If you are looking for a sustainable and delicious way of eating, a high-protein clean eating meal plan has more to offer. Clean isn’t a scientifically or generally agreed-upon term, but for many people, it means healthy, nutrient-dense, and/or minimally processed foods. This diet focuses on the most nutritious protein sources that can meet your body’s needs.
A high-protein meal plan offers several benefits, particularly for individuals seeking to lose or manage weight, boost their metabolism, build or maintain muscle mass, and promote overall health. In this article, we will discuss the benefits of adopting this diet plan and share a sample high-protein meal plan that you can use or adjust to suit your needs.
A clean high-protein meal plan is a dietary structure or routine that focuses on nutrient-dense foods high in protein content while minimizing ultra-processed options.
Some of the reasons why people embrace the “clean eating diet plan” include the following:
Several studies have suggested that increasing protein intake supports weight loss.
Therefore, eating more protein while limiting calorie intake can be helpful if you want to lose weight (8).
A high-protein diet can also promote satiety.
When you eat protein, you feel full for longer, and hence you are less likely to overeat.
Feeling satisfied may also lead to reduced snacking, which in turn can lower the overall number of calories you consume (2).
A high-protein diet slightly increases energy expenditure, also known as the thermic effect of food. This effect is due to its higher diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT).
The DIT means your body requires more energy to digest protein than other foods, such as fats and carbohydrates (2). This thermic effect won’t have a significant impact on your overall energy expenditure, but it may increase it slightly.
Studies have shown that a high-protein diet helps preserve muscle mass, especially during weight loss. Therefore, if you are on a weight loss journey and engaging in resistance training exercises, a high-protein diet is crucial to prevent muscle atrophy or loss of muscle mass (3).
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A high-protein meal plan will also provide you with the energy you need while on your weight loss journey. A balanced diet rich in protein, complex carbohydrates with fiber, and healthy fats will provide the sustained energy you need to accomplish everything you want to in your day.
Of course, most protein sources also contain other essential nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, and fiber, among others. Therefore, protein plays a crucial role in promoting overall health and well-being. Additionally, a high-protein clean eating meal plan emphasizes nutrient-dense foods and minimally processed options. This health benefit provides the necessary nutrient balance that is essential for the body.
Read more: Clean Eating High-Protein Meal Plan for Beginners
It is not easy to isolate a single food with clean protein because there are a variety of them, and classifying them in order may be subjective. However, it is essential to recognize that clean protein can originate from either plant or animal sources.
Some of the clean options include skinless chicken breast, fish, plain Greek yogurt, eggs, beans, lentils, tofu, edamame, nuts, and seeds. You can get your protein from a variety of both plant and animal sources.
A high-protein, clean-eating meal plan emphasizes nutrient-dense foods and adequate protein while minimizing ultra-processed food options.
A 7-day protein diet plan for weight loss is possible, and some may use it for muscle maintenance, to improve energy levels, boost metabolism, and promote overall health.
Some of the key guidelines of a high-protein clean eating diet include the following:
Adequate Protein Intake
A high-protein diet should exceed the standard recommended dietary allowance of 0.8g per kilogram of body weight per day. You can aim for approximately 1.6-2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight, or for 25-35% of your total daily calories to come from protein.
This percentage should come from a variety of protein sources, including both animal- and plant-based options, and you should distribute the daily protein amount throughout your meals.
Lean and High-Quality Sources
Choose high-quality protein sources such as lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and plant-based options like beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds.
Nutrient Balance
While following a high-protein, clean diet, it is essential to maintain a balanced intake of nutrients. This focus will help you to avoid the nutrient imbalance that would otherwise result. Make sure to include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and healthy fats.
Limited Refined Carbs and Added Sugars
Refined carbs have a low nutrient profile but are high in calories. Therefore, you need to reduce your intake of refined carbs and added sugars, as they can easily contribute to a higher calorie count. Instead, consider healthy options or complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, fruits and vegetables, and legumes (which are also high in protein).
These key features are present in a high-protein clean eating meal plan females, and for males, regardless of gender, the diet can benefit you.
Here’s how to structure your protein in a meal plan for the day. We have prepared this 1-day high-protein clean eating meal plan that you can use the way it is or adjust to suit your needs and preferences:
To learn more about the 30-day high-protein meal plan, check out our in-depth article on the topic.
A clean protein diet emphasizes whole foods that are rich in protein, nutrient-dense, and minimally processed. While there are a variety of foods that you should eat on this diet, there are also some that you need to limit or avoid while on this diet.
These foods include the following:
Processed meats are the ones you should avoid while on a clean high-protein diet.
The meats may contain preservatives, fillers, excessive sodium, and nitrates, and hence are not a healthy option.
They are known to increase the risk of certain types of cancer.
These processed meats include smoked or cured sausages, hot dogs, deli meat, bacon, and beef jerky. You should consider unprocessed and unpreserved options, such as fresh or frozen fish, whole cuts, or ground meat and poultry.
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The clean eating diet emphasizes healthy fats and oils such as nuts and seeds, extra-virgin olive oil, and avocados, among others.
You should limit the amount of saturated fat you eat by choosing lean animal proteins and limiting the use of fats like butter or lard.
Instead, try to use olive, avocado, or other vegetable oils for most of your cooking.
Choose lean cuts of meat, trim excess fat, and use butter sparingly.
You should also limit foods and beverages with added sugars in your clean eating diet.
Added sugars may contribute to weight gain, inflammation, and other health issues.
