I eat about 3000 calories per day, but generally limit my meat intake to about 500 calories per day, while trying to hit at least 150g of protein per day. Generally that means I’m eating a vegetarian lunch, where the only animal product is parmesan cheese (gives a great umami kick to salads).
I eat a lot of legumes. Not just beans/lentils, but also a lot of green varieties like green beans, peas, edamame, snap peas, snow peas, and peanuts are like my go-to snack.
When paired up with grains, which you’ll generally already be eating enough of, the protein profile of most legumes complement grains so that you’re getting plenty of every essential amino acid.
And generally, I eat a lot of vegetables and mushrooms. On a per calorie basis, some vegetables are surprisingly high protein.
I eat a decent amount of yogurt or cheese, maybe 3-4 servings per day.
The meat I do eat tends to be the kind that lends a lot of flavor to a dish. 1 oz of bacon in a sandwich sometimes seems meatier than another sandwich with 8 oz of meat. Same with things like fish sauce or anchovy paste. I have a lot of soups and stews where the actual amount of meat involved is kinda low on a per serving basis, where the fresh meat is paired with a cured meat and things like mushrooms and fermented sauces to add lots of umami to a soup without actually consisting of that much meat. I also do stir fries, curries, salads, etc., where any meat is served with a lot of vegetables, as well.
So for example, it’s easy to eat a pound of meat in 2 half pound hamburgers. It’s much harder to eat a pound of meat in the form of burgers made from 3 oz smash patties. And smash burgers taste better to me anyway.
Basically I steer all my eating towards less meat, but I eat a lot and have pretty high caloric needs.
I eat about 3000 calories per day, but generally limit my meat intake to about 500 calories per day, while trying to hit at least 150g of protein per day. Generally that means I’m eating a vegetarian lunch, where the only animal product is parmesan cheese (gives a great umami kick to salads).
I eat a lot of legumes. Not just beans/lentils, but also a lot of green varieties like green beans, peas, edamame, snap peas, snow peas, and peanuts are like my go-to snack.
When paired up with grains, which you’ll generally already be eating enough of, the protein profile of most legumes complement grains so that you’re getting plenty of every essential amino acid.
And generally, I eat a lot of vegetables and mushrooms. On a per calorie basis, some vegetables are surprisingly high protein.
I eat a decent amount of yogurt or cheese, maybe 3-4 servings per day.
The meat I do eat tends to be the kind that lends a lot of flavor to a dish. 1 oz of bacon in a sandwich sometimes seems meatier than another sandwich with 8 oz of meat. Same with things like fish sauce or anchovy paste. I have a lot of soups and stews where the actual amount of meat involved is kinda low on a per serving basis, where the fresh meat is paired with a cured meat and things like mushrooms and fermented sauces to add lots of umami to a soup without actually consisting of that much meat. I also do stir fries, curries, salads, etc., where any meat is served with a lot of vegetables, as well.
So for example, it’s easy to eat a pound of meat in 2 half pound hamburgers. It’s much harder to eat a pound of meat in the form of burgers made from 3 oz smash patties. And smash burgers taste better to me anyway.
Basically I steer all my eating towards less meat, but I eat a lot and have pretty high caloric needs.