3 high-protein lunches I eat every week (prep ahead, gut-friendly) — Transcript

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1. 0:00A high protein lunch can improve how you
2. 0:02feel for the rest of the day. More
3. 0:04energy, better focus, and even lower
4. 0:07inflammation. But making your own lunch
5. 0:10every day can feel like such a chore.
6. 0:12This is my easy lunch formula that ticks
7. 0:15all the boxes. You can have it hot or
8. 0:18cold and switch it up for whatever is in
9. 0:20your fridge. When I was working as a
10. 0:22hospital doctor, I used to rely on this
11. 0:24strategy so much that my team used to
12. 0:27call me Tupperware Boy because I never
13. 0:29used to leave home without my Tupperware
14. 0:31for lunch. This could be you, too. You
15. 0:33could be a Tupperware boy or girl
16. 0:35yourself. One of my favorite ways to use
17. 0:36this formula is my salmon tahini bowl
18. 0:39with quinoa. So simple. We're going to
19. 0:41go through the formula bit by bit so you
20. 0:43don't get lost. My high protein lunch
21. 0:45formula consists of five simple
22. 0:48elements. Quality carbohydrates. This is
23. 0:50going to give you slow release energy
24. 0:52throughout the afternoon. Our quality
25. 0:54carb is going to be quinoa. It's one of
26. 0:56those unusual plant-based ingredients
27. 0:58that has all nine essential amino acids.
28. 1:00You could also use something like short
29. 1:01grain brown rice. You can use sweet
30. 1:03potato. The options for your quality
31. 1:05carb are endless. I'm using precooked
32. 1:08quinoa because I'm feeling lazy today.
33. 1:10Now, quinoa comes in lots of different
34. 1:12varieties. You can get white, red, black
35. 1:15quinoa. And you want to try and get the
36. 1:17colored quinoa because they have unique
37. 1:20chemical properties that add even more
38. 1:22anti-inflammatory benefits like betane
39. 1:24or betalane. And I'm showing you how to
40. 1:26do three Tupperwares today. I generally
41. 1:28just cook or prepare my lunch the day
42. 1:31before, but I know some of you guys are
43. 1:32meal preppers. So for the meal prepping
44. 1:34folks out there, this one's for you.
45. 1:36Next part of our formula, greens and
46. 1:38colorful veg. Greens you want to try and
47. 1:40get into your diet as often as possible
48. 1:42from the brasa family. things like
49. 1:44rocket kale cavalonero and if you're
50. 1:47looking for a green that doesn't go
51. 1:49soggy meal preppers I'm looking at you
52. 1:51those are your options if you're making
53. 1:53this throughout the week one of my
54. 1:54favorite greens are arugula for our
55. 1:56American friends rocket is what we say
56. 1:58in the UK these are peppery bitter
57. 2:01absolutely chalk full of things like
58. 2:03vitamin K folate and anti-inflammatory
59. 2:06chemicals that have been associated with
60. 2:08younger brains I'm just going to pop a
61. 2:10big handful of our greens into the bowl
62. 2:13we're combin combining our greens with
63. 2:15another colorful veg for a number of
64. 2:16different reasons. They're going to give
65. 2:17us different anti-inflammatory
66. 2:19chemicals, but also we now know we
67. 2:21should be aiming for 10 a day. That
68. 2:23means getting at least two to three
69. 2:25portions of vegetables and fruits at
70. 2:27every meal time. I'm using radish and
71. 2:30I'm going to chop them because my knife
72. 2:32skills are not good enough to go up
73. 2:34against a mandolin. This is something
74. 2:36you want to be very careful of. I have
75. 2:38actually cut myself using a mandolin on
76. 2:40this channel. So, I'm going to use the
77. 2:42guard. My fingers are worth more than
78. 2:44style points. There we go. Radish for
79. 2:47you. The woman on the front of the pack
80. 2:49looks like she's so happy. She's not
81. 2:50even bloody using the guard herself.
