Hi,
So I'm cranking up the hours on the bike and therefore need to increase my protein intake.
I already eat a wholefood diet (with various protein rich souces) but still not getting enough. I'm trying to avoid using protein powders e.g. whey powder.
Does anyone have any good whole food recipes that can be eaten regularly to maximise protein intake?
Cheers for any help...
What makes you think you aren't getting enough?
Your getting more than enough protein.
You are already probably getting enough protein unless you are following a plant based (vegan) diet like me. 1.5g a day per a kg of body mass will do you for intensive training unless you are trying to be mr muscle man.
I echo the "how do you know you aren't getting enough protein" question, However, eggs, chicken, tuna and nuts are good sources.
Any reason not to use whey powder it's just an easy whey of upping the protein without getting bored of boiled eggs or cottage cheese..I can't face tuna after years of it in pitta.
Ribeye steaks mainly 🙂
Myfitnesspal is a good app for this stuff ....it'll show you a breakdown of what your eating
sausages
So getting my info from myfitnesspal. Been a bit geeky and calculated how much I should each for my body weight and amount of exercise and I appear to be eating about 2/3 of what is ideal for my situation.
Whey powder (totally unscientifically in my head) I see as proceessd and potentially full of chemicals. Am I wrong on this thought?
I suggest an app for your phone called grindr. You can get lots of free protein from that.
As a vegan I use plant protein powders mostly soya which tastes like shit.
The milk based shakes are nice comfort food admittedly but not the best nutritionally - you can make a pan of scrambled egg in about the same time as a protein shake and the quality of protein is far better (with respect to amino acid proportions).
dont regularly use myfitnesspal but after showing it to a friend last week, i logged my saturday morning breakfast.
2xbrown toast, 3 bacon, 3 eggs, black coffee.
^ gave me 89g of protein, so for my weight i needed to find another 20g from the whole rest of the day.
dinner tonight had 250g of turkey mince - apparently 75g protein.
Biltong. By the pound.
Eating food give enough protein. Eggs meat various beans e.t.c you can obcess about getting the right diet but if you eat a balanced diet of food that you prepare yourself then you will get everything you need. That is particulaly so if make colourful and tasty. I would stop worrying about how much of x and y you are getting. If your weight is stable and you feel fueled when you ride your diet is fine.
Eating food is meant to be a joy not some sort of mission in working out the nutrional content of whats on the plate.
Personally i dont touch supplements or weigh what in eat. I do not care how much protein i have eaten today enough is the answer.
I suggest an app for your phone called grindr. You can get lots of free protein from that.
Winner lol
The justification for whey is practicality and cost not that it's 'necessary'. If you have your own chef and the budget to eat prime venison daily then go ahead.
Unless you don't have better things to do than cook six meals a day.
do you even lift?
I needed to avoid whey protein (isolate still had too much lactose for my body) and was recommended pea protein by a nutritionist. This one in fact: http://www.nuzest.co.uk/clean-lean-protein. Not cheap, but seemed to do the job post gym. Bit of a bugger to mix though; you need to add powder to water, not the other way round.
Biltong i lovw that stuff.
Boiled eggs are easy and I love them, even when I used to have 6 for breakfast I never got bored of them.
Tuna and mayo is an easy hit of protein too, easy to eat straight from a bowl, carbs (rice, pasta etc) optional.
Milk is the easiest, you may get an upset stomach if you are intolerant but I could easily polish off a 2 litre bottle each day.
Protein powders are fine and whey in particular has come on leaps and bounds. Some handily have multivitamins in them too which can be a bonus for recovery.
Chicken is fairly cheap and grilling a breast is a decent source of protein, can be time consuming and heavy going if not in the mood for proper food however.
Ditto steak, lamb, pork, bacon, turkey, etc etc...all have their merits but can be s bugger to prepare and if you're not in the mood for eating can put you off food for a while, nobody likes to feel force fed.
Biltong was a good shout, my butcher does his own and sells it by the 100g, half a kilo will last me days and is essentially pure protein and a tasty way to trickle it in during the day.
Don't forget to increase your water intake, there is evidence to suggest that a high protein intake can put undue stress on the kidneys.
dont regularly use myfitnesspal but after showing it to a friend last week, i logged my saturday morning breakfast.
2xbrown toast, 3 bacon, 3 eggs, black coffee.
^ gave me 89g of protein
Those numbers are way off. Eggs are around 7/8g, bacon probably around 3G per slice...maybe the same for bread if you're lucky. So about 42g at best.
As a vegan [s]I use plant protein powders mostly soya which [/s] my diet mostly tastes like shit
FTFY
As others note you will almost certainly be getting enough from your normal diet.
Soobalias- think you need to check again. You are well out. On what you said you had for breaky that's 30-40g max.
It can be hard to naturally take high levels of protein in normal diets. I use whey shakes and they seem to work for me but I understand your thinking about chemicals etc.
I use this, no chemical nasties that I know of, with any glutamine powder:
Ox - what if your diet needs to be above 3000 calories a day?
I'm pretty sure 3000 is my bmr.
do you even lift, bro?
