Pescatarian. Please tell me high protein meals.

[wanttobloom]

hello, looking for some help and advice!

I’ve been pescatarian for two years now, really miss meat! I’m overweight and anaemic and generally feel tired which is down to a poor diet, poor lifestyle and lots of stress.

I really want to overhaul my diet and eat better and I know I need to up my protein content. I also really miss eating meat but I don’t want to go back to it.

can anyone tell me some good, healthy meals I can start making? Want to try and keep my meals as healthy and unprocessed as possible but also enjoyable. I really need to reset my mind and health when it comes to food!

thank you so much!

My go-to fast healthy meal is fish or prawns with salad or veg.

Last night I cooked prawns in garlic butter and some chili flakes in the pan and had them with a salad. So fast and easy and delicious.

Fish in the pan is also really fast. Usually just with salt and pepper or Cajun spice. Sometimes coconut crumbed (dipped in egg and coconut flour) with a curried mayo. So easy and no thinking required. Eat with salad or veggies/potato/sweet potato. I make fish in the oven sometimes too but pan fried is fast and easy.

Smoked salmon with scrambled eggs and capers is an easy breakfast (assume you eat eggs). Chuck a boiled egg in salad too for a bit more protein.

sometimes if I fancy pasta I’ll do it with a bit of lemon juice, black olives, feta and either flaked salmon or tinned tuna. Really fast.

marinated mussels or canned tuna or salmon in a salad also really easy.

I don’t eat much meat and I find fish or seafood is much faster and easier than meat anyway.

Tuna niçoise - tuna steak with hard boiled eggs, anchovies, salad potatoes, lettuce and vinaigrette over the lot. Yum.

Saag Paneer.

Curried Tofu or prawns with spinach / Swiss chard / kale stirred in

This is what you need:

Hodmedods

Non-meat eaters need to put much more thought and maybe effort into getting a balanced diet. I’m always astonished that about 97% of the supermarket shopping lists posted here involve almost no wholefoods at all. (Beyond the odd tin of baked beans.)

If you take some time to explore the site above it could entirely change your way of shopping and cooking. There are recipes beneath almost every ingredient, and some saving if you buy in bulk.

poor diet, poor lifestyle and lots of stress

Been there … And honestly it can take a while to completely revise your diet - but it can be an interesting and absorbing journey which - wonderfully - can help to reduce stress because you’re actively and positively taking control of an important area of your life. (Stress is usually related to aspects of our life that feel out of our control.) And of course a better diet will mean you lose weight. (Because you’ll be full so won’t feel tempted to eat too much crap.)

Actually, if you’re really interested in good food this may be helpful:

https://farmstofeedus.org

Scroll past ‘Donate’. Click ‘View the database’ - preferably on a laptop or bigger, rather than your phone as it needs a wide screen.

However, while you’re exploring all this, you absolutely need to see your GP regarding the anaemia; if necessary they can prescribe much higher doses of iron than you can buy over the counter. And / or they can identify any specific cause that may need treatment.

Haddock or kippers topped with a poached egg.

Kedgeree

Omelette Arnold Bennet

Fish pie including hard boiled eggs (Jamie Oliver if you need a recipe)

Cook a salmon with a sesame crust, served with stirfried veg dressed with soy, honey, chilli and rice wine vinegar and egg fried rice. You can scatter cashews or peanuts over the top for a bit more protein.

@op don't worry too much about protein. A healthy diet should contain enough, but more is not necessarily better. Here is a guide from an NHS trust:
https://www.nbt.nhs.uk/our-services/a-z-services/nutrition-dietetics/nutrition-dietetics-patient-information-kidney-disease/how-eat-more-protein
NB This is from a series of dietary recommendations for people with a specific illness. It helpfully describes ideal average protein portions. Just ignore the rest.

All healthy people need - unless we have very specific problems - is between 50g-100g protein per day, and the list in the above link gives you plentiful sources for those.
You might just perhaps find this interesting to read:
www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/nutrition/protein