High protein foods

Being a Fitness junkie, I have a high protein diet. That is why I drink about 1 whey isolate shake during the day, and 1 casein shake before going to bed. However, I try to get my protein from different sources. 

In this blog post I would like to share some high protein food items I love to eat next to my protein shakes. Below you can find a table with my favorite high protein foods after which I will highlight a couple of them. 

Food product	Protein per 100g	Carbs per 100g	Fats per 100g	Calories per 100g
Almond Nuts	21.1g	6.9g	55.8g	614kcal
Pumpkin Seeds	28.8g	15.2g	45.6g	586kcal
Goji Berries	12.3g	57.7g	0.3g	285kcal
Cottage Cheese	12.2g	4.5g	1.5g	80kcal
Quark	9 g	4.0g	0.3g	55kcal
Peanut Butter  (Calve)	20g	9g	58g	670kcal
Chicken Breast	23.5g	0g	1.7g	109kcal
Beef Fillet Steak	20.9g	0g	7.9g	155kcal
Salmon Fish Fillets	21.6g	0g	14.0g	215kcal
Tilapia Fish	24g	0g	4g	105kcal
Tuna Fish (Tinned)	26.3g	0g	10.7g	202kcal

Almonds are high in protein, fats
and contain vitamin E

1. Almonds

I love to eat almonds. When I eat them, I like to eat them as a snack, or in my quark (deliciously crunchy!) One hand full of almonds is about 25 pieces of almonds, providing about 6 grams of protein. Be careful that you do not eat too many of them, as the almonds are also quite high in fats. Next to a good source of protein, almonds are also high in Vitamine E, which protects your muscle and other tissue and is good for your immune system.

2. Cottage cheese

I love to eat cottage cheese in my salad, or plain and topped by strawberries! This cheese is a curd with a very mild flavor. It is extremely low in fats (only 4%!) compared to other cheeses. Also, this cheese is high in casein protein, releasing protein to your body for a longer period of time (for an explanaition between whey and casein protein, see my earlier post Whey and Casein Protein Powder) 

3. Quark

I LOVE quark. I eat it in the morning, I eat it during the day, and I eat it in the evening! I eat it with fruit, or nuts. But you can also add quark to your shake! Yum! The beautiful thing about quark is that it is rather low in carbs and high in protein, and also low in calories. In the table it looks like quark is not that high in protein, but if you take 1 portion of 250g, the intake of protein is 27g! Also, it is cheap! 

4. Chicken breast

Chicken filet is high in protein, but be carefull
not to buy fillet with added sugar and/or salt

For lunch and diner, I often eat chicken breast filet. I cook the fillet, or bake it in a non-sticky pan. Than I chop the chicken in small pieces for my salad or serve it with stir fried veggies. When you buy chicken, be careful with the type of chicken you buy, as many packages have added salt and/or sugars. Bio chicken is often the best option, while at the same time also to most expensive. 

5. Tilapia fish

I like to eat tilapia fish filet for lunch or diner. My favorite way to eat it, is to spice it with spicy herbs and bake it in the oven with some veggies. For a nice recipe with tilapia, check out recipe, and replace the pangasusfilet by tilapia filet. Tilapia fish has unsaturated fats and is high in Omega 3-fatty acits. This helps with the overall body growht and development, and supports the brain function. It also is associated with reducing heart disease. Sounds good, right? 

I am excited to hear about your favorite sources of protein!

Recipe for Chocolate Protein Pancakes

This is a recipe for the best way to make protein pancakes! I have tried different recipes from the internet with banana, peanut butter, oats and more. After trying and mixing ingredients I choose this recipe as the best! This is, in my opinion, the most clean variant of the pancakes. Of course you can add any type of toppings you like best. I am excited to share the recipe with you and to hear what you think of it. 

Ingredients for 1 portion

• 1 scoop of chocolate flavour protein powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 egg
• 1 table spoon of stevia powder (in case you like it sweet)
• 1/2 cup of almond milk (can also be substituted by water or regular milk)
• 1 cup of strawberries
• 1 spoon of cottage cheese (you can also use quark)
• 1/2 hand of unsalted almonds

Method

1. Heat a small non-sticky pan 
2. Clean and cut the strawberries
3. Mix the 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg, stevia powder and almond milk well in a bowl
4. Put half of the mix in the pan and wait till it is not liquid anymore
5. Flip the pancake to the other side
6. Place the pancake on a plate when done
7. Repeat step 3, 4, and 5. 
8. Top the pancakes with the strawberries, cottage cheese, and almonds
9. Enjoy!

I am excited to hear if you like this recipe! What is your favourite topping?

Whey and Casein Protein powder

What should you know about these two types of Protein?

These are the casein (left) and whey (right) supplements I use

When you are active, aim to build muscle, and stay lean, protein supplements are useful to reach your personal goals. So, what are proteins actually? Proteins are made of amino acids. These acids serve as building blocks of protein. There are different types of protein, like whey, soy, and casein protein. Each of these types consist of different, unique compositions of amino acids, which results in different effects on your body. I like to use both whey protein and casein protein. 

Whey protein

Whey is protein is a natural byproduct when making cheese from milk. About 20% of protein that is found in milk is whey protein. The other 80% is casein, which will be discussed next. Three types of whey protein are concentrate, isolate and hydrolysate. The difference between these types is mainly the type of processing, and fat and lactose content. Whey isolate is the type with the highest content of protein, namely 90% and the lowest content of fat and lactose. 