FTFY
I use the myprotein Impact Whey, but yes I do lift, Bro.
Lots of little ways you can help. For snacks, have almonds. For sweet, have greek yoghurt. Eggs for breakfast. Chuck a handful of lentils on your evening meal. Spirulina is one of the most protein dense foods around, so perhaps research how this can be added to meals. The little things add up to a lot and you'll be taking on more protein without noticing it, having to stuff foods with lots of fat in, or taking powders.
Powders can be good, but they aren't for everyone and some (including me) suffer from excess lactose (I use 97% diet whey isolate sweetened w/stevia).
Ox - what if your diet needs to be above 3000 calories a day?
If you sign up, you can set your intake to whatever you need.
The free version is great so far, decent selection of meal suggestions, and you can always tweak the recipes to your taste. I'm not sure I see the point of paying someone £5/month to make a shopping list for me though. If you're planning your food properly, you're likely planning your shopping too.
For those who say "the protein powder [i]I use[/i] isn't a chemically one" have a look at the extraction methods 😆
hilldodger, take a look at the world it'a full of chemicals, even the most natural things are full of chemicals.
hilldodger, take a look at the world it'a full of chemicals, even the most natural things are full of chemicals.
No shit - wooooosh 😆
BTW george foremans the normal goto for easy meat cooking.
I like my whey in porridge/pancakes/mouse...but like the other meatheads I lift.
Reckon STW should do a Nutrition article in the mag biased towards MTBists.
[i] http://www.eatthismuch.com [/i]
suggested a healthy sandwich as: 20g butter, 4 slices of white bread, 85g of American Cheese and 18g of brown sugar!! 😆 😯
I suck felt-tip pens. I'm sure someone told me that was a good source. Red ones of course.
I eat a moderately high protein diet (160g day). Focus on getting lots at breakfast, if I don't eat much protein at breakfast then it's difficult to catch up through other meals and snacking. A few scrambled eggs is my usual. Cheap, delicious, decent amount of protein.
Reckon STW should do a Nutrition article in the mag biased towards MTBists.
They did a series (or two?) by the "guy from Torq" a while back on various aspects of riding nutrition - will be in the mag archive somewhere
I stopped breathing since I realized air is just chemicals.
Personally I'm always skeptical of anyone who says they need more protein and that the best way to get it is from a shake. I know a good number of road racers and it generally seems to be the 3/4s who rely on the highly processed energy products and the E/1/2 who can be seen drinking milk and eating bananas.
A huge amount of the science behind sports products is done purely to sell the sports products that funded the research.
Recommendations for increasing protein from me include Skyr in place of yoghurt, skimmed milk, Quark, nuts, Jerky/Biltong, just eat more meat, fish (mackerel is a favourite), add some nuts and seeds to muesli for breakfast.
This may not add much to the debate, but I took a protein shake every 20 miles during my SDW double double (and loads of High5 4:1) and really my muscles are in good shape.
I could tell when I was in protein deficit during training as my quads would complain if I slept face down at night.
....that the best way to get it is from a shake.
Yes, the "protein supplement industry" is largely based around finding more profitable use for industrial products already in use - soy protein was originally developed as a foaming agent for fire extinguishants, not as wholesome proteiny goodness for malnourished "athletes"
As a vegan I use plant protein powders mostly soya which tastes like shit.
I'd been thinking of adding a bit more protein to my diet and don't really want anything derived from animals. I do eat some soya but I'm not entirely sure it's that good for you eaten every day. I've moved from soya milk to oat milk for my porridge to cut down on the soya consumption.
So if I did want a bit more protein as I've added running to my cycling and am trying to up my all round training what non soya non animal source would people reccomend.
... what non soya non animal source would people reccomend
Unless you really want to eat kg sized portions of leafy green veg you're pretty much stuck with beans, nuts and seeds really....
you're pretty much stuck with beans, nuts and seeds really....
I've used powders based on pea, rice and hemp protein as well as blends like Vega so it doesn't have to be soy based. Although as mentioned many times above - a balanced, varied diet will provide enough. I've supplemented during really heavy training blocks but more for the placebo/psychological effect.
What he said
Lots of chick peas and lentils for me usually in soups, curries and Falafel
Not that worried about soya personally so I eat a lot of Tofu
[i]not as wholesome proteiny goodness for malnourished "athletes" [/i]
😆
What else are STW's athletes going to spend their hard earned on, once the MTB has been blinged to within an inch of being blown away like a feather on the wind, in the slightest breeze.
Lov'n the thread.
Carry on!
you're pretty much stuck with beans, nuts and seeds really....
I live on them as it is now, and have done for 30 years. My diet is probably 98 % vegan but the last 20 years of constant travelling for work have meant I sometimes have dairy products. I just fancied a little more protein without having to eat more generally.The wife says I need to put on weight but I only want useful muscle, don't want to be dragging lard up hill 🙂 I'll have a look at pea protein.
The wife says I need to put on weight but I only want useful muscle
+1
The wife says I need to put on weight but I only want useful muscle
I know I'm getting down to race weight when my mother-in-law starts muttering about how unhealthy I look 🙂
Biltong. By the pound.
+1