It’s no secret that I really love food, but I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a picky eater when it comes to meat. I’m a 99 percent-of-the-time-pescatarian/one percent-of-the-time-I-guess-I’ll-try-a-piece-of-chicken type of eater. While this type of diet may work for my taste palette, I learned that it doesn’t work so well for my body, and has left me in serious need of some protein. If you’re like me, you know that it’s not always easy to maintain healthy levels of protein while steering clear of meat, but I’ve found some ways to make getting protein easy, healthy and obviously, delicious. (These are still delicious ways to differentiate your protein intake, even for meat-eaters!)
Breakfast
Breakfast is a great time to pack in some protein and start off the day with some energy. Eggs are a great source of protein , and can be eaten in so many ways. My favorite is two eggs sunny side up sprinkled with a little bit of low-fat cheese (try a shredded Monterey Jack for an extra punch of flavor) on a whole wheat or multigrain English muffin and topped with a sliced-up avocado, which gives you four more grams of protein. The best part about this breakfast? It’s filling enough to keep you going until lunch!
Lunch
Between classes, working out and Walgreens runs, lunch can be a hard time to get protein in because it often feels rushed. One way to keep lunch healthy and quick is to throw together a protein-packed salad. This does not mean you have to use grilled chicken or any other kind of meat. Instead, you can utilize vegetables (and some fruit!) that have a high protein content to get the most out of your vegetarian salad. It’s as easy as using a base of spinach, and incorporating a variety of ingredients such as chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, peas or dried apricots. There are of course many other options, but all of them will help add a little bit of protein to your midday meal.
Dinner
Dinner can be tricky for a non meat-eater, because this is a time that chicken is often used in meals. For pescatarians, there is always salmon, shrimp, arctic char or a whole host of other seafood. For vegetarians though, there are not always a lot of options. Very often, the main part of the dish may not contain protein, but it is all about learning how to get it in there in different ways. For example, if you make some whole wheat pasta, add a little bit of garlic, olive oil and crumbled feta cheese. Another way to add protein to dinner is to make some veggies on the side. My two favorites are Brussels sprouts and potatoes.