82. 2:52Safety first. Fiber booster. This is
83. 2:55where I think a lot of high protein
84. 2:57lunches do fall down. A lot of people
85. 2:59just thinking about macros. You need to
86. 3:01hit your fiber count, guys, because
87. 3:03fiber is the magical nutrient. I'm using
88. 3:06edomami today because again, it's one of
89. 3:08those high fiber legumes. These are just
90. 3:10frozen edomami that I've just let Thor
91. 3:12about half full here. They're packed
92. 3:14with things like isoflavones which again
93. 3:16are anti-inflammatory. May even have
94. 3:18some anti-cancer benefits as well. There
95. 3:20are some heart health and cholesterol
96. 3:22benefits too. Your lunch can be high in
97. 3:25protein and high in fiber. It's not an
98. 3:27either or here. I know there's loads of
99. 3:29like opposing camps. Oh, high protein.
100. 3:31Oh no, it should be high five. Guys, you
101. 3:33can have both. This is how. Speaking of
102. 3:35protein, our core protein that we're
103. 3:37going to be using today is hot smoked
104. 3:39salmon. But the options are endless. You
105. 3:41can use chicken, tempeh, tofu. As long
106. 3:44as it is a core protein, i.e. it's got
107. 3:47more than 25 grams of protein per 100 g.
108. 3:49That's generally what we're looking for.
109. 3:51The other important thing is getting
110. 3:53good protein distribution throughout the
111. 3:55day. So you're getting enough protein at
112. 3:56breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This
113. 3:59enables you to hit your protein goals
114. 4:01much more easily rather than trying to
115. 4:03pack it all in at dinner time. I'm going
116. 4:05to crumble this smoked salmon into the
117. 4:08Tupperware. You can use different
118. 4:10options. Hot smoked mackerel. There's
119. 4:12trout. The benefit of having hot smoked
120. 4:15trout or hot smoked salmon is that
121. 4:16you're going to be giving yourself a
122. 4:17good dose of omega-3. This is something
123. 4:19typically we don't get enough of in our
124. 4:22diet because we don't actually eat that
125. 4:23much fish. This would be a bit dry if
126. 4:25you were just going to have it like
127. 4:26this. So, to bring it all together, it's
128. 4:27a very simple sauce that I use all the
129. 4:30time. Bit of tahini. This goes in.
130. 4:32Popping in some soy sauce. Touch of
131. 4:35mirin, but you can also use like apple
132. 4:37cider vinegar as well if you like. We
133. 4:38need to give some balance to this, which
134. 4:40is why I'm using maple syrup. There you
135. 4:42go. Whisk this all together. If you want
136. 4:44it thinner, just add a touch of water.
137. 4:47That is the texture I want. It's almost
138. 4:50like quite caramelly. You got a couple
139. 4:51of options. You can just spoon it on,
140. 4:53whack it over like so, over your
141. 4:56Tupperware. Or if you want to be extra
142. 4:58fancy, you can pop into a squeezy
143. 5:01bottle. You can be fancy like in those
144. 5:03salad stores and just do like a little
145. 5:06dressing like that. If you've got some
146. 5:08extra ingredients in your fridge, like
147. 5:10I've got some chives here, add them. It
148. 5:12will add extra flavor or coriander for
149. 5:14example. Finely chop these. We've got
150. 5:16some chives going on here. Got some
151. 5:18leftover kimchi. So, I'm going to add
152. 5:20some kimchi to the sides here. I'm
153. 5:22always trying to get probiotic
154. 5:24ingredients into my cooking as often as
155. 5:26possible. I'm just going to add some
156. 5:27sesame seeds because I got some sesame
157. 5:30seeds and it goes with the tahini. If I
158. 5:32was eating this at work, I'd literally
159. 5:33mix everything up together. It looks so
160. 5:35pretty.
161. 5:37This is not a boring lunch. That
162. 5:39dressing brings everything together.
