Laura Schoenfeld: This is a perfect example of a question that is ideal for me and Kelsey to be answering. As far as the adequate protein is concerned, I agree that 40 to 50 grams is quite high. Now, one thing you need to remember is a lot of times you’re not necessarily taking into account the protein in the other foods somebody is eating. This can get a little tricky because maybe you think she needs to get 40 grams of protein from some kind of meat or eggs or something like that. Usually there is going to be some protein in the other foods that somebody is eating. If they’re eating vegetables or starchy plants or fruits, that kind of stuff alongside the protein, there is some protein in there, so you don’t necessarily have to get 40 to 50 grams of meat-based protein or animal protein. But I do agree that for clients that are looking to get higher amounts of protein, like 30 to 40 grams, from an animal source in the morning can be kind of tricky, especially if they have any sort of digestive issues, which you said that this client does.
As far as the collagen hydrolysate is concerned, I’m going to have to look that up because I feel like I thought the collagen hydrolysate … I thought it was 10 grams per tablespoon, but let me just double-check because it might be different for that particular product that you had asked about. Sorry, my Google is going all slow while I’m trying to use this at the same time. You said that you were using the Great Lakes gelatin. Let me just look that product up because I think it has 10 grams per tablespoon.
Anyway, again, trying to get at least 30 grams of protein in the morning, that ends up being about four to five ounces of some kind of meat. Now, if this person is having trouble digesting meat, then the gelatin powder or the collagen powder is going to be a really easy thing for her. I also really like a product by Designs for Health that is called PurePaleo Protein powder, and I know Chris sells that in his store also. That’s a pretty nice protein powder and it’s beef, so for most people, it should be autoimmune compliant. It provides about 20 or so grams of protein in a scoop, so it’s pretty protein-dense.
Now, let me see … this collagen hydrolysate … oh, you’re right. It says two rounded tablespoons is 11 grams. That’s strange. I guess the beef gelatin, for a tablespoon, is more like 11 grams. I didn’t realize that they were different serving sizes.
Now, you can do two tablespoons of collagen hydrolysate. I know that seems like maybe a lot, but if you’re combining that with a couple of ounces of some other kind of protein in the morning, that could potentially be enough to get you to that 40 grams for the meal. For her, maybe do a smoothie. If you do the collagen hydrolysate, for two tablespoons you get the 12 grams. Then maybe you do a scoop of the PurePaleo Protein, and that’s another 20 grams. Then you’re up to the mid-30s. If that’s all she can manage in the morning, then that’s fine. If she wants to have a little something extra, so if she has a smoothie and then maybe has an egg or two on the side … oh, I’m sorry. She has autoimmune disease, so if she can’t eat eggs, then maybe doing something like a chicken sausage or pork sausage. There are lots of recipes online for homemade sausage if somebody can’t tolerate certain things that are in sausage. Chicken sausages tend to be really easy, and they’re quite high protein.
I’m trying to think of some other example because I know with autoimmune and digestive issues it can be a little tricky because she might on an autoimmune Paleo diet, she might be a low-FODMAPs diet, so maybe she can’t have certain things in the sausage, so no onion or garlic or something like that, but I would really suggest looking into the PurePaleo product because I find that to be very, very easy for a lot of people to digest. It’s made out of beef, so it shouldn’t bother the autoimmune disease unless she is sensitive to beef, and there’s no issue with the digestion. I’ve never had any client have a problem with digestion with that product.
So I would say doing a small smoothie with the collagen and the PurePaleo Protein and then maybe having a little bit, like two ounces, of some kind of meat in the morning with that smoothie, I think you should be getting at least 30 to 40 grams of protein. Then if she’s eating maybe some potatoes or sweet potatoes or some fruit or some spinach or broccoli or something like that on the side, she’ll be getting a couple of extra grams from those plant foods.