Eating enough protein daily helps with weight loss, since this macronutrient satiates your hunger better than carbs or fats. Plus, protein is the building block of the human body. Your muscles, skin, hair, and connective tissues are mostly made up of protein, but it also plays a huge role in every cell in your body. Our enzymes, hormones, and DNA are also partially made up of protein, so it's important to get enough every day. Depending on your weight and activity level, a woman needs between 40 and 60 grams per day. Check this chart to see exactly how much you need.
Since I'm always hearing that women feel like they have a difficult time getting their daily amount, here are five easy ways to get an added five grams of protein.
- Add 1/2 a cup of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) to your salad for 5.9 grams of protein. If you're not a fan of beans, then sprinkle one ounce of organic shredded cheddar cheese instead to get six grams of protein.
- Crumble 1/8 of a block of tofu and mix it into your pasta sauce for an added 6.4 grams of protein.
To see the other ways to get five grams of protein, read more.
- Spoon out two ounces of cottage cheese and add it to cut-up cantaloupe for 7.8 grams of protein.
- Snack on 1/4 cup edamame (boiled green soybeans) and you'll consume 5.6 grams of protein.
- Just one ounce of tempeh (1/8 of a package) can be added to your stir fry to get 5.5 grams of protein.
- Munch on 20 almonds, which contain 5.1 grams of protein. Or if you prefer, you can spread two tablespoons of almond butter on crackers to get 4.8 grams of protein.
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DNA is not a protein.
1I don't get enough protein. I'm vegetarian and used to rely too much on just soy products. Good post again, Sugar!
2I'm a vegetarian and I eat hardly any soy products, but I just had blood work and a physical done. Doc says I'm healthy and getting everything I need. I start most days with a soft-boiled egg and wind up eating lots of legumes. And now I'm craving chickpeas, Fit!
3You guys should add a VegSugar blog to the Sugar family
4we're doing a vegan challenge at work so this is well timed!
5You can buy protein powder packets(egg white, soy, whey, hemp, etc.) at Whole Foods for around $1 each, and they're actually pretty good when mixed in a fruite smoothie. Each packet is over 20g of protein; I usually only use 1/2 packet per smoothie, that way it's not too many extra calories and the taste isn't that noticeable, but it still ads up to about 10g of protein.
6Good ideas. I don't eat meat often and I'm not always a huge soy fan (it really depends on how it's prepared). I usually get my protein from nuts and legumes, so I liked these suggestions. I haven't had garbanzo beans in a while...I may just have to eat those more often.
7I love traciepwns idea.. a vegSugar would be great.
8Same as Spectra - I don't eat much meat or fish, and lately I can't even stand the smell of them. Great post, I need to look more into this!
9i wonder if i can sneak the tofu past my boyfriend in the pasta sauce. We love edaname though
10Thank you for not forgetting the vegetarians!
P.S. - I'm in full support of a vegsugar... that's an awesome idea, traciepwns!
11Avocado is an amazing source of protein.
12I'm a veggie too! Some of the ways I get protein:
-Milk products are a great source of protein, you just have to get "low fat" versions. We use 2% cheese in all of our recepies instead of whole cheese,
-I get fat free cottage cheese (which is awesome, with friut or whole wheat crackers)
-lowfat yougurt
-nut butter of any kind (peanut, almond, cashew, etc)
-thomas' whole wheat bagels have 19 grams of protein each
-eggs are great. I don't have more than one yolk a day, but whites are essentially harmless & are great sources of protein.
-Beans. I have a receipe for a great veggie chilli with black and kidney beans that has lots of protein.
-Fit, you are right, chickpeas are great & also the main ingredient in hummus.
I never have more than one soy product a day, whether it be tofu, veggie burgers, edamame, etc. Moderation is key, but there are so many things that have lots of protein that aren't meat.
I'm excited to hear other people's responses!
13Useful post. I am a 37 year old male and have been vegetarian for 19 years. All my bloodwork is in the normal range. People forget that in India, people have lived long healthy vegetarian lives for many hundreds of years so it's a myth that we need meat.
On a sidenote, I see all these vegetarian women and I as a vegetarian guy can only find non-vegetarian ones to date. Such a shame.
UH2L
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