Let me start this out by saying that over the past few years or so I have become a very fussy eater.
For a number of reasons I don't really plan to get into, I'm at a point in my life where I'm looking to cut out red meat and poultry completely - no beef, no pork, no chicken or turkey or anything that resembles any of those. No shellfish, either. Unfortunately I don't absorb protein all that well so I need to eat a lot of it per day. While I can eat a ton of cheese every day that will get old
really fast. I get sick of eggs quickly, I've never met a bean I have any interest in choking down (soy beans are the exception), and whey protein supplements make me gag. This leaves me in a bit of a tight spot.
I've turned to fish, which is of course great for protein. I stick to cod, haddock, tilapia, salmon... basically, fish that aren't fishy. I'm fine with throwing a few ounces in a pan with a little oil and having that be dinner, though it does get expensive to do that.
The problem is that, aside from this not being terribly maintainable due to the expense, my husband is practically begging me not to eat fish more than twice a week because of heavy metal contamination. He is very serious about this, and I'm not sure if it's true - or at least, if it's true that three or four times a week instead of twice a week is going to kill me. I know I've heard things about canned tuna, but I don't really eat much canned tuna. So is it true? Will that much fresh fish give me heavy metal poisoning? He swears up and down it will.
We've started eating some quinoa as well, which I read somewhere is a complete source of protein. I would have to eat a ton of it, but it's a start. So I'm also looking for things I can do with quinoa. If anyone has any favorite recipes to jazz it up a bit, that'd be great.
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Cubed beets, steamed
Spinach, steamed
Quinoa, boiled
Feta Cheese, crumbled
Toss and eat.
As far as protein supplements go you could check out Bolthouse:
http://bolthouse.com/our-products/beverages/proteins
I havn't tried the other new ones but the protein plus chocolate one is delicious.
http://www.nrdc.org/health/effects/mercury/guide.asp
for example, tilapia, like farm raised, will not have high levels of mercury
it's usually the big fish like tuna that have higher levels of mercury (and the smaller varieties like tongol will have less than blue fin etc)
if you have a problem with protein absorbtion but don't want to turn to meats, why not supplement with 1 protein shake a day too? i can recommend this in chocolate: http://www.amazon.com/Optimum-Nutrition-Standard-Natural-Chocolate/dp/B000GIQT06 and it's an affordable way to up the protein intake each day and doesn't taste bad
cottage cheese & greek yogurt also, fermented soy products like tempeh as well will be good non-meat sources
I don't know jack about lentils except they have lots of good protein. Perhaps looking into those would work?
Also, I know that you've said you don't like beans but have you tried lentils (I'm not trying to be smart, they're not techically a bean)? They've got a lot of the same virtues as beans but they taste different and you can do a lot with them, plus they're dirt cheap.
If you stick to only the lowest-mercury fish (Pacific cod, salmon, haddock, tilapia, plus shellfish like oysters and scallops), minimize other contaminants by removing the skin and any visible fat, and keep your portions reasonable, you should be perfectly fine to consume seafood 3-5 times per week.
For other sources of protein, what about tofu, yogurt, cottage cheese, nuts, or peanut butter? When I'm feeling protein-starved, I just throw a scoop of cottage cheese into whatever starch I cooked for dinner - pasta, rice, baked potato, whatever. It pretty much just tastes like salt, so I don't even notice it.
I've not tried tempeh either, so I could give that a try. When I think of fermented soy I think of natto, which stinks.
And I know you said you're not down with beans but you can do really cool things with black beans, everything from faux burgers to hummus.
Do string beans actually count as beans? I like those bunches. I didn't used to like peas, but lately I've found I don't mind them anymore, so that's another possibility.
Also be warned quinoa can taste like shit, even after the bitter residue is removed.
Keep in mind, while plants can have protein, they are often not COMPLETE proteins, which means they might as well be fucking useless (for protein). Quinoa is an exception, as it has a full amino acid profile and is complete. I'd recommend not cutting out meat entirely unless it's absolutely necessary.
Nerve and neurological damage, organ failure, hair teeth and nail loss, a wide variety of nervous system and brain damage, impaired kidney function, and heart problems. It all depends on the amount and variety of mercury.
What types of beans have you tried? How were they cooked?
You basically want to avoid high mercury fish like tuna.
I'm going to get some lentils to try throwing into a soup tonight, and I'll see how it goes. I'm skeptical, but I'm going to try to keep an open mind.
Still open to favorite quinoa recipes, and that site with the lentil recipes looked pretty good.
I know, you said you don't want to get into it, but you should really make sure that your reasons for artificially restricting your diet are good. You mentioned it's gradually come on over a few years, and that seems like a real worry.
If you're so picky with everything, maybe you can just have all these sources of proteins rarely? Like once every two weeks or something like that. I mean if you have eggs for example twice a month, it can't be that bad, can it?
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Algae and sea weeds are also high in protein, but you may not like the taste.
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Your husband is wrong. You should not eat a ton of tuna, but otherwise, the other high-mercury fish are expensive enough that you won't run into any issues.
Fish are a great source of protein, and shellfish are even better. They're like protein bombs. For the vast, vast majority of people, any minor accumulation of any environmental particulate will be counteracted by the typical Western lifestyle.
Was pretty good.
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Chobani. It's a greek yogurt and the stuff is great. You get a ton of protein, it's VERY filling, and it's low calorie. Very very very healthy!
