5 Lean Protein Sources You Should Know
Protein is an essential part of a balanced diet but sometimes it’s accompanied by more calories and fat than you want. Fortunately, there is a variety of lean animal and plant protein that can help you meet your quota.
White-fleshed fish
Most fish varieties with white flesh are super lean and an excellent source of protein. For example, the common types like cod, haddock, pollock, flounder and tilapia provide under three grams of fat, around 20 to 25 grams of protein and 85 to 130 calories per three and a half ounce or 100 gram plain serving.
A convenient way to buy this fish is just in the frozen section of your supermarket. So if you move the filets from the freezer to the fridge in the morning then when you get home at the end of the day, they will be thawed and ready to cook.
Plain Greek yogurt
A six ounce or 170 gram serving of Greek yogurt packs 15 to 20 grams of protein compared to only nine grams in a serving of regular yogurt. Now, this is due to how Greek yogurt is made. It’s strained to remove the liquid whey, leaving a more concentrated product with more protein that’s also thicker and creamier.
Beans, peas and lentils
Dry beans, peas and lentils also called pulses are a subgroup of legumes. They average eight grams of protein per half a cup or 100 gram cooked serving and they’re also low in fat and high in fiber. Both the high fiber and protein contents in pulses help make them more filling. Additionally, the fiber may lower your blood cholesterol if you eat pulses regularly.
Skinless white-meat poultry
A 3.5 ounce or 100 gram serving of cooked chicken or turkey contains about 25 grams of protein. Now, skip dark meat cuts like drumsticks and thighs to get the leanest meat. Now, white mean includes the breasts, breast tenderloins or tenders and wings.
Now, also, don’t eat the skin. Three and a half ounces or 100 grams of roast chicken breast with the skin has 200 calories and eight grams of fat while the same amount for skinless roast chicken breast has 165 calories and 3.5 grams of fat. You can remove the skin either before or after cooking. Just note that cooking poultry with the skin on means the meat will be a lot more moist.
Low-fat cottage cheese
I love cottage cheese. It’s just a real simple low fuss, high protein food. A half cup or four ounce or 113 gram serving of low-fat cottage cheese has 97 calories, two and a half grams of fat and 13 grams of protein.
Now, besides protein, you get around 10 to 15% of the recommended daily intake for calcium in half a cup of cottage cheese as well. If there’s one drawback to cottage cheese, it’s that a half cup has around 15 to 20% of the daily limit for sodium or salt. So if you’re watching your salt intake, one study suggests that rinsing cottage cheese for three minutes could reduce it’s sodium by around 60% but also the calcium as well.
Conclusion
As you can see from this small list, you certainly don’t need to exceed your fat or calorie limits to meet your protein goals. Lean animal and plant protein sources are plentiful and inexpensive.