Casein protein

Next to the supplement use of casein, casein is used a a binder or filler in different food-processes. When you are consuming the protein in a liquid form (as a shake) you will notice that the structure is more than two times as thick as the whey variant. Therefor, it gives you a more full and satisfied feeling after consuming. This thickness also results in a lower rate of digestion of it by the stomach. Casein provides your body with proteins even 7 (!) hours after consumption. The table below shows this process of protein time release of the different types of protein. You can clearly see that casein protein (the blue line) provides protein for a longer duration. 

Figure comparing the release time of different types of protein.

Which to use when

Studies show that both casein and whey are beneficial for building muscle when taken directly after training. But, it showed that because of the slow digestion of casein, this protein might not stimulate the muscle protein as powerful or as quickly as whey variant. Whey provides a direct boost of protein which makes it perfect to consume before, or right after working out. But, because of the slow digestions of the casein protein, the intake of this protein especially could be beneficial before going to sleep. This way your body gets the protein to stimulate muscle growth when the growth hormone is peaking (see my earlier post Why sleep is so important). 

Conclusion

Thus: Take whey protein before or after your workout and casein protein before you go to sleep. 

I just enjoyed my casein shake, cookies and cream taste, before I am up for bed! Yumm! Let me know which type of protein you take and when!

Sources:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/

Recipe for a delicious summer salmon salad

This is a recipe I love to make during warmer days. The salad is full of vitamins, low in carbs, medium in protein because of the added cottage cheese, and relatively high in good fats because of the salmon and avocado. 

Ingredients for about 3-4 portions:

• 300g smoked salmon 
• 4 tomatoes
• 1 cucumber
• 2 bell pepers
• 1/2 bag of pre-washed mixed salad
• 6 green asparagus
• 1 avocado
• 4 spoons of cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons of capers
• 6 dried tomatoes (not in oil)
• 1 small hand of pumpkin seeds
• Small bush of parsley
• 2 bulbs of garlic
• limejuice
• Fresh pepper

Method

1. Wash the asparagus and cut off the white back-end (the tail) of the vegetable. Cook the asparagus shortly for about 3-4 minutes in a pan. Take them out and let them cool down and drie on a cold plate. 
2. Cut the salmon in thin small slices and sprinkle with lemon juice and pepper to your taste. In some stores you can also buy pre-cut salmon, so you don't have to cut yourself anymore.
3. Cut the fresh tomatoes, dried tomatoes, cucumber and bell peppers in the shape you like. Also cut up the parsley and garlic. Peel the avocado, slice in half and take out the seed. Than slice the avocado in four pieces. 
4. Put all ingredients, but the avocado, in a large bowl and mix it up. Serve the avocado pieces on the side. 
5. Enjoy! :)

Let me know how you liked the salad or if you added any extra ingredients of changed something about the method!

First things first; the magic 4: Food

When you want to see real results in your  body, you always need to keep in mind the magic 4! 

1: Food, 2: Training, 3: Rest, and 4:Mental health. I will start telling you more about these magic 4 during my following posts. Lets's start with number one! Food! I love food!

Food is the basis for your energy. When eating right you can have enough energy for the full day and for a hardcore training, without feeling hungry or starving yourself. Like I said, I love food, I love to eat, and so I do! It is important to know what you are eating, what the ingredients and nutritients are. Take a look at the labels on the products, the nutritional values and the ingredients. Try to avoid products with many ingredients, these are often less healthy, and avoid E-numbers where possible. Like many say: Knowledge is power. That also the case with food. 

Macronutrients

The important components in your food to take an extra look at are the macronutients: protein (muscle building), carbs (short term energy), and fat (long term energy and vitality). The composition of the macronutrients should be balanced according to your needs of that day. When building muscle, intake of proteins should be high (I take in many proteins every day). When having a hard workout that day, you want to take in more carbs than on a rest day because you use more energy. 

I get get proteins mostly from shakes, chicken filet, red meat and eggs. When taking in carbs I limit myself to complex carbs; these take longer to digest and will not give me a sugar-dip after consuming. I usually begin my mornings with oatmeal, left to soak overnight with non-fat curd in the fridge. Then before and ofter my weight training I eat sweet potato, brown rice or spelt bread. Fat's I consume by eating nuts (mostly almonds), avocado, and fat fish like salmon. 

Calories

Next to the macronutrients, I keep an eye on the calories I consume. This enables me to make the right proportions of food I eat at each moment of the day. The rule for calories is simple: If you want to loose weight, take in less calories then you use; if you want to gain weight, take in more calories than you use that day. It requires trial and error and see what works for you. 

Eating moments

I eat 6 - 8x a day, so I need to make sure each meal is the right size in order not to over eat. The reason I eat so many times per day is because it keeps my digestion high, so I burn more during the day. Sometimes it is difficult to eat so often because of constraints you face during your daily life. You are ate work, at school, at a client, and people look at you; are you eating, AGAIN? Just try to plan you eating moments right and always have something to eat with your. I prefer to prepare all my food for the week at monday evening and store it in the fridge. I'm always prepared. 

Cheat day

One of my favourites: 1x a week it is cheat day. On this day I can have a 'treat'  for myself. This keeps me motivated to really stick to my diet during the week and than, on Sunday, I can have a nice cheatmeal. I like pizza, apple pie, om my mom's made cookies! I usually try to stick with once cheatmeal, and not a full cheat day, because I still have some work on my body. Love this day!

So.. That were some basics about food and you gained some insight how I deal with you. I hope it helps and please share your thoughts and experiences! There is so much more about food and there definitely will be more posts about this topic! This was it for now, have a healthy day!!