Protein

I have had a lot of requests to talk about protein, what are good protein's? Were to buy?
So I will tell you what I know! How much protein should you eat per meal? According to studies our bodies can digest and absorb about .91 g per pound of body weight. So if you weigh 125 lbs you can absorb up to 113g of protein per day. Divide by 3 if you eat 3 meals per day that's 37 g per meal! That's about 6 whole eggs...... are YOU getting enough protein each meal????
Sources of Protein: Red meat such as Beef. Other great sources: Chicken, Turkey, Fish, Seafood, Eggs. These are complete proteins and best source of protein.
There are other sources of protein such as: Beans sorry not baked beans! Black beans, Lima beans, Mung and red beans, Lentils, chickpeas and Quinoa. But these are not Complete protein's
Many people believe Soy and tofu is a good protein for you, Soy is NOT a good alternative and here is why:  The truth about soy.
If you choose to be vegetarian or Vegan and you feel GREAT eating the proteins you do and feel your mood, energy level, thyroid function, metabolism are all functioning properly.... then I say; stay with your current source of protein! If not..... I would say look at some alternatives and see if it helps you feel better in anyway. Like most things a 2 week trial is not going to give you any insight as to how your body feels. If your going to change, change for 30-90 days and see how you feel.
Where do I buy my meat? For us it varies, I buy meat at Cedar summit farms in New Prague it is grass fed meat, at certain times of the year you can purchase a portion of a cow or a whole cow at a reduced rate, I recommend getting multiple families together and splitting it up. I also buy red meat at kowalski, and  Lakewinds and I use to buy hamburger at Costco but recently found out that the Organic hamburger is NOT grass fed, even though it shows a cow eating grass on the label. Huh they got me! So if grass fed is a big deal to you do not buy it at Costco. I still occasionally buy it there if that is my only stop. I do buy Salmon at Costco, Make sure whatever fish you buy it says WILD CAUGHT!
Chicken and Turkey I buy at Valley natural foods in burnsville, I don't buy the organic I buy the Amish Chicken breasts, It comes in a big bag for about 45.00. It is by far the best tasting, I bring it home we season it with Costco's no salt seasoning and my husband grills the entire bag. I then cut each chicken breast into strips and put them in baggies to freeze. This will last us, a family of 4 the whole month! I grab the baggies out in the morning and by noon they are thawed for my salad or whatever I want it for. I do the same thing with Flank steak, we marinate it and grill it and slice it. Grab a baggie out in the morning and add it to eggs for breakfast or lunch for a salad or for dinner if we are in a hurry.
By far that has been the biggest time saver is to pre-cook our meat and freeze it. I have no excused not to get my protein in! We also pre-cook our rice and quiona and freeze it or just keep in the fridge.

My favorite breakfast: 1 cup of egg whites, mushrooms, some of that steak or chicken in the freezer :) put on some no salt seasoning from costco, toss in spinach at the last second and top with some feta cheese. Oh my gosh I'm getting hungry!
My favorite Lunch: leftover vegetable beef soup. I pre-cook a beef steak cut into bite size pieces in a skillet. I throw that in a big pot with 2 containers of low sodium beef broth, add in all the veggies I have like; carrots, celery, zucchini, sweet potato, yellow squash, onion, garlic, corn. Then I let it sit on a low stove for 3 hours and done! Super good leftovers! When I have it for lunch I usually also have a small apple with it.
My favorite complete Dinner: has to be a Chipolte style dinner. We make a big batch of quiona or brown rice, then we have all the fixings. Grab the pre-grilled chicken and steak, some black beans, lettuce, salsa, avocado, onion, a little cheese, I use Fage greek yogurt instead of sour cream but you could use sour cream and Yummo! You have a super fast easy meal with all the great proteins!

I love that people are asking me to blog on certain things! Facebook me or email: mendedbygrace@ymail.com me if you want me to write about something specific!!!

Jen