Adding more protein to your diet, when you don’t get enough to support your goals, is so important! Protein is important for your goals for a variety of reasons. One, it is important to support muscle recovery and muscle growth. Two, it helps your body metabolize more efficiently and lastly, protein helps balance your hormones which can help aid in body fat percentage control.

I personally practice 3 methods to help keep my protein balanced. I create snacks that give me a boost of protein, add protein shakes into my day to day diet and make sure I include at least a palm sized serving of meat/some sort of protein in each meal. I go into detail about the how below! 

Create tasty protein dense snacks

There are so many delicious protein dense snacks you can add to your pre/post gym routine. Here are a couple that I personally love and that you can find in Kali’s Cookbook!

• Protein balls – *found in Kali's cookbook* I often pack these with me during a busy day to make sure I have something protein and calorie dense to eat before or after my work out! These give you 10g of protein per serving but be careful, these are quite high in calories.

• Protein shake – I usually have a protein shake after my workout to refuel or first thing in the morning with my breakfast. I used the 1up nutrition chocolate vegan protein (use my code: KALI20 for 20% off).

• PB protein bars – *found in Kali’s cookbook* Using a mix between peanut butter and almonds this recipe gives you 10g of protein per serving. You can also mix in your favourite vanilla protein powder to the mix for an extra protein kick. 

Add supplements to your diet

Supplements aren’t necessary for results; they’re supposed to be used as a supplement! So, they become necessary if for whatever reason you can’t get the protein you need in your natural diet. I suggest protein supplements if you’re finding it hard to add protein to your meals (discussed below) - adding a protein supplement can really help you reach those protein goals and see better muscle recovery and more results! I usually add my protein shake in at the beginning of the day with my breakfast or after my workout as a refuel snack depending on what I have going on in my day. I personally use 1up nutrition chocolate vegan protein (use my code: KALI20 for 20% off your purchase) and I mix 1 scoop in 1 cup of oat milk. It's soooo delicious.

Include a serving of protein in every meal

Adding a rich protein source in every meal is your first step toward adding more protein to your diet. This can be done by benchmarking the amount of protein that is in your meal against your palm – normally, an open palm represents a serving of protein. I add protein to my favourite low protein meals for example, Pasta, by adding a palm worth of chicken/ground beef to the sauce. If you’re vegetarian/vegan you can add tofu/beans instead. Some of my personal favourite protein sources to add to meals is pasta sauce with ground beef/pork/turkey, steak (8 oz filet), chicken breast, cheese, chickpeas & kidney beans.

So, for the rest of nutrition month and beyond, let's reach those protein goals! TFY offers meal plans that offer the choice between meal plan only or weekly check ins. Our certified nutrition coach completely plans your meals and snacks for you, gives you fun and delicious recipes and if you choose check ins we will also help guide you through your plan for the duration! You can also add meal plans to your workout plan purchase by choosing the "add meal plan" option when you're adding your workout plan to your cart. Learn more by checking out our nutrition section of the site and join today! Email training@trainforyou.ca for more info.

Happy eating

Xx

Kali