Protein Thoughts and Tips For Success
I've always thought of nutrition as being "simple" but not "easy". By that, I mean the concepts themselves are not difficult to understand, but getting desired results relies mostly on consistency, and its not easy to be consistent for long enough periods of time to really reap the benefits. Life gets hectic, food can get boring, parties/social gatherings, vacations, holidays and a list of other things often get in the way.
Nutrition is such an important part of longterm success for an active lifestyle and I've often struggled with how to get clients to comply. The one thing I've come back to time and time again is to focus on protein. This is based on a few observations:
1) Most people struggle to get enough quality proteins in their daily food intake
2) Protein and foods high in fiber are the most satiating foods, meaning they will fill us up faster and prevent us from overeating.
3) Protein is typically harder to find when you're "in a pinch" and need some fuel.
So, today I have a tips that are EASY to implement and will help you make strides with your nutrition, along with a few real-life examples and recipes that I'm currently loving and using each week to maximize quality protein intake and minimize time spent cooking. All of these recipes take less than 15 minutes to prep and then you can throw it in the oven and you’re done.
Tip 1 - Double the amount (or more!)
When cooking, you have to make large amounts of food with the intention of having leftovers for the next few days. My wife and I will fairly easily eat a pound or more of chicken thighs at dinner, so when making this first recipe I use about 3lbs of chicken thighs so that I have plenty in the fridge for lunch or snacks. This is an easy one I’ve been doing about once a week:
Recipe 1 - Baked Chicken Thighs w/ Greek Yogurt, Lemon Juice, Spices Marinade.
Mix and marinate anywhere from 30 min - 24hrs in the fridge
3lbs chicken thighs
1.5 cup greek yogurt
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
garlic, chili, paprika, salt, pepper, tumeric powder (about 1-2tbsp of each)
thinly sliced onions (about 1/2 an onion)
layer in and bake in a bread pan at 450 for 55-60 mintues
We did this over Basmati Rice with seared green beans and cauliflower but it goes well with a ton of different things so choose what you like!
Tip 2 - Aim for “very good most of the time”, not “perfect”.
Elimination diets almost always fail because removing things you love and feeling constantly restricted is not a sustainable way to eat. Plus, its a psychological game of sorting through all sorts of information on the internet and social media about what foods are bad and which ones are good. As a society, we are constantly demonizing certain food groups like fats, carbs, etc. This is really dumb, in my humble opinion.
The goal should be to avoid processed foods and alcohol as much as possible, and stick to foods that support your goals 80%-90% of the time. The other 10-20% is what I call “life balance”. Do what you want, within reason. For most people this is the weekends. I like to use afternoon/evening Sunday to shop and prep food.
To be clear, I don’t currently count macros. If you truly have goals of changing body composition, you’ll get the best results by going all in on a nutrition plan with macro counting and sticking to it. But for a sustainable, healthy, long term approach to eating great food, supporting your training, and building/maintaining lean muscle you should simply strive for being good most of the time.
This second recipe has some fresh veggies, but also a (minimally) processed naan bread and some ground lamb which is tasty but a little fattier. I love meatballs as a way to make a ton of leftovers that are easy to grab for a lunch!
Reciple 2 - Lamb/Pork Meatballs with Greek Yogurt Taziki, fresh veggies and naan
For Metballs, Mix:
1.5 lbs ground lamb + 1.5 lbs ground pork (feel free to sub turkey, chicken, or beef)
1 finely diced onion
salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin to taste
1/4 - 1/2 cup bread crumbs (optional)
2 eggs
Mix well and use an ice cream scoop to make golf ball-ish sized meatballs and arrange on a pan. Bake at 450 for 35 minutes.
For Taziki, mix:
2 cups nonfat greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber, shredded (use a paper towel to strain out moisture)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried or fresh dill
crumbled feta (optional)
Serve with your choice of greens, chopped veggies like cucumber and peppers, and naan or pita bread.
Tip 3 - Aim to get 1/3 of your daily protein by mid morning.
One of the things I consistently run into not just with clients but myself is that I will get extremely busy in the mornings and as a result I won’t eat enough food. I get home from work and start raiding the fridge, and realize that I still need to eat a ton of protein before the day ends. This never works and usually I’m so hungry that my brain is telling me to grab the high calorie, lower quality foods instead of sticking with my routine. This is a surefire way to a) miss your protein goal and b) overeat on processed carbs and fats. To do this, you need to make a big breakfast, or have a plan to bring protein with you in the morning. I love egg bakes for this, because not only are they inexpensive, and easy to make, but I think they’re delicious and they save me a TON of time in the morning and keep me in line with my goals.
Recipe 3 - Veggie + Egg + Egg White Bake
In a pan, sauté 3 veggies of choice over med high heat to get some sear. In this photo, I used onion, chopped broccoli, and zucchini because thats what I had in the fridge that needed to get used. *I also added some turkey sausage in this one
While that cooks, whisk 1 carton of organic valley egg whites with 10-12 eggs.
Pour veggie mixture into baking dish and spread out evenly.
Pour egg mixture over top and shake a little to help settle
Bake in the oven at 375 for ~30 minutes or until eggs are cooked through
Let it cool and then slice into 8 pieces. I usually eat this with a couple of servings of fruit like blueberries, apples, or banana.
There you have it. These are 3 things I do each week that provide me with a ton of great quality protein that is easy to take on the go or grab in a pinch. It also includes a lot of different veggies for micronutrient density, and I think these are all delicious and not boring!
-John