Notes

I hope not, but the protein myth is so powerful and omnipresent that I wouldn’t be surprised if the question is still lurking somewhere in the back of your mind. Let’s start with all the green veggies. My go-to salad green is kale, which contains about 2.5 grams of protein per cup. Since a cup of kale contains just 33 calories, my servings are quite large, typically two to three cups of salad at a go. So before I’ve added another ingredient to my salad, my protein tally is already up to 7.5 grams. There are 4 grams of protein in a cup of broccoli, which I throw on top, taking me to 11.5 grams. Next I toss in half a cup of mushrooms, adding another 1.5 grams, and some artichoke hearts at 3–5 grams, and my salad is up to 16 grams of protein. Finally, I top it off with half a cup of garbanzo beans (chickpeas) at 7.5 grams, a quarter cup of almonds at 7 grams, and a tablespoon of flaxseed at 2 grams, and now I get to tuck into a salad containing a whopping 32 or more grams of protein. Give me a side of a baked potato at 5 more grams, and I’m already two-thirds of the way to fulfilling my RDA (which as you’ll recall, is already more than I really need).