It's May, and that means lots of people trying to burn off the last of the
jelly rolls in time for the beach. I'll go out on a limb here, but I'm going
to make the wild guess you've become pretty well acquainted with skinless
chicken breasts by now. Nothing wrong with chicken breasts - it's mostly
protein and very little fat - but having it 2-3 times a day tends to get to
you after a few weeks.
Preserve your sanity and get some variation with a couple of new
high-protein diet foods. You've probably tried at least some of these foods
before, but perhaps it is not immediately obvious that they can indeed fit
your dieting needs quite nicely.
Quorn
This is a peculiar meat-substitute I was introduced to by my vegetarian
wife. It comes in the form of fake burgers, fake chicken nuggets, fake
lasagna, fake chicken tenders, fake turkey roast and fake ground beef.
What's not fake is the fact that it's extremely low in calories (about half
of what you get in cooked skinless chicken breast) and it's almost entirely
made out of protein.
Furthermore, it's got tons of fiber (which dieting
bodybuilders typically get way too little of). With some of the products
it's really hard to tell it's not real meat you're chewing, only you're
getting more protein and less saturated fat. Sounds pretty good huh? Now for
the iffy part - the main ingredient of Quorn is mycoprotein, which is a type
of fungus.
Like Dave Barry would have said, I'm not making this up. However,
once you get over this fact (after all, the plain old mushrooms you had on
your pizzas last winter were part of the fungi family as well and is
actually related to the fungus found in Quorn) you have just increased your
dieting menu considerably.
Ostrich
You may remember the small ads that flashed up and went away in the
bodybuilding mags about ostrich meat sticks and the like. Personally, I
haven't seen much in that regard lately. I guess there just wasn't enough
interest for it to take off -- which is a shame since ostrich meat both
tastes great and packs a serious protein punch.
While beef and chicken
typically provides about 7 grams of protein per ounce, ostrich meat sails in
at a whopping 10 grams per ounce. You can use it pretty much like you'd use
any other fowl, and given the extreme protein content with very little carbs
and fat, you can happily alternate a percentage of your chicken-days with
ostrich... If you can find a store that carries it, that is. Your best bet
is larger health food stores of the Whole Foods or Wild Oats Markets.
The Other Sea Foods
I would guess most bodybuilders take advantage of the dieting-friendly
nature of tuna, but it can get pretty dry and tasteless in a hurry. Salmon
is gaining in popularity in spite of being more expensive, since it not only
tastes better but also provides a good dose of mostly healthy fatty acids
along with the protein.
But wait, there are more options swimming around out
there. Shrimp, shellfish, crab and even squid (yup, I've tried it, and it
actually wasn't half bad!) can make a welcome break from the monotony.
Granted, they may not be quite as impressive as tuna in terms of
protein/calorie ratios, but with less than 1% fat content they are by no
means harmful to your dieting goals. And hey, shrimp is good!
That's just three suggestions. If you're seriously tired of chewing the same
boring food every day, you can also look into soy products (in many cases,
it's almost all protein), expensive but lean and tasty meats such as deer
and elk, and hey, why not try some protein-enriched pasta with pure tomato
sauce and some basil?
It's just too bad Met-Rx discontinued their
high-protein/low-calorie Caffe pizza (24 grams of protein/210 calories per
serving), or life would have been much, much easier around this time of
year.
Learn More About Exotic Meats,
From Merry Christine,
Click Here!
mattdanielsson@hotmail.com
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