163. 5:41Sweet, salty, umami. When you use the
164. 5:44high protein lunch formula, the
165. 5:46possibilities are endless. Just like my
166. 5:49chicken schwama bowl. Same formula,
167. 5:51completely different flavors. We're
168. 5:53going to go in with short grain brown
169. 5:54rice. Our green is going to be spinach,
170. 5:57but kale can also work well with this
171. 5:59recipe. To complement our green, our
172. 6:01colored veg is red pepper. I'm just
173. 6:03using jarred red pepper. They're like
174. 6:05grilled and fixed in a brine or
175. 6:08sometimes oil. I got random red cabbage
176. 6:10in the fridge. So, I'm going to add
177. 6:11this. Our fiber booster is going to be
178. 6:14chickpeas. I'm using straight from a
179. 6:16jar, washed and drained. And not only
180. 6:18are they boosting the fiber, but they
181. 6:20are going to give you some protein, but
182. 6:22not a complete protein, which is why our
183. 6:24core protein is going to be chicken. I'm
184. 6:25mixing up these spices in a bowl,
185. 6:27throwing in chicken breast, or you can
186. 6:29use chicken thigh if you prefer. Add
187. 6:31some olive oil and pan fry it for a
188. 6:33couple of minutes on each side. Let it
189. 6:34cool, slice. I'm going to pop this
190. 6:36straight onto our ingredients in our
191. 6:39Tupperware. To bring this together,
192. 6:41we're going to make a very quick harissa
193. 6:43yogurt dressing. Good quality Greek
194. 6:46yogurt.
195. 6:47That's thick. [laughter]
196. 6:49>> Couple of tablespoons harissa marinade.
197. 6:51A good dollop of that. And we're just
198. 6:53going to mix this through. Now, you can
199. 6:54either like dollop this on the side, but
200. 6:56I'm going to be fancy again with my
201. 6:58squeezy bottle. And just because I've
202. 6:59got some random parsley in the fridge,
203. 7:01I'm just going to run my knife through
204. 7:03this. Little pinch. There we go. What a
205. 7:06bowl. If I'm looking to add more fiber,
206. 7:09this is the bowl I turn to because we've
207. 7:11got multiple sources of high-fiber
208. 7:13ingredients that are also packing in
209. 7:15protein. Our quality carb is going to be
210. 7:18sweet potato. These are just simply
211. 7:20roasted in a little bit of oil. You can
212. 7:22also air fry them. Super convenient. Our
213. 7:24green is going to be curly kale. You can
214. 7:26use cavalona as well. You want to
215. 7:28massage it to break down those cell
216. 7:31walls, which makes it a lot easier to
217. 7:33eat. So this is going to be our green to
218. 7:34complement our green. Our color is going
219. 7:37to be sweet corn. Again, these are super
220. 7:39convenient and of course adding extra
221. 7:41fiber as well. Our fiber booster are
222. 7:43going to be black beans. These are
223. 7:45phenomenal sources of fiber, but also
224. 7:48they're one of the highest sources of
225. 7:50protein out of the legume family. A lot
226. 7:53of people turn their nose up at tofu.
227. 7:55Tofu is a wonderful core protein source.
228. 7:58The way to add flavor is to dry an extra
229. 8:01firm block of tofu with some kitchen
230. 8:04towel. Break it up with your hands so
231. 8:06you get lots of knobbybly edges that can
232. 8:08crisp up. Add a ton of spices to it. A
233. 8:11slick of oil. Cook it until it's crispy.
234. 8:13And you'll be left with these delicious
235. 8:15crispy nuggets that just pack so much
236. 8:18flavor in. We're going to make a very
237. 8:20simple garlic yogurt. We're going to use
238. 8:22some thick Greek yogurt. And then one
239. 8:25fat clove of garlic. Touch of salt.
240. 8:28Going to mix this. I'm actually going to
241. 8:29add a little bit of olive oil to this
242. 8:31just for lovely flavor. And just cuz I
243. 8:33got some random coriander in the fridge.
244. 8:36I reckon I'll just run some of this
245. 8:38over. Oh, fresh, fragrant, absolutely
246. 8:42delicious. So good. Just think I've done
247. 8:45one, but you could do multiple of these
248. 8:47if you're looking to meal prep for the
249. 8:49week. And if you want steady energy
250. 8:50levels throughout the entire day, you
251. 8:53want to make sure you're getting
252. 8:54breakfast protein. And here are my three
253. 8:56go-to high protein breakfast options
254. 8:58that I swear by most days. This is a
255. 9:02thick yogurt. This ain't moving any
256. 9:04[laughter]
257. 9:08just saying it's really thick.
258. 9:10[laughter]
259. 9:10>> This is a good good thickness test.
260. 9:14that night.
261. 9:15>> It's not even midday, is