads I keep mentioning and you’ll quickly get over 20g protein in.
Half a pack of a silken tofu per person from Clearspring gives you around 10g protein. If you scramble this in a pan with a little olive oil or butter and swirl a teaspoon of harissa through and dollop on top of high-protein buttered toast, delicious. Again… you should get your quota going.
Many people talk about adding silken tofu to vegetable soups at the end - to thicken and bump up the protein. Please let us know in the comments below how that works for you.
I tried the tofu trick in my home-made gazpacho today - as tomatoes are in season and it’s a lovely way to give your microbiome lots of colour and fibre. It’s basically a chilled vegetable smoothie - and far more delicious than many of the garden-hedge tasting ones. But adding tofu completely killed the flavour and the texture 😝 for me so I’m definitely not recommending you do that.
Use chickpea flour wherever you usually use regular flour, to bump up your protein and give your microbiome a prebiotic treat. You can dip a fillet of fish in seasoned chickpea flour before you sauté it - though a medium fillet of fish delivers about 30g of protein already, but the chickpea flour is also added food for your microbiome. Plus it adds a nice slightly crunchy texture. As mentioned before, chickpea and lentil pastas are a quick way to get prebiotic gut-friendly protein into you. The pea protein pastas have high protein count too.
So what about fish and meat for protein?
Stretch the meat and fish
I’m eating less meat and fish, but better (animal welfare and organic, wild etc) which have higher omega 3 (anti-inflammatory) fats and have such a better life. This means there’s more emphasis in stretching the said meat or fish further - better for my gut, and purse!
This salmon dish I had in Passion, Ibiza, a health food cafe is boosted with plant proteins from cashew nuts and edamame beans and a massive range of beautiful coloured veg. The dressing btw is tahini - so more fibre for the gut too.
So if you are having meat eg making a curry, stretch it with a can of chickpeas, or even a salad - sprinkle half a can of green lentils on top.
Or say fish - stretch it with beans. There is a wonderful easy tuna dish I do from the book Kitchen Prescription like a cold ceviche but with lots of white beans from a jar with a can of tuna or bonito (less mercury) and oranges. It’s delicious - perfect for hot weather right now. You can get 23g of protein from a small tin of tuna (the 112g ones) plus about 8g protein from half a can of beans.
To state the obvious, when you include a piece of fish or meat your protein needs are hit quickly. often around 30g from a medium serving of fish. A fillet of chicken or a regular slice of beef/lamb/pork and you can quickly be at 50g of protein. But adding beans and pulses stretches the meat making it cheaper and provides lots of fibre for your microbiome.
I hope I’ve given you some ideas here for getting the protein up and your fibre and colour for the microbiome simultaneously.
One last word about snacks - another great opportunity for protein and microbiome work…this is where you can add 10g+ easily plus feed your microbiome at the same time…
SNACK IDEAS
A pack of dried light-salted Java beans eg these by Honest Bean Company - a small pack delivers 10g protein. Great fibre for your gut too.
Edamame beans - I buy them frozen and snack on a defrosted handful with a a swish of soy sauce or Tamari on top. 85g small pot gives you 10g protein.
Cottage cheese. No article on protein would be complete without this social media 1980s revival and if you’re lucky some have some live bacteria for your gut. Serve with some fibrous omega 3 rich pumpkinseeds, and celery sticks to mop it all up.
Remember, quark gives you more protein depending on which brand you buy. Eg the Biotiful one has 12g per 100g while cottage cheeses are often 10g per 100g. Quark also is a lot more tasty than bland cottage cheese, and if you chop and add a garlic clove and some fresh chives and a pinch of sea salt it makes a delicious dip for crunchy vegetables (more fibre for your microbiome).
🍫🍫🍫Make yourself a chocolate soy shake - eg stir together in a glass, or mix in a blender: a teaspoon of polyphenol-rich gut-friendly cacao, 2 tablespoons of those hemp seeds (6g protein) I mentioned, teaspoon of brown sugar so it tastes nice, and 200ml or so of unsweetened organic soy milk . This has almost 8g of protein while oat milk such as this Oatly has 2.2g. 🍫🍫🍫
A 200ml shake with the above ingredients would deliver you 14g protein in one delicious refreshing snack drink. This is a mid afternoon favourite of mine, and great post-exercise to repair muscles and much better tasting than protein shakes, plus no ultra processed food in it. 🏋️♀️
If you take just one thing from this article is that if you’re avoiding animal milks to save the planet (and that’s a controversial claim which will be challenged next week on here in an important exclusive interview, watch this space), pick organic unsweetened soy over oat milk. It’s more nourishing.
Where to calculate protein
There are many apps around, the most famous probably being Myfitnesspal.
I’m not a fan of the free apps because they collect so much data on you and advertise products at you accordingly - no such thing as a free lunch!
I prefer to quickly look at the side of a packet at the protein content and do some quick mental arithmetic accordingly.
Same when I’m flicking through a recipe book.
Just look at a recipe or menu and look for the protein, the total being at least the size and depth of the palm of your hand - whether that be beans, pulses, nuts, seeds, soy or tempeh, dairy, eggs, meat, fish, seafood.
None of us wants to fall into the world of counting grams, points, calories, weighing stuff - life is too short, and food is to be enjoyed (it’s so easy for our eating to become disordered - even me with Zoe - without realising how un-fun food was becoming).
If really curious - I do a quick check in the McCance + Widdowson’s handbook I mentioned, but it’s unlikely you have that so Nutrition Value online is quite helpful (but again, adverts pop up at you all over the place which can be a bit annoying).
Hope this was helpful and btw if you are a paid member remember I’m doing a Zoom meet-up on this subject tonight British time 6pm where you can ask me anything on this subject. If you aren’t yet a paid subscriber, become one today, email by return of this email, and I’ll send you the link.
For the basics on eating for gut health and how this can lead to robust overall health, see my Dummies Guide to Gut Health.
Really helpful (and inspirational!) article. Thanks Jeannette. I’m away atm but would like to have a recording of tonight’s discussion, if you’re doing one 🙂
I agree with Kirsten Shockey: your post and ideas are real ! Practical, economical and most important, so many delicious options. You make optimal nutrition a pleasure.