If I Don’t Want Protein Shakes, What Are My Options?

Keeping on top of your nutrition, macronutrients and protein intake is key to any body composition, weight loss or fitness goals you may have. Protein, particularly, plays a large role as it helps with recovery, building muscle and keeping us more satiated for longer periods.

Protein shakes can get a bit dull, be quite annoying to take everywhere (especially on holiday), or just unavailable to you. So, then how do you get your required protein intake post workout without those shakes? Well, fear not.

Here are some solutions, and then some foods, you can include in your diet to help replace those shakes.

I would always recommend batch cooking for meals, whether on a Sunday evening before the week ahead, or just making larger meals in the week, where you can have leftovers for meals or snacks over the following days. This way you can be 100% sure of what’s going into each of your meals. If you feel so inclined, you can weigh out any food as well. This tends to help with the more specific calorie counters among us. This will also help keep track of macro targets, as you can portion out ratios of food according to your needs. This way you can have meals after workouts or portion them out to be snack size.

That’s all well and good, you might be thinking, but what foods will be the most efficient, quick and easy for me? Fear not!

Here’s a list of a few easy to grab bits to get you started;

Jerky/Biltong – An easy to grab quick source of rich protein, Jerky or biltong is a small meaty snack with a concentrated high amount of protein, even from a small pack. I love the texture myself but not such a good one for those of you who don’t enjoy the tough textures.

Greek Yoghurt – If you train in the morning, like I do, Greek yoghurt is a great little snack post training. You can easily combine it with oats, blueberries, chia seeds, etc, etc. the list of combinations, with seeds, berries and other fruit, is endless and is always really refreshing after a hard training session. You can also have it with some honey as a treat – which is only a little indulgent and delicious

Lentils and/or Tofu – For those with allergens, or if you’re vegan or vegetarian, Lentils and Tofu are great high proteins alternatives that can easily be quickly fried, added to a wrap, put in a salad or made into a delicious curry – even one that your non-allergen impaired friends will enjoy.

Chicken/Tuna Wraps – If you have any protein leftovers, chicken or tuna are particularly good for this, throw them in a wrap with some mixed leaves, tomatoes and avocado. Wrap it up and you’re good to go. You can even get high protein wraps (BFree make some really good ones!). Again, there are a lot of different, tasty and exciting combinations. And you can make them seasonal as well which keeps that healthy diet nice and varied.

Eggs – Another healthy wholefood food source that you can find all kinds of varied recipes for. From omelettes, to hard boiled and back to scrambled, eggs have all round versatility and are normally quick and easy to prepare as a snack. You can even make certain dishes even more healthy by merely using the egg white. Don’t do a Rocky Balboa and drink raw eggs though!

As an honorary mention for high protein foods you can grab as a snack, as you may have heard before, you can have nuts, nut butters and seeds. These are also high in fats; however, they are naturally occurring fats. These are unprocessed, unsaturated and much better for you. So, go ahead and enjoy a peanut butter sandwich from time to time if that takes your fancy! Or blitz up peanut butter, oats, berries, yoghurt and a milk of your choice for a delicious smoothie! 

A high protein diet never has to be boring, or filled with disgusting raw foods that look to nuclear in colour to0 be good for you!

I hope this article helped you raise your game!