I am a huge believer in eating a healthy diet with occasional (even small daily) indulgences. And the two things I focus on are my water intake and how much protein I eat. I find that if I drink enough water and eat enough protein, the rest of my diet is pretty healthy because I am not hungry for junk.
Especially in pregnancy and while nursing a baby, the requirements for water and protein go up.
General fluid needs increase during pregnancy in order to support fetal circulation, amniotic fluid, and a higher blood volume. The current recommendation for water intake is drinking 8–10 glasses of water each day... Increased fluid intake can help to alleviate constipation. An adequate fluid supply also ensures that the mother has enough reserves to tolerate blood loss during delivery. (source)
and from another article...
Protein requirements are complicated because the amount we need changes with age.
- Infants require about 10 grams a day.
- Teenage boys need up to 52 grams a day.
- Teenage girls need 46 grams a day.
- Adult men need about 56 grams a day.
- Adult women need about 46 grams a day.
One important exception is pregnant or lactating women. The recommended intake for them rises to 71 grams of protein a day.
So, I'm linking up with Hallie to share my Five Favorite ways to increase both water and protein:
1)
Water is an easy one, as long as I fill up my water bottle 3 times each day, I've had 9.5 cups of water by days end. I try to drink one bottle by lunch, one by dinner, and one through the evening. This water bottle is my favorite.
2)
Greek yogurt.
I eat one every day, either for breakfast or lunch. It has tons of protein, calcium, and probiotics for digestion. I feel like this is a nutrient powerhouse. I just tried the vanilla and almond Yopa! and yum yum yum!
With 15 grams of protein, it's highly recommended!
3)
Cottage cheese.
This is my one and only pregnancy craving over the past few months. I never used to eat cottage cheese on the regular, but it's sooooo good! A little salty, a little cheesy, and tons pf protein again. I usually mix in some pineapples or eat it alongside a juicy clementine. For me, it has to be full fat and small curd, and that has 28 grams of protein per cup!
4)
A Protein packed breakfast.
Two egg, cheese, and sausage muffins for breakfast. About 21 grams of protein to start your day off right! Here's a good recipe, but I change it around a bit.
5)
A super quick and delicious dinner for us is:
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In total, this fast and easy meal has 38 grams of protein!
So that's some of the things I've been devouring lately. What are your go-to protein meals?
I'm eating my greek yogurt with raspberry right now! Thanks for the reminder about cottage cheese. I've always loved cottage cheese but I forget how high in protein it is!
ReplyDeleteHow are we even friends? ; )
ReplyDeleteThose egg cups look delish! I may have to try those for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteGranola! They have it in the organic section of most grocery stores. I get honey or chocolate flavored bags. You can mix it in yogurt, put it on salad or eat out of the bag :)
ReplyDeleteI have hungry teenage boys around here, so every meal is full of protein. My saving grace in the morning is microwaveable bacon and sausage. They all eat some form of breakfast meat before school and it's awesome. Piled high meat sandwiches for lunch and meat again at dinner. I'm a huge believer in lots of protein and veggies.
ReplyDeleteI got really horrible headaches the first few weeks after M was born and I was talking to a girl I work with and she thought I needed to up my protein intake. So I added a Greek Yogurt to my day and it seemed to have worked. I am never good at drinking enough water whether, nursing, pregnant or not!!!
ReplyDeleteProtein in the morning...I love how it sticks to your bones and carries you through till lunch. I heard that drinking two glasses of water when you wake up helps waken the body's organs and one glass before each meals help with digestion. That's my inspiration for drinking water, because I cannot stand water.
ReplyDeleteThat sausage, egg and cheese cups are amazing.
ReplyDeleteI like to make a peanut butter treat thing that is high protein (mix peanut butter with milk powder, honey, oats, sunflower seeds and coconut flour). It's like dessert, but much healthier.
I ate cottage cheese a ton when I was pregnant! I love it plain, on baked potatoes, on pancakes, with fruit.
Where is the recipe for those sausage, egg, and cheese cups?!? Billie Jo's comment made me chuckle. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm trying to get closer to 100 a day (brewer's) and oh my gosh it is so much eating! I've been doing a ton of dairy because I've also been craving it, so I need to get on the cottage cheese train! Meals are getting harder for me so I basically graze throughout the day.... milk, cheese, yogurt, chicken, peanut butter, smoothies, etc.
ReplyDeleteI like when you post how super healthy and awesome you are. And then I keep eating my rice cake with peanut butter and convince myself I'm eating healthy. Or I excuse my sometimes less than perfect eating with 'well, I'm from the Midwest....' or 'I'll exercise it off. Maybe.' lol. Kidding aside, I think we do pretty well but there's always room for improvement. I was good on the water, but then got bad again. I think mine mainly has to do with winter and not being as active outside and feeling the need for it as much. I've got to get better on that again.
ReplyDeleteAs always, thanks for the inspiration!
Yum to all of this!!!
ReplyDeleteI have to tell you though, in my draft box is a five fave of junk food that i didn't post yesterday because the inlaws were in town. i mean, how ironic!
i like all food though, just not the stuff that leaves me hungry all the time!