Re: Chickpeas and falafel...I don't know why people say this has a lot of protein - I have taken a look at the nutritional information and it doesn't seem very exceptional in the protein department.
The gradually becoming fussier thing is definitely not great, but I know why it is. It doesn't have anything to do with cutting meat out; what does is the fact that I've started keeping kosher, and it's nearly impossible to find kosher meat in my area that doesn't cost a mint. It's just easier not to eat it, and since vegetarianism has always appealed to me I'm not exactly fighting it, though I do acknowledge the impracticality of cutting out animal protein altogether (for me), hence the fish. No, keeping kosher and the nature of that decision are not up for debate. At this point these are things that I'm looking to learn to live around.
edit: I try to eat chobani cups regularly. I love it and it's about a sixth of what I need for the day.
Sources: USDA
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There's a book, The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth (http://www.amazon.com/150-Healthiest-Foods-Earth-Surprising/dp/1592332285), that has some interesting things about fish and mercury in it.
The most interesting thing was that the fish with the highest mercury contamination also have the highest levels of a mineral that supposedly counteracts mercury to some extent, selenium. Apparently that has not been proven 100%, but there is a study about the people of the Seychelles Islands who eat fish 12 times a week and have no toxic signs.
Also, if you plan on having children any time soon, I believe that almost universally the advice is to cut back on potentially contaminated seafood.
Here's a website that talks about the relationship between selenium and mercury:
http://www.mercuryfacts.org/fselenium.cfm .
That website in general is sort of interesting to read. Apparently the scare with mercury in fish is all a giant fear-mongering thing from enviromental groups, and has almost no basis in science. That's different.
Um, okay so I looked into it further. Green Beans (String Beans) do provide protein...but not as much as I had thought. About 2g per 100g, unfortunately. Which isn't bad, but also isn't something you can count on to get your protein. I'm sorry to get your hopes up...but they're still delicious, right?
it will mix well and be good
tastes even better w/milk but is fine with water
i drink one every day
thats 24g+ of protein in a glass that takes a few minutes to drink
bam
You can probably get 1kg of either for maybe $10-20.
I recently obtained some Protec Double-Protein, which is a "slow-acting" protein (whatever that means), for 130 SEK/750gram (roughly 20 US dollar, but would probably cost 13 US dollars in the USA)
Oh, you should've said that in the first place. There's plenty of practicing Jews who keep kosher and healthy. You might be able to find local food that's both kosher and halal and be available at a good price. Kosher beef is going to be expensive (even non-kosher beef is expensive), but lamb and goat and other common "middle eastern" meats are cheaper.
Of course, eating vegetarian is a fine way to go about keeping kosher, too. I would imagine you'd find a plethora of options in Indian cuisine, too. I personally don't find chickpeas all that appealing on their own, but you know what is delicious? Hummus! Baba ganouj is pretty good, too.
so water+quinoa+whatever bring to boil, lower heat and cover for ~12 minutes.
I've done a few pre-mixes like old bay, mrs dash, cayanne powder.
I find its not as overpowering as if i were to add the spices to the finished quinoa.
Also hummus + quinoa is pretty good.
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Yeah, if you're not totally committed to 100% vegetarian (not arguing, just offering), Halal markets are going to be Kosher as well and may be cheaper.
There's also just cooling them differently, as the method has a big impact on flavor. Coddled eggs like in shakshuka are very different from hard boiled. I'm personally very fond of egg curry.
I buy it from Trader Joe's in a box, because I can't seem to find it bulk, and the boxed price works out to be not super expensive per unit.
As far as fish goes, the advice Eggy Toast gave regarding mercury is probably safe to follow. I've studied mercury (from an environmental standpoint) for a number of years now, and have a decent idea about it. Basically, fish high in the food chain (tuna, red snapper) will have higher concentrations of mercury. Methyl-mercury passes very easily through the placenta and then the blood-brain barrier of a developing fetus, which is why care should be taken if you are (or might become) pregnant.
Another thing to consider is buying sustainable fish, as well. It's pretty silly (compared to other meat sources) how over harvested some fish species are. The link there has some guidelines which aren't working for me currently, but should be helpful when it works.
There are entire nations all over the earth that eat fish and seafood every day with no problems at all, and are often healthier than the US.
Heavy metals are only concentrated in particular fish (predators mostly, high up in the food chain), and the health dangers of that are contested.
I don't want to be confrontational, but your husband just doesn't seem to know much about fish.
Is he from a non-coastal region? I've often met Americans from the midwest etc who really view fish as an odd food and really don't know much about it, whereas I've always lived in small island nations and think of it as a food as basic and daily as bread.
What fish exactly have you been eating or do you like?
Edit: Sorry, missed the part about cod, haddock etc.
What kind of fish are cheapest in your area? Perhaps we can find some that you wouldn't find too 'fishy'.
that said, i've been looking for cheaper foods to get the dietary needs in and have done some lentils.
i have a bag of quinoa sitting in my cupboard, waiting for me to be adventurous enough.
I usually go to http://www.allrecipes.com , I type in the ingredient that i'm looking for and then I spend a few hours going through the recipes listed. There are a few quinoa recipes that I'm considering trying (one in specific is lemony quinoa which sounds good).
you should be fine doing the fish diet though. I do, however, recommend adding in eggs if you want, but (from memory) you have to make sure that there is no blood anywhere in the yolks for them to be considered Kosher, so they have to be cracked separately.
Also, what somebody else said, look for Halal stores. The meat there will be just as kosher as kosher, but for less.
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