What I've Learned about Protein

I had an interesting discussion with my husband over dinner last night. He was preparing dinner using some of the leftovers from Saturday, including the gluten free stuffing and roast vegetables. As I said I was hungry, he decided to cook quite a lot of turkey and serve it with extra stuffing – because he felt we needed extra carbohydrates. He was surprised to learn that turkey breasts have no carbohydrates whatsoever, and that the stuffing had more fat than carbs. In fact, in this case the 300 calories from the stuffing were only 37% carbohydrates and almost 55% fat!

This got me to thinking about what I have leaned by doing this food diary. Oddly enough, the hardest part for me has been getting the right balance of nutrients and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to get enough protein in my diet. So I now know that animal products like fish, meat or poultry, are usually the best sources of protein and will have no carbohydrates whatsoever, as carbohydrates usually come from plants. I know that lean dairy products are good sources of protein too but usually come with at least double the carbohydrates. I’ve found that nuts are ridiculously high in fat so need to be used with caution as a protein source. I’ve learned that lentils and beans can be excellent sources of protein and fibre without the fat, but are very bland on their own.  And that fat free, unsweetened soy milk tastes awful!

And I’ve learned that knowing all this is one thing, but applying it to the messy realities of daily life is another!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
2293.77	128.65g	259.35g	75.92g	8.6g	33.12g
	22%	45%	30%	3%
Calories burned through exercise:		257

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:45	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Whole Scrambled egg with 2 egg whites	3 eggs
	Sainsbury's Freefrom oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	Sainsbury's Orange, Mango and Passionfruit juice	200mL
08:30	Black Tea	500mL
10:15	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
10:30	Waitrose half fat Mature Farmhouse Cheddar	40g
	Fresh blueberries	100g
11:30	Twinings Camomile, honey and vanilla tea	250mL
12:45	New Covent Garden Mexican chipotle chicken soup	300g
	Genius brown bread toast	2 slices
	with Flora Light	4g
	and Waitrose Lemon Curd on one slice	15g
	Alpro soya original	200mL
13:15	Essential Waitrose chocolate mousse	100g
14:15	Resistance workout
	Strawberry lemonade Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
16:00	Sponser Chocolate Recovery Shake	30g
	in Skim milk	225mL
20:30	Quick cook Turkey Steak	111g
	Mrs Crimble's Sage & Onion stuffing mix	120g prepared
	Parsnips	12g
	Carrots	24g
	Beets	30g
	all roasted and brushed with olive oil	3mL
	Steamed broccoli	100g
	Bisto Best Chicken Gravy	about 5g
	Rose wine	100mL
22:45	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.