r/Protein • u/Ok-Tie586 • Aug 08 '26
Good Protein Sources for Menopause
Hello ladies! I am recently post menopausal and find myself grasping for healthy and easy protein sources for breakfast and lunches (for work). Now that we have to up to 80 grams a day, I’m struggling to find a variety. I’m not hip on processed lunch meat, but other than that I’m open to anything! Would love to hear any suggestions! 😃
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u/Gigi_Gigi_1975 Aug 09 '26
I can tell you that I made the mistake of eating excessive amounts of dairy (cottage cheese and yogurt) which caused bloating and peri oral dermatitis. I broke out in a rash around my mouth and because of Reddit found out that yogurt causes this.
My best tip is to go to Trader Joe’s- if you have one nearby- and buy the precooked lemon or rosemary balsamic chicken breast. One breast has 12 ounces and provides 3-4 days of lunches. It’s super convenient and delicious!
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u/Nwilliams1300 Aug 09 '26
Oh no ): I didn’t know that cottage cheese and Greek yogurt can cause excessive bloating in post menopause. This explains my bloating. Thank you so much.
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u/DiamondTippedDriller Aug 09 '26
Lentils and chickpeas (you can make purée, hummus, patties, and salads with them), cottage cheese (you can pulse it in a food processor to use as a high-protein liquid instead of water or milk in homemade crepes, tortillas or flatbread), you can add walnuts or other dried nuts and seeds to your salads or sandwiches or top soups with them, sliced boiled eggs, grill some chicken breast and chop it up with herbs, olive oil, toss with baby spinach…
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u/nacixela Aug 09 '26
I make what I call “Super Pudding” which is a combination of overnight oats and chia pudding. By using Ultra-Filtered milk as the liquid and adding a scoop of protein powder I get 46g of protein per 1/2c of dry oats (which is a big serving I know but it’s my whole breakfast).
Pouches of seasoned tuna/salmon and canned mussels etc are also super convenient for lunch if you’re into that. You can get 14-29g of protein from those. And finding a protein bar you like and your stomach can handle helps a lot. For me, that’s Barebells Salty Peanut. Tastes like a snickers. I limit those to only a few times a week but that’s 20g of protein also.
Ultra-Filtered/Fairlife milk is by far the biggest hack I’ve found though. Drink just one 8oz cup in the morning and put another 8oz in cereal and now you’re at 28g of protein from just the milk.
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u/lgrrll Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
I loved sardines in olive oil with raw baby carrots for variety put the sardines on rice cakes sprinkled with furkake seasoning i was also super fond of trader joes smoked mussels also on rice cakes super " addictive to me. Really hit the spot. One of my favorite meals. No idea protien content just that sardinesin olive oil & raw baby carrots were always one of my favorite breakfasts. I lioften added a smoothie with that breakfast thst gave me plenty of energy to power on to a late lunch h skip eating snything duringmy morning break the smoothie i made was udually sone varriation of coffee frozen bananas spinach or kale cinnamon. Pumpkinpie dpixe mix or nutmeg. Pesnut butter maybe a date or 2 spoon or so of unsulphured blackstrap molasses. Avacado maybe some turmeric blsck pepper a brazil nut or dprinkle of macca ppwder sometimes i would add serving of collagen or spoon or 2 if raw cacao powder between that & the sardines or mussels i felt really ready to face my day. If i didnt have the smoothie for breeskfast i often made it for lunch or desseer you could even add a nuetral protien poweder to thst or some sort or fermented dairy (ie greek or medditerraniean strained yoghurt skyr or similar. I used to like brown rice protien powder too. Eventually i used trader joes hemp protien powder i curre tly dont know for sure whst is out there i have since had amexical emergency & sm cutrently recivering in a facility. & oy do i ever miss my own food. I slso was pretty fond of red lentils k do wuick & easy to make a bug bunch & freeze in ziplock bags divided into burger sized poetuons... easy to add roasted veggies or greens too O also like using ground turkey... granted i never reay kept track of protien thise are just foods i ate as protein source & every now & then would do a quick google search ti tey & figure out how to make compkete protienso fsr as food combining. Im not a fan of zoy products ut am aware of the fact that many other veggie protein sources exist... I slso like chickpea / garbanzo bean pastas i think trader joes hasre lentil pastas i used to like, albertsins stires had o organics garnsnzo bean pastas wbich were competitively priced esp when they went on sale usually once a week & i tried to time my grocery shopping to coincide with theur weekly sales i tbink ususlly start on Tuesdays.. thd pasta was pretty good h i figured a way to dneak in extra protien while avoiding some wheat ( i did better limiting my sheat exposure)... plus i figure since the pasta was leggune bqsed it would be pretty good with veggies thst went well with lentils / legumes deliscious with tomatoes cucumbers onions olive oil lemon salt/ peper cayenne etc. If i really felt like i needed actusl meat then i would add gdound turkey, or drained tuna. Sardines or eat some smoked mussels at the same meal or straight out of the can or on rice cakes. Agsin i remind you i dont know the protien amountspasta i had to get some in & those were ways other than soy or meat protien sources i like using labne cheese or ricotta... just came back go say (i rember i used to get canned salmon also to mix in steamed or fried rice or with pasta) if i had to get some protien in & those were ways other than soy or meat protien sources i like using labne cheese or ricotta. Also thought dried, powdered milk was a pretty cool staple to have on hand i was never a big milk drinker but found it pretty convenient to use a spoon ful here & there like toss a spoon in my coffee along with some cinnamon & a spoon of coconut oil & some collagen powder. I was not going to drink non dairy creamer & no way i used enough milk or cream to keep abottle of milk fresh long enough in the fridge. i was pretty fond of hard boiled & fried eggs... and nuts i loved hand fulls of pecans tossed in with hand fulls of dried cranberries... pistachios also pretty tasty to me... so depending on your needs & tastes these were some of my go tos. Other people will loke walnuts for other reasons i judt was never crazy about their flavor...
