Information on protein

Some of you have got in touch with us to ask about protein. The nutrition team have provided the following advice:
 
Increasing your protein intake can have several health benefits. Firstly, in menopausal women it can be great for preserving lean muscle mass which can help you maintain function as you age. Secondly, protein is the most satiating macronutrient, so consuming meals which contain more than 30g protein should help with hunger levels throughout the day. Thirdly, there’s this thing called the thermic effect of food (TEF) which, simply put, refers to how much of the energy in the food is used in the digestion of that food. Protein has the highest TEF of any macronutrient, so 100 cals of protein won’t all be “absorbed” in the same way as 100g of fat. Finally (though there are more benefits), protein only has around 4kcal per gram, whereas fat has 9kcal per gram (carbohydrate also has 4, alcohol has 7), but has the same benefits as fat in terms of making you feel full.


Some of the nutrition team’s favourite protein sources are as follows:

  • Tuna: one can contains 25g protein which is roughly a third of your daily needs.
  • Tofu: Tofu is great and not a UPF (it often contains calcium chloride but is not considered a UPF). However, this is probably not the case for ‘marinated’ varieties which may include flavour enhancers, sweeteners etc. You can buy a ’tofu press’ which squeezes the water out so it’s less soggy and makes it more versatile to cook with. I’d recommend getting one if you want to start cooking with tofu a lot. You could try making tofu scramble; here’s Gaby's favourite recipe!
  • Edamame:  you can buy bags of dry roasted edamame and snack on them and throw them into salads. https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/303870116  or https://www.abakusfoods.com/collections/savoury-snacks/products/crunchy-edamame-beans-sea-salt-100g
  • Tinned sardines and mackerel in tomato sauce: These often don’t contain any UPF ingredients (but check individual stores). You can fry these up with peppers and onions and some spices and have on toast with a boiled egg for breakfast or lunch. This is really filling and also helps you get some veg in.
  • Greek yogurt, especially reduced fat Greek yogurt if you’re trying to reduce calorie density. 0% fat Greek yogurt has 20g protein per 100 calories so is a great option. Adding some berries would improve it! You can microwave berries which makes them all juicy and stir it into the yoghurt -  it makes the whole thing taste of fruit.
  • Lean chicken or turkey mince instead of beef or pork are good swaps too.
  • Eggs: There's 14g protein in 2 eggs, and they can work in lots of meals. In the past there was advice about avoiding eggs because they contain cholesterol, but this has been dismissed and guidelines recommend eggs as a good source of protein (the advice is now to reduce saturated fat intake, rather than cholesterol intake to control blood cholesterol levels).

 

You can also get quite a bit of protein from foods you may not think of as 'protein foods', e.g. 200g pasta (11g protein), 40g oats (4g protein), 100ml milk (4g protein).


As a rule of thumb, 10g protein per 100 calories is a good source of protein, so not peanut butter, nuts etc. While these are healthy and packed with other nutrients, they are calorie dense,  so maybe have 30g nuts a day (a small handful) as they’re so high in fat.
 
Protein powders are UPF, so we don't recommend them.