FEW GOALS GARNER THE WH STAMP OF APPROVAL MORE THAN FULFILLING YOUR DAILY PROTEIN NEEDS. BUT GETTING THERE CAN REQUIRE SOME INSIDER INTEL. WELCOME MORE PROTEIN INTO YOUR WORLD WITH THESE EXPERT-APPROVED IDEAS, SERVED UP ON A PLATE...
1. Know your amino acids
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and what your body doesn’t use of what you eat is converted into fat or glucose. This means you need to fuel up with protein at every meal, or you won’t have much to work with. Besides helping build muscle, ‘protein plays a huge role in your metabolic balance’, says PT Lauren Kanski, founding coach of the Ladder app.
2. Raise your egg-spectations
Not only are eggs the gold standard when it comes to protein (they serve as the standard for comparison for other protein sources in research), they can help set you up for a better day of eating. Participants who consumed eggs for breakfast felt fuller and more satisfied for longer compared with those who had cereal and orange juice, according to a study*.
3. Then, hard-boil those eggs
Now you know eggs are, ahem, golden. But hard-boiled eggs pack a particularly powerful punch. A hard-boiled egg contains a little bit of almost every nutrient you need, including vitamin A, selenium, folate and choline, and clocks in with about 6g of protein. To make a perfect hard-boiled egg every time, use the WH Test Kitchen foolproof formula:
First, bring a medium saucepan of water up to a boil.
Next, using a slotted spoon, lower your eggs into the boiling water. Simmer for 6 mins for runny eggs or 11 for yolks cooked through.
If you prefer yolks somewhere in between, experiment with 7-, 8- or 9-min eggs to find your ideal level of done-ness.
Chill them in ice water until the shells are cool enough to handle. Peel by running under water from the tap – this separates the membrane from the shell, meaning you won’t pick up any chunks of the whites.
4. Get your bakeoff hat on
Baked goods – cakes, muffins and bread – might be delicious, but are usually low in protein. Experiment with boosting the protein content of your favourite sweet treats by making a few simple swaps. WH’s nutrition editor Alice Barraclough loves a decadent chocolate cake, just like the rest of us, but says ‘using almond or buckwheat flour instead of white flour is an easy way to increase the protein content of your baked goods’.
5. Assemble an adult ‘lunchable’
Girl dinner? More like smart-woman lunch (or dinner, or breakfast). Put together abox of goodies that packs in protein with low-lift ingredients, like this one with sliced turkey, uncured soppressata, green apple slices, Babybel cheeses, pecans, fennel slices and wheat crackers.
6 SAY YES TO DESSERT
Treats using protein powder or
