Hey ladies (and a few gents), I am having a seriously hard time getting enough protein for breakfast, and need some ideas.
I have some dietary issues and cannot eat eggs with any frequency without having an allergic reaction, and milk/dairy must be limited to only once or twice per week (that includes cottage cheese, yogurt, etc).
I also am not a huge fan of protein shakes, I prefer my protein from straight food sources.
Okay, with these caveats in mind, anyone have anything to suggest? It doesn't leave a whole lot!
You have to be really careful with nuts--Adkins-type diets really spread the idea that they are super high protein, but they aren't--what they are is super-low carb--because they are 75% fat. An ounce of almonds has 6 grams of protein, yes, but 170 calories. And ounce of chicken breast has 9 grams of protein and under 50 calories: so that's 50% more protein for a third fewer calories.
I'll second nuts, although what shmead says is valid. But I love 100 cals of almonds with greek yogurt (more protien), and fruit or granola w/ nuts and flaxseed with greek yogurt and fruit. If you can handle it peanut butter on a whole grain and flax english muffin. All my other ideas contain eggs so I'm not much help there. Are you sensitive to egg beaters? If not, I cannot rave enough about this sandwich I've been eating lately. Whole grain and flax english muffin with 1/2c egg beaters with a little bell pepper and onion, topped with 1 slice reduced fat swiss cheese and avocado, seriously to die for.
Egg beaters would flare my sensitivity as well, unfortunately.
Right now I do eat a lot of nuts and nut butters, turkey, ham, etc etc, but they really tend to be lunch and dinner type foods for me, and breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Most days, unfortunately, I tend to eat them fairly heavy with carbs. I do bake my own bread from spelt and kamut I grind (wheat and oats can be a trigger too, if eaten too frequently) and that has fairly high protein content per serving, but I really do better with 15-20 grams, minimum, per meal.
Tofu wouldn't work, I really limit my soy intake due to the hormonal effects it has. I could do a breakfast burrito if it was in a corn tortilla, that's an idea, and maybe some breakfast bean dish? I wonder if I could use bean flour in pancakes? The problem with beans is that they are really much higher in carbs than protein, but oh well.
You see how stumped I am on this Lunch and dinner are no problem, but I LOVE dairy, eggs, and wheat with my breakfast, and I really can't have any of them!
The problem with having my lunches and dinners for breakfast is that I cook everything from complete scratch, so the larger meals of the day are an hour of cooking and a half hour of cleanup a piece. If there are leftovers in the fridge my pregnant body can stomach without nausea, first thing, I will often eat them. They usually are things like salmon, turkey soup, spaghetti, beans and rice, etc etc.
For breakfast for the family I generally alternate:
Oatmeal
Eggs and toast
Cream of wheat
Baked muffins or cinnamon rolls
Cereal
Pancakes made by daddy on Sunday
Anything I bake is low fat and 100% whole grain, and I rotate their breakfasts so they are not as overexposed to a particular grain or substance as I gave been. The breads are never wheat, the cereals are the lowest sugar varieties are very rare. It's not perfect, buti have to balance our really stringent food budget with nutrition and ease, and make a three year old and two year old eat it.
When they are eating these things, I usually have homemade granola and yogurt, a serving of toast with butter or nut butter, occasionally some eggs or cottage cheese, and I can do oatmeal once a week. Leftovers, as I mentioned, are also on the menu.
The only way I can think to add protein to these meals is to just eat a cut of meat, which is less than ideal (hence the ideas!). I was hoping there was just some great, reasonably fast breakfast item loaded with protein I was missing
I'll check it out, thanks! I can usually deal with wheat and milk limitedly, but I crave eggs like crazy and LOVE them, however I start having reactions with even a little bit of them during pregnancy. My immune system reacts more strongly now than it does once the babies are born
Know what's funny? When I'm not pregnant, ranch dressing KILLS my stomach. I'm talking unbelievable pain and hanging out near a toilet. But, once I'm pregnant, I can eat it ALL DAY LONG.
So weird. ha!
Unfortunately for us, dairy / eggs are a great protein source. They do make a rice protein powder, even though you don't prefer to do that... a smoothie makes a great breakfast.
Have you tried quinoa! Its the highest protein of any grain. You could cook it like oatmeal or they have quinoa flour you could use for pancakes and such. I tried it a few months ago and now it's my favorite go to grain.
Last edited by Elijahs phoenix; 07-21-2010 at 06:37 PM.
quinoa is wonderful. The meat industry likes us to believe we need 3 animal protein rich meals a day and its just not accurate.
A balance is fine but milks have a nice amount as do quinoa, fruits and veggies even. The bland taste of quinoa leaves it open to spice it up with cinnamon and fruit. I just tried this for the first time a few weeks ago and really like it.
have you tried soy milks? I am loving the newish(came out early in the year I think) Silk almond milk it is awesome but of course the protein is not good on almond but soy has 6-7 depending on brands. It adds up with a high protein dinner.
Have you tried quinoa! Its the highest protein of any grain. You could cook it like oatmeal or they have quinoa flour you could use for pancakes and such. I tried it a few months ago and now it's my favorite go to grain.
Yep I have quinoa in the cupboard.
I actually spent all day smoking some of the salmon my husband caught last week (over forty fish for us, so 80 huge sockeye fillets) and I have it in the freezer to pop out for a quick snack. It's a good protein I can grab at, even if it isn't breakfast-specific.
Protein ideas for breakfast?
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Lunch and dinner are no problem, but I LOVE dairy, eggs, and wheat with my breakfast, and I really can't have any of them!
