Personal trainer and sports nutrition expert Sandra Lordén Álvarez encourages her clients to eat protein-rich meals. The benefits include feeling full, better sleep, improved recovery, and increased lean muscle mass.
Tips on eating a protein-rich diet
Protein-only meals may make you feel full, but they are also nutritionally incomplete, says nutritionist Laura Jorge. “It is essential to ensure that the other meals you consume during the day include the recommended servings of fruit, vegetables, healthy fats, and carbohydrates,” she says, adding that your health depends upon total nutritional intake. “Whether animal or vegetable, any combination of proteins is good for us. I recommend alternating protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, eggs, or something like lentils during three week.”
19 protein-rich dinner ideas
Lordén Álvarez and nutritionist Itziar Digón share some ideas for easy-to-make protein-rich dinners:
- Grilled chicken salad with spinach, avocado, cherry tomatoes, and wholegrain pasta
- Baked salmon, seasoned with lemon and herbs, and served with asparagus and quinoa
- Turkey tacos made with wholewheat tortillas, filled with turkey, onion, peppers, and homemade guacamole
- Chickpea salad with brown rice, roasted vegetables, and a can of tuna
- Scrambled eggs with shrimp, spinach, mushrooms, and feta cheese, served with a slice of wholewheat toast
- A chilled gazpacho with crudités, hard-boiled egg, ham, and wholewheat croutons
- Barbecued sardines with vegetables
- Green salad with tuna, pork belly, leftover chicken, tofu or legumes
- Summer country salad with tuna, potatoes, and other vegetables
- Melon with ham
- Probiotic yogurt with tropical fruit
- Baked sea bass with grilled prawns
- Spanish omelette with prawns
- A grilled skewer made up of monkfish and langoustines
- Tuna tartare
- Steak tartare
- Seabass ceviche
- Grilled veal with steamed mussels or cockles
- A skewer of grilled cuttlefish and sardines