protein snack tuna

Why You Should Be Eating High Protein Snacks

When you’re really trying to get fit you may be tempted to believe that snacking is off limits. However, you couldn’t be more wrong. Eating less at meal times and using healthy snacks between them can prove to be very useful in building muscle or losing weight. This style of eating often provides more stable blood sugar levels throughout the day than eating a few large meals daily. Eating frequently also allows for more opportunities to consume protein throughout the day, and eating complete protein every few hours is vital to maximizing muscle development. Not sure how you’ll manage that? Here’s some great high protein snacks to help you meet your goals.

Greek Yogurt

So what could possibly be wrong with a food that boasts 23g Protein per serving along with a load of potassium and gut healthy bacteria? The fact that the largest container is only 32oz of course. Greek yogurt has gained a lot of popularity recently, and for good reason. It’s one of the healthiest snack options out there and has a taste that most people will enjoy. Greek yogurt is pretty versatile and it’s easy to find recipes online. For quick snack ideas, try adding fruit, nuts, or even mixing protein powder into it for some extra flavor. Greek yogurt also makes a pretty good veggie dip when you add in some dill, feta cheese, and seasonings.

Tuna

Tuna is basically straight protein and a little Omega-3 fat sealed up in a portable blue pouch. Obviously a great on-the-go snack choice. Put down one of the 6oz packs of this fish and your looking at about 40g protein, only 1.5g fat, and plenty of B vitamins. I would suggest buying Tuna in the pouch to avoid the BPA in canned Tuna, and I would also suggest choosing Chunk Light Tuna in water. Chunk light tuna comes from a smaller variety than the other tunas and will contain less mercury, although still enough that you probably shouldn’t over-do it.

Protein Shakes

Alright, this is an obvious one, but protein shakes can be incredibly useful and unbelievably delicious when made correctly. Sometimes it’s really not feasible to eat as often during the day as you hope, but what could be easier than quickly drinking a ready made protein shake? However, if you’re not really looking forward to drinking your usual post workout chalk water as a snack there are tons of ways to make some great shakes. To start, use a blender and then bring your shake with you rather than mixing by hand later.

Try my personal favorite recipe: use 1 frozen banana, 1 TBSP peanut butter, 2 TBSP PB2 Chocolate Peanut flour (can substitute with a bit more peanut butter and 1TBSP cocoa powder), 1 cup almond milk, 1 scoop chocolate whey (Vanilla works too, I suggest ON Natural Whey), and a pinch of cinnamon. You won’t be disappointed. If you have to just bring the powder and can only mix with water, I suggest adding some powdered milk. This can do wonders for the texture and taste.

Eggs

What? Eggs as a snack? Why not? Hard boil a few eggs and bring them with you. Just make sure to keep them cold if you won’t be eating them for a while. When it’s time for your snack, eat them with some pepper and whole wheat bread (toast if you can manage that). If you have access to a kitchen but just don’t have a lot of time you can cook eggs in no time, making them one of my favorite snacks and go-to-meals.

Cottage Cheese

Here’s another mysterious white food that’s just packed with protein. Cottage cheese has been eaten by fitness types for years because of its high protein content. Cottage cheese is relatively low in carbs and fat depending on the kind you get. Even full fat cottage cheese isn’t terrible, but once you get used to fat free or low fat you won’t miss it anyway. Another good thing about cottage cheese is that it’s mostly casein, meaning it digests extremely slow. This makes cottage cheese a great before-bed snack. I’ve also found that it’s really hard to beat cottage cheese in the morning with sliced cantaloupe and honeydew.

Protein Bars

To be honest, most protein bars sold in stores are junk. Many are candy bars with some cheap protein added, making them massive calorie sources with little real nutritional value. You may be able to find one out there that is decent and if so go ahead and use that, but I encourage you to check out the fat and sugar content before choosing any protein bar. So why is it on the list? Because I think making your own is a great idea. I haven’t experimented too much with creating protein bars, but the recipes are out there and the things you can do with oats, protein powder, honey, and peanut butter are pretty amazing.

Protein Pancakes

If you haven’t tried making protein pancakes yet then you’re missing out. When I make protein pancakes they are usually high in carbs as well, since I think they are best for after a workout. I never go exact, but I’ll use a couple cups of oats, a scoop or two of protein powder, 1/2 cup or so of egg whites, almond milk, a little baking powder, cinnamon, and then whatever I want to use to flavor them. That could be peanut butter, cocoa, fruit, anything really. Simply use some non-stick spray on a pan or griddle and you’re good to go. (As long as the batter is thick they won’t stick) If you aren’t looking for that many carbs, try adding more egg whites, eggs, and even some greek yogurt and cut back on the oats. This will change the flavor/texture some as well. Just experiment and you’ll fall in love in no time.

By Daniel