List of High Protein Foods
If you are trying to lose weight, build muscle, or you are just keeping track of your overall intake of protein, here is some information on high protein foods.
Heart Spring has a long list of high protein foods including some found at fast food restaurants. They are listed with the highest protein foods first and the protein contents decrease as you move down the list. The values come from the United States Food and Drug Administration.
To make this list of high protein foods, a serving of the food has to have 10 grams or more of high-quality protein. Here is a sampling of the extensive list with the name of the meat, the size of the serving, and the number of protein grams:
- Cooked duck, 1/2 duck, 51.89 g
- Halibut, Atlantic and Pacific cooked with dry heat, 1/2 fillet, 42.44 g
- Beef round or eye of round - lean with 1/4" fat - cooked, 3 oz, 24.64 g
- Fast food tostada with beans, beef, and cheese, 1 tostada, 16.09 g
- Cornmeal - enriched - yellow, 1 cup, 11.70 g
This list is a sample of the extensive list found at the Heart Spring's website described above. For the full list, visit Heart Springs for details and a wide variety of food options.
Printable List
If you want a list of high protein foods that you can print out and use, then there is a general list of foods at Common Sense Health.
- They have only included high protein foods that do not have a high concentration of saturated fat.
- Because of this, there is no red meat on the list. Red meat has a lot of saturated fat in it, which leads to degenerative diseases and inflammation.
- The list is sorted by beans, dairy, fish, grains, and poultry.
- Included in the list are: tofu, cheese, milk, yogurt, eggs, anchovies, tuna, oatmeal, pancakes, bread, popcorn, chicken, and turkey.
- The lowest protein count is a buckwheat pancake at 1.8 grams, and the most protein listed is light meat chicken at 35.1 grams.
Low Carb Diets
Keeping a high protein, low carb diet is one popular method of losing weight. If you make this choice, it is important to ensure you have a balanced diet and get the nutrition your body needs. You may wish to consult with a physician. You can also read information about this type of diet at WebMd.com. This article explains how some of the popular high protein, low carb diets, like Atkins, work and also provides information on the pros and cons of these high protein options.
Animal Versus Plant Protein
Everyone needs some protein in their diet. The problem comes when you are ingesting too much fat along with the protein. For example, a steak can give you 38 grams of protein but 44 grams of fat, with 16 of them being saturated fat. The same amount of salmon will give you almost as much protein, 18 grams of fat, with only around four grams of saturated fat. Even better are beans, with a cup of cooked lentils supplying 18 grams of protein and less than one gram of fat.
So when looking at foods that supply protein, beans, nuts, and whole grains are the best choices, followed by poultry and fish. If you must have red meat, pick the leaner cuts and don’t indulge too often. Another important benefit of plant proteins is they also have fiber, which is essential to good digestive health, as well as vitamins and minerals.