S3 2013 Habit 2: Eat Lean, Protein Dense Foods with Each Meal

Week 2’s habit is focused on getting your body what it needs to manufacture enzymes, hormones, and antibodies, replace worn out cells and build new cells. Without it the machine can’t operate at full capacity.

Protein.

The team over at Precision Nutrition has done a great job telling us what protein is and why it is so important to eat. You can’t live without it, really! Read “All About Protein” Here.

There are so many more choices out there than just chicken and fish.

Have you checked out the PPW3 shopping list on our sister site ThePPWKitchen.com yet?

There are Forty-Two different protein sources on that list alone – 42!

How Much Protein?

A good rule of thumb is this: Look at the palm of your hand. If you are a woman, your portion per meal should be about the size of your hand. This will be between 20 and 30 grams. Men, double that portion per meal, or 40-60 grams. The fact is that most of the time you are not going to want to get the food scale out every time you sit down to eat (although that is  great idea for a week or two until you get good at eyeballing portions), and the palm method is easy and portable! 🙂

Here are just a few examples of lean protein sources. The amounts listed will provide approximately 20-30 grams of quality protein, which is what we would consider a women’s portion.  Guys, do a little multiplying and double it.

High quality protein.
3-4 oz of cooked lean meat, poultry, or fish
1 cup of cooked seafood
4-5 egg whites
2-3 large eggs
6 oz. cottage cheese
6 oz. of plain greek yogurt (1 container)
2 oz of part skim cheese
1 scoop of protein powder
1 cup cooked lentils or beans
3-4 oz of tempeh or tofu
1 small veggie burger

Now it can be noted that some of these foods, particularly the dairy, have some carbohydrates as well, which is why we talk about protein dense foods.

Let me give you an example.

We all love peanut butter, but is peanut butter a good source of protein?

Let’s look at peanut butter from a well known store – Trader Joe’s. I actually love Trader Joe’s peanut butter.

Peanuts and Salt. That’s it.

And if I look at the nutrition label (you do, right?) you will see that 2 Tablespoons, or 1 serving, has 8 grams of protein. Not TOO bad you might be thinking.

But the % of protein in Peanut Butter is actually quite low, in this case around 17% of total calories. (Hint – it’s mostly fat)

Make sense?

Here are other “protein sources” that you’ll want to avoid:

Bacon
Lunch Meats
Sausages
Pepperoni
Protein in “fast food” restaurant meals (chinese take out, etc.)

These are low quality proteins, most of which are high in fat, sodium, and sugar, contain nitrates and a lot of other nasty preservatives.

So how do you score your daily point starting in Week 2 (Monday April 22)?

By doing S3 Habit 1 and 2
S3 Habit 1: Eat 4-5 meals each day
S3 Habit 2: Eat lean protein with all those meals

Here’s a handy dandy chart to help you get pointed in the right direction:

Quality Protein Fibrous Carbs Compliments

The possibilities are endless, so get out of the drive through, put on that Chef’s hat and Make It Happen!