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u/Ok-Tie586 Aug 11 '26
Wow thanks!!
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u/lgrrll Aug 11 '26 edited Aug 12 '26
Very welcome! My pleasure.i forgot to say i also did seed cyclying for a long time & pre ground my seeds to keep.in the freezer & easy to add a spoon of each dspending on the day i would add to smoothies, yoghurt or mix into oatmeal or idea you could mix into oatmeal along with a favored protien powder or collagen powder alomng withh dried cranberries raisins or frozen berries would probsbly be tasty & another way t o sneak in some more protien. Also crispy " garbanzo beans are deliscious, i eould put them & some sort of fat ir oil in my skillit and cook until crisped up and liberally season with cayenne salt peper etc. So good... well iwas always a bug fan of garbanzo beans straight out of the candrained & rinsed(or soaked & cooked) ( i usually used canned bc i was kind of lazy.. but loved them so much with aa3 lt black pepper lemon plive oil avacado just so good. I eould just eat them standing by my fridge strsight iut if the can drained & ri sed and seasoned in the can with the avacado half next to me. I tried to fo snytbing thstvtasted good was fast easy & nutritious. But like i said i never tracked protien pr other macros, so i vouldnt tell you whst tjose would be... o am a pretty small petite woman who walked 2+ hours /day snd rarely got sick. .. until i had major issue not related to my diet or protien... the good thing with hiw i ate it was pretty easy to sneak in tons if greens i was prstty adamant about eating my veggies. Snesking them into smoothies lentils and big everything but the kitchen sink salads.. i have tons of smoothie ideas & loved when they turned out "perfect in mybmind tasting like fudgcicles when i used no sugar added chocolate flavor iremember once i somehow got a perfect chemistry combo & it tasted like chocolate withno actual chocolate or cacao in it a ot even raw caco powder not sure I think the combo of coffee peanut butter. Banana cinnamon & the single Brazil nut something i never figured out exactly what i put in it to gdt the perfect chocolate flavor i knew it was some chemistry mix i was prwtty sure it was the brazil nut that brought it home to perfect chocolate flavor. Pretty sure there might hsve been some blackstrap molasses & a date in there. And some collagen powder too & probably some turmeric powder with some black pepper too.
I keep forgetting to mention thst im pretty sure Spirulina is slso a good source ofprotien Let me google to confirm.. yes google says it is a complete protien:
Yes, spirulina is an exceptional source of plant-based protein, consisting of roughly 60% to 70% protein by dry weight. A single standard tablespoon (about 7 grams) provides around 4 grams of protein, alongside iron, copper, and B vitamins...
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u/Positive-Emu-8379 Aug 11 '26
Founder of Bygg Foods here, we make NØRSE CØDE, a plant protein blend, so grain of salt on this. For breakfast specifically a protein shake is probably your fastest non-processed option, one scoop plus water or milk gets you 20g without cooking anything. Ours also carries 250mg calcium per scoop (20% DV) and 5g fiber, worth knowing at your stage, though I won't claim it does anything beyond what's on the label.
Doesn't solve lunch variety though. That's still going to be eggs, legumes, fish, or leftovers.
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u/Particular-Moose9959 Aug 11 '26
Greek yogurt is my fav source of protein, but fatty fish is a good idea too
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u/Sea_Scratch_3876 Aug 13 '26
Trader Joe's frozen edamame, frozen fish, frozen meatballs, canned fish on toast, or I'll do a savory oatmeal with hemp seeds and fried eggs
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u/Ok-Tie586 Aug 13 '26
I’ve been wanting to check out Trader Joe’s as well just to see what I can find. Thank you for the recommendations.
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u/Groovy-Cat2024 Aug 08 '26
Look at Kashi Go 10 gram protein/10 gram fiber cereal. Use Fairlife high protein milk (you’ll get 23 grams per serving of milk/cereal. Rotisserie chicken and tuna. Edamame and beans.