Gear Not Stuff: Protein Sources
My favorite on-the-go protein foods.
Post Summary
We’re covering foods that make it easier to get enough protein.
Specifically, we’re looking at high-protein foods that travel well, have a long shelf life, and don’t require refrigeration.
I.e., foods you can eat on the go and while busy.
We’ll cover six categories of convenient protein sources and I’ll also give my favorite picks for each category.
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The post
Today is the second Friday of the month. Which means it’s time for Gear Not Stuff.
Read more about the idea behind Gear Not Stuff here.
Today, we’re covering protein sources you can eat on the go.
In a perfect world, everyone would get their protein from whole, minimally-processed, single-ingredient sources. Foods like meat, dairy, eggs, and more.
But life isn’t perfect. Whole foods require refrigeration and spoil relatively quickly—so they’re not always easy to eat when you’re busy or traveling.
Today you’ll learn six categories of convenient high-protein foods and my favorite picks in each category.
It’s important to put some thought behind these foods—many use “high protein” as a health halo, but aren’t actually that healthy. We’ll help you find the good ones that actually help you reach your goals.
Guidelines:
The food must meet the “high protein” requirements we laid out on Monday.
It must be portable.
It must not require refrigeration.
It must have a long shelf life.
I.e., It’s food you can eat conveniently and while on the go.
I also recommend you check out our recent Two Percent chat about this topic. You all gave some great protein food recommendations and tips, many of which appear below.
1. Canned fish (not just tuna)
Tinned fish used to be dominated by tuna and slimy anchovies and sardines.
But there’s been something of a renaissance in canned fish. A handful of niche companies are putting out sardines, anchovies, mussels, oysters, mackerel, and more that tastes really, really good.
And these small fish and mollusks are health bombs.
They’re high in protein.
They’re a single-ingredient source of protein rather than a manufactured one packed with additives.
They’re lower in contaminants than other larger fish like tuna.
Harvard docs pointed out “Small fish are also less likely to contain contaminants such as mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) compared with large species like tuna and swordfish. Those and other large fish feed on smaller fish, which concentrates the toxins.”
They’re more sustainable than larger fish.
They’re packed with micronutrients we often don’t get.
One study noted:
Sardines contain calcium, potassium, magnesium, zinc, iron, taurine, arginine and other nutrients which together modulate mild inflammation and exacerbated oxidative stress observed in cardiovascular disease and in haemodynamic dysfunction. In a common serving of sardines, calcium, potassium, and magnesium are the minerals at higher amounts to elicit clinical benefits, whilst other nutrients are present in lower but valuable amounts.
Those scientists also pointed out that the research on the benefits of omega-3 supplementation is mixed. By distilling omega-3s into a supplement, we may miss the full matrix of health-promoting nutrients whole fish provide.
Real fish gives us the full matrix of nutrients, and some small fish like sardines have 4x the omega-3s of tuna. Over the last year, I’ve been eating canned fish for lunch a few days a week.
Check out the following:
Patagonia Provisions offers a range of tinned seafood. They have awesome options like sardines in coconut curry, lemon herb mussels, and roasted garlic white anchovies. Not to mention, the brand’s sustainability practices are fantastic.
Costco also sells Season brand sardines, which are tasty.
Downsides:
Many tinned fishes smell fishy. Be mindful of where you eat them.
Many tinned fish are packed in olive oil, which raises the calorie and fat content. But there’s an easy solution: drain the olive oil.
You have to be selective with brands to find those that taste good.
Pro-tip: Eat them with crackers or crisp bread and some Dijon mustard. Chef’s kiss.
2. Meat Sticks and Jerky
When it came to meat sticks and jerky, we used to be limited to Slim Jims and Jack Links, which are as disgusting as they are delicious.
The “problem” with these meat sticks is that they often contain a lot of fat, and the jerkies are bathed in sugar.
New brands are solving those issues. They’re offering meat sticks and jerky that are high in protein and lower in sugar and fat.
Check out the following:
Maui Nui Venison Sticks—my favorite meat stick. These sticks are pure protein, at 10 grams for just 50 calories. I love the 90/10 sticks, which blend in organ meat for more micronutrients. EASTER works as a discount code.
A few people in the chat also mentioned Chomps jerky sticks. They have about double the calories for the same amount of protein as Maui Nui Sticks, but are cheaper and easier to find.