Protein Thoughts

I rarely eat meat more than once a day but I've noticed that others sometimes have it every meal. Certainly everyone is different and trying to accomplish their own objectives with their diets. For myself there are just so many other sources of protein that I have not noticed any issues. I'm not often hungry and almost never use up all my allowable calories. I just wondered what thoughts others might have on the subject.

I will eat meat at lunch sometimes and almost always at dinner, and occasionally at breakfast. I'm not a big meat-eater, but I can't go vegan. I've tried and I'm starving all the time. Eating beans just doesn't do it for me. I also tried Atkins a long time ago, and after two weeks, I was dizzy, nauseous and had terrible headaches. My husband did great on it. I usually have chicken or turkey but I have to have beef about every three weeks, like a roast, beef stew or a steak.

i'm on a high protein diet so i eat meat every meal and then some, but that doesnt mean that meat is the only source of good complete protein. quinoa is a good example of a complete protein that's clearly not meat or you can combine two or more incomplete complementing proteins to get the effect of a complete protein - a complete protein is one that has all amino acids btw. i'm a hunter and fisher and believe that we were given incissors for a reason, but there's plenty of vegeatarians that get a balanced diet in a meat-free diet so it's all personal preference really.

I'm following Zone diet and eat meat a lot. I eat something like pork, beef or chicken for breakfast (usually in omelet), seafood or chicken for lunch (in a salad), and either beef of fish for dinner. I also eat yogurt or cottage cheese for snacks beans as a protein source usually come as a side dish, rather than main ingredient.

I definitely feel better and much less hungry when dieting if I eat protein at every meal. Can't do Adkins though, I tried, it makes me seriously nauseous.

I eat animal protein at almost every meal -- fish, turkey, and egg whites are probably my most frequent choices, followed by dairy and chicken. Tonight I splurged on a rib steak because they were on sale, but it's probably been six weeks since I had beef. All this said, I also eat Boca Burgers, Luna Bars and other soy protein sources, and I get a lot of protein from whole grains. This is all personal preference -- and how different foods make you feel. I find I just feel more satisfied and full longer if I eat fairly high amounts of protein, and, in general, I'm happier with more animal than plant protein. Also - I lose more weight when I eat high protein. But there's no magic formula that works for everyone. You have to balance how you feel, what's works for your health, and what works for your weight loss.

Oh -- one more thing: There's the issue of cost. Because I pay more to have lots of organic produce and natural or organic meats, and I buy a lot of fish, I try to save here and there with meals like egg whites with cottage cheese or Boca Burgers and chicken burgers I can get at Costco at a big discount. So some of my protein choices are based on cost.

I find that a high-protein, high-fiber breakfast helps me feel satisfied and alert the rest of the day, probably because the protein is digested more gradually. For me, a carb-heavy breakfast like bread products or cereal usually makes me sleepy or hungry by 10:00.

I'm a vegetarian so I usually go for eggs, cheese, or beans in some form; if it's just eggs and cheese I add some fruit or veggies for fiber. Once in awhile I treat myself to some veggie sausages.

I don't have a standard lunch or dinner, but I usually get somewhere between 40-80g of protein a day in a 1800-ish calorie diet.

Thanks for all the responses! I suppose I've run the gamut as far as diet is concerned. When I was a child we fished and hunted and put everything to good use. When my kids were small I was of a more vegetarian mindset and used a lot of tofu, beans, vegetables, grains and seeds. Sometimes that worked better than others- at least as far as the kids were concerned. It makes me laugh especially today because "Morningstar Grillers" tacos is still one of my son's favorites. We had a wonderful Easter meal at my mother-in-law's and even before we had left there he requested that we have tacos for dinner tonight. He made a special trip to the grocery store to get the ingredients! (Then he left and went back to his house. LOL!! )

I don't have anything at all against meat even though I seem to prefer other protein sources. I have soybeans on the stove at the moment cooking and cooking and cooking. I also love cheeses, yogurt, grains etc.

