Most people today don’t get enough protein in their everyday diet.
Today’s on-the-go lifestyle makes it easy to neglect vitamins, minerals, and nutrients the body needs. Without these, your body will never operate at full strength, and you’ll be in a constant state of low energy and fatigue.
In this post, we’ll show you how to stay on top of your protein intake, no matter how busy your day is.
Why you need to eat enough protein
The common perception is protein is something bodybuilders and gym rats need to take. You might think it’s not important if you don’t aspire to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Whether you’re a serious athlete or not, everyone needs protein in their diet. Don’t think it’s only good for building big muscles.
Protein supports a lot of the body’s everyday functions. Your body is constantly breaking down and repairing itself. The cells in your body get old and need to be flushed out and replaced by new cells.
Most of this happens internally, but you can see it on the outside by how your hair and nails grow.
Protein is the building block for all of this. If the body doesn’t get enough, it will struggle to repair itself and rebuild old and damaged cells. You’ll lack energy, and you’ll notice your hair, skin, and nails degrading faster.
If you work out, protein is even more important. When you work out, you’re expending more energy and breaking down more tissue in your body. If you don’t get enough protein, your body won’t be able to repair itself fast enough, and you won’t have the energy you need to make it to the next workout.
Simply put, protein will make you look and feel better – no matter how active your lifestyle is.
How to get more protein on a busy schedule
There are two reasons why people today don’t get enough protein.
First, many simply don’t realize how important it is or think it’s something only athletes and bodybuilders need.
Second, a lot of people are just too busy to sit down and eat several balanced, nutritious meals each day.
When you’re on the go, you end up making sacrifices with your diet. More convenient, faster meals almost often have less nutritional value, and you struggle to meet your protein needs.
A great way to make up for this is a healthy smoothie. A smoothie takes very little time to prepare, is even quicker to drink, and can be packed with a dense amount of nutrients you’d otherwise be missing.
Let’s look at a simple, high-protein, natural smoothie recipe you can use to take your nutrition to the next level.
High protein smoothie recipe
Making the perfect smoothie can be a little difficult. You can run into a few different problems.
When you pack your smoothie full of nutrients, it can end up tasting like dirt – making you dread taking it every time.
Or, in an effort to make it taste good, you might pack it full of sugars and other unhealthy sweeteners, defeating its purpose. This is what you’ll get a lot of the time from smoothie and juice bars. Their focus is taste, rather than what’s best for you.
It can also be difficult to get just the right mix of nutrients in your smoothie – resulting in a shake that doesn’t taste great, and delivers mostly empty calories.
This recipe with Naked Nutrition’s vegan protein powder solves all of these problems.
Ingredients:
- 12 oz coconut water
- 2 Scoops strawberry banana protein powder
- 1 cup of spinach
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened yogurt
(If you want an ice-cold smoothie, add in a little ice, or just freeze the spinach earlier).
Load these ingredients into a blender, mix, and serve.
Coconut water makes a great base for smoothies. It’s relatively tasteless, packed full of nutrients such as potassium, manganese, and magnesium, and is a great source of hydration.
Naked Shake protein powder has a great taste, is made from all-natural, healthy ingredients, and delivers 20g of protein in a single serving.
Spinach is dense in many nutrients, extremely low in calories, and blends well. Its taste is easily covered up by the other ingredients as well.
Finally, some yogurt gives you additional vitamins, minerals, and probiotics, as well as giving your shake a smooth and drinkable consistency. Just make sure the yogurt you choose has no added sugars or sweeteners.
Final Thoughts
Smoothies are a great tool to better your nutritional intake. It’s quick and easy to fit a smoothie in between meals or after meals, which is why they’re so great in today’s active world.
Yet many smoothies, particularly those from smoothie or juice bars, are unfortunately loaded with sugars or other unhealthy components. Take a natural smoothie like the one above to meet your protein needs without any unwanted extras.