What does it mean to "choose better proteins"?

This practice is about:

• Knowing what your usual options and choices for proteins are.
• Identifying your criteria for "better".
• Choosing proteins that are a little bit better along your continuum of quality, consistently.

Better proteins are less-processed, generally leaner, and closer to their original source. For the most part, you can tell a food is less-processed by how close it looks to its wild form.

For example, with animal protein like a chicken breast, you can tell generally which part of the animal it came from. That's unlike a more-processed and packaged hot dog, that's ground and wrapped in casing.

For plant proteins, lentils and beans look like parts of their parent plant. That's unlike plant-based meats, which have gone through more processing steps to get it to their current form.

These proteins are more nutrient-rich. They contain a wide array of not only amino acids (the building blocks of protein), but also vitamins, minerals and other beneficial nutrients.

Better proteins are more nutrient-dense. This means that better proteins have more nutrition per calorie. That's things like vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients or zoonutrients, fiber, and even more protein and less fat and/or sugar.

For example, with animal protein like ground beef, leaner cuts contain more protein, less fat, and fewer overall calories per palm-sized portion.

For plant proteins, regular tofu is going to have less fat and fewer calories than fried tofu. And contain greater amounts of phytonutrients and antioxidants that are depleted due to the frying process.

Better proteins have few pre-added ingredients. And if they do have pre-added ingredients, better proteins have higher-quality ingredients. If the food has added ingredients, there are fewer refined and highly-processed ingredients.

For example, they use healthier oils like olive oil or avocado oil instead of soybean oil or hydrogenated oils. Or there are fewer non-nutritional additives like preservatives, colors, and artificial sweeteners.

So forge ahead over the next 2 weeks and Choose Better Proteins!