My other son was a weightlifter and bodybuilder in college so I remember all the high protein meals and I've never seen anyone drink so much milk...... He's not doing that so much anymore but still lifts quite a bit.

I think my concern in my original post was aimed more at people who seemed to have nothing much other than meat in their diet calendars. It was late and I was tired and maybe was not as clear as I should have been. I was more interested in making sure that others knew there were many options- some of which might not be so obvious.

Thanks again for all the great responses!!!

KSttride: I don't eat much more in calories per day on lower days than you do (I'm much higher on high-burn days of course), but I need to try to get almost twice as much protein as you're taking in, so it's not the case that I could reach my protein needs through the sources you're using; I would be in the hurt bag for sure! My needs are much higher because my diet is centrally built around a low-calorie, high-activity plan. I burn 2,000 calories in cycling some days, and my muscles are aching like crazy, and I need to be sure I'm getting well over 100g protein per day in order to meet my needs. That means that I eat a fair amount of meat with dinner, and it also means that I snack on meat quite a bit (jerky, etc.). Hard-boiled eggs are also great.

etyls: I'm a cyclist too; I frequently spend upwards of 6 hours a day on my bike during the summer. For me beans, whole grains, tofu, tempeh, eggs, dairy... plenty of protein! I'm small so my calorie needs aren't very high. Meat is certainly denser, so I guess it can be a very efficient way to get protein. For me, though, it seems the only time my protein is low is if I'm eating crap--sweets, lots of refined flour, excessive saturated fat, etc. If I eat healthy things at every meal, I get enough protein and fiber almost by accident.

Remember, though, that after a certain minimum your body can convert any source of energy to supplement the proteins and fats it needs. It's just that some of the different metabolic processes are more efficient and they have different side effects.

An aside, are you eating something with both simple and complex carbohydrates right after you finish a ride? A lot of the time fatigue and muscle soreness have more to do with depleted glycogen than your diet's overall breakdown; one should eat something within an hour of finishing a ride for one's body to start repairing muscles. My favorite post-ride snack is whole grain toast with honey and peanut butter: glucose that my body can use right away; complex carbohydrates to get the glycogen back up; and the slower-burning fats and proteins for my body to use while I rest or sleep.

xjm: Wow! I'm working up to longer rides, but right now commuting 30mi. (round trip) to work twice a week pushes my limits a little bit... but that's often because I'm hauling ass because I'm late!!

As far as meat, I'm not committed to any position that makes me question its role in my diet, so I tend to have lean meat with dinner because it's easy, relatively inexpensive when you follow sales, and I think it tastes good. I think that I could probably get around it if I needed to, especially if allowing for eggs and cheese. I guess if I'm being honest I just do it out of habit, ease (only because I know how to cook with it already), and taste preference.

My after-session food usually involves a banana or some other piece of fruit and a bran muffin or something. I usually eat dinner within 1-2 hours of finishing my afternoon ride, and my dinner meals tend to be either copious amounts of quinoa, lean meat, and a very large bunch of broccoli with a touch of butter/salt or lean meat, quinoa, beans, and a veggie with tortillas. More or less, I try to make the plate look like a pie chart where veggies makes up 40%, Quinoa makes up 30%, and a piece of meat (in whatever form) makes up 30%. Sometimes that dinner gets pushed back a little bit, and I can definitely feel it the next day. Toast with peanut butter and honey (or PBB [bananas! An old Elvis Presley favorite]) is a great idea! I'll have to incorporate that into my plan; sounds like a fast, simple solution to getting a little post-workout energy.

When I bonk train, however, I eat immediately after the ride, usually a bagel/muffin/scone, fruit, and a hard-boiled egg or something similar. Thanks for the tip!

Found this interesting article on protein requirements and muscle-building:
http://www.examiner.com/vegan-in-madison/building-muscle-on-a-vegan-diet