Most of my clients struggle with this target
I like to pride myself on my nutrition advice being super flexible and easy to follow.
But there is one target that a lot of my clients struggle to hit at first 🤔
Protein! 🥩🍗🍣
A quick reminder why protein is important.
Protein is one of the three primary macronutrients (along with fats and carbohydrates), which are nutrients that your body needs in large amounts.
Your body uses protein to build, repair and replace substances like bones, hormones, skin, hair and muscle! 💪
High-protein diets also help with fat loss, as protein has a powerful hunger-suppressing effect 🤐
The average protein target for women on the Reboot Plan is 80-100g and 120-140g for men.
Sounds good, why do people struggle?
Protein is getting a lot more attention nowadays – even Mars and Snickers are getting in on it!
But most people still join Reboot having been used to following a low-protein diet.
Here's a typical day’s diet BEFORE Reboot:
BREAKFAST: Porridge, cereal or toast 🥣🍞
LUNCH: Salad or sandwich 🥗🥪
DINNER: Pasta 🍝
SNACKS: Chocolate and sweets 🍫🍬
That adds up to approximately 50g of protein, which is a long way short of the average target for men (120-140g) and women (80-100g) on the Reboot Plan 😬
So how can you switch from a low to a high protein diet without turning into a chicken? 🐓🐓🐓
Here are my top tips 👇
1. Rethink your breakfast
Breakfast is where most people fall short, as conventional options like cereal, porridge and toast are all high-carb and low in protein 👎
I also get that you probably don't want to be eating or have time to prepare meat or fish as soon as you wake up! 🥱
So, here are my favourite breakfast-friendly, high-protein meals:
Cereal BUT with a protein shake – Mix protein powder with your milk or drink it separately with water and ice.
Eggs (any style) – use liquid egg whites like these to reduce the calorie count.
Protein porridge – You can buy pre-made pots like this or make it yourself by mixing porridge oats and protein powder.
Protein smoothie made with protein powder, ice and frozen fruit.
Toast and protein shake
Yoghurt bowl made with Greek or Skyr yoghurt - make sure it's Greek, not 'Greek-style' yoghurt.
Note: If you're lactose intolerant or vegan, make sure to get a plant-based protein powder.
2. Find new high-protein recipes
Following a high-protein diet doesn't mean all you can eat is bland chicken breast and boring vegetables 🥱
One of my favourite meal planning hacks is to pick a protein source, e.g. chicken, and then Google search 'healthy chicken recipes' 👨💻
Here's one of the 256,000,000 search results Google found for me: https://bit.ly/2Wdz4Ac
And some websites, like Jamie Oliver's here, sort their recipes by the main ingredient.
Most of these recipes will be batch-cook friendly, so you can make extra and have it for a quick-prep, high-protein lunch the next day 🍽
3. Top-up with high-protein snacks
Here are my favourite high-protein snacks:
Protein bars – Grenade and PHD bars are my favourite and have 20g of protein per bar.
Protein shakes - I prefer to make it myself instead of these, which are calorie-dense.
Biltong – an acquired taste, but some of my clients love it.
4. BONUS tips for plant-based dieters ☘️
If you're vegan or vegetarian, I'd strongly recommend finding a plant-based protein powder that you like.
There are also a growing number of meat-alternative products, such as:
Another hack is to search 'vegan' on your supermarket of choice's website, and it will show you their entire plant-based range – ready to add to your online basket 🤓
These tips have really helped my clients bump-up their protein intake, and I hope they work as well for you 👍