When it comes to added sugars, limit or avoid sugary drinks, such as sodas, energy drinks, fruit juices with added sugar, and sweetened teas.
Additionally, be aware of condiments and sauces, packaged snacks, and sweetened dairy products, as they may contain added sugars.
Refined carbs have been stripped of their germ and bran, leaving them with little nutritional value beyond starch, as the stripping process often removes most of the minerals, vitamins, and fiber.
Some manufacturers may add vitamins and minerals, but they will leave fiber out.
Since refined carbs lack fiber, the carbohydrates from these products are absorbed more quickly, and they won’t keep you feeling full long after eating them, which could lead you to eating more later on.
Refined carbs include white flour products, such as white pasta, white bread, bagels, and most baked goods, including cakes, pastries, and cookies. It also includes white rice and most of the packaged cereals. Opt for whole-grain bread and products instead.
Read more: Low-Carb Vegetarian Meal Plan: Your Weight Loss Guide
A high-protein diet can help you achieve a calorie deficit for your body to burn more fat for energy. To lose weight on a high-protein diet alone, you need to ensure that it creates a calorie deficit. To achieve the best results, consider combining a calorie-restricted diet with other approaches, such as regular exercise.
The following are effects that can happen when you eat a high-protein diet:
Protein is known to increase satiety or the feeling of fullness. When you eat protein, you feel fuller for longer, which can reduce cravings for food and snacks. That helps reduce overall calorie intake without triggering hunger pangs.
Digesting protein requires more energy, and hence your body burns a few more calories to digest protein compared to carbs and fats. This calorie burn occurs because protein increases the thermic effect of food.
Therefore, eating protein contributes to the burning of more calories during the digestion process. This calorie-burning effect may have a small impact on your overall energy expenditure, but it’s not enough to cause weight loss on its own.
You can significantly reduce cravings for sugary foods and high-carb snacks when you eat more protein. This craving reduction occurs because protein slows down the absorption of all nutrients from your meal into the bloodstream, which helps stabilize blood sugar levels and prevent blood sugar crashes or spikes. When that is the case, there may be fewer food cravings.
During weight loss, it is essential to maintain your muscle mass to prevent muscle atrophy and loss. A high-protein diet can provide the building blocks your muscles need to develop, allowing you to lose fat mass rather than muscle mass. You’ll also need the stimulus of resistance training.
A high-protein clean eating meal plan for weight loss sounds great.
While high-protein diets are beneficial for weight loss and muscle maintenance, among other advantages, they also have a downside. Some of the disadvantages include the following:
A high intake of protein increases the production of nitrogenous waste, specifically urea and ammonia.
When this occurs, it increases the renal hyperfiltration rate, thereby causing strain on the kidneys, particularly for individuals with pre-existing kidney disease (6). It is uncertain whether this can have a long-term impact on healthy people or not.
To ease the strain on your kidneys while on this diet, it’s essential to stay hydrated, limit sodium intake, consume a sufficient amount of vegetables and fruits, and balance your protein intake with complex carbohydrates and healthy fats. Include some exercises and rest to put that protein to work building muscle.
Focusing solely on protein intake can sometimes result in the overlooking of other essential nutrients, such as fiber. Inadequate fiber intake can lead to digestive issues such as constipation, and it can also hurt the gut microbiome, which has wide-ranging health effects (4).
To support your gut microbiome and prevent potential health issues, ensure your high-protein diet includes sufficient fiber, a balance of plant-based and animal-based proteins, and other essential nutrients. Additionally, stay hydrated and incorporate probiotics and fermented foods into your diet whenever possible.
If you are not conscious of the number of calories that you eat while on a high-protein diet, you may end up with a surplus of protein calories that can still cause weight gain.
If you are not aiming to gain weight, this calorie surplus might become a problem.
Therefore, you need to ensure that you meet your overall calorie target while on a high-protein diet. Balancing your protein intake with fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats can help with this goal.
By focusing on high-protein food sources, you may neglect the other macros.
You, therefore, need to ensure that your diet is high in protein but well-balanced.
To avoid a nutrient imbalance, it is essential to include a variety of complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and other vital nutrients.
When there is a nutrient imbalance, you may experience adverse effects on your body because you are not getting adequate nutrients your body needs to function correctly.
The nutrient imbalance may result in fatigue, mood changes, and other effects.
Therefore, ensure your diet contains adequate protein, as it should. Then, include other macro- and micro-nutrients from a variety of healthy and nutritious sources.
Compared to other protein sources, oatmeal is not a high-protein food. However, it contains some amount of protein. 100g of oatmeal contains about 2.5g of protein (5). While primarily a source of complex carbohydrates, oatmeal can contribute a small amount to your overall protein intake, but you’ll need to pair it with other foods that are higher in protein to create a balanced meal. There is no single protein that can help you lose belly fat. However, high-quality protein, when consumed as part of a reduced-calorie diet, can help create a calorie deficit, which can aid in weight loss. So when this happens, it is not possible to choose where your body burns fat. Your body will decide where to store and/or mobilize fat from, but losing fat in general will eventually result in belly fat loss as well as fat loss from the rest of your body (7). One medium avocado (approximately 201g) contains approximately 4g of protein, according to Nutritionix (1). So, avocado is among the fruits high in protein content, although it’s still not a high-protein food relative to other protein-rich foods. It is a versatile fruit that can be sliced and enjoyed on its own or combined with different foods. A 150 lb. woman would need about 54g of protein per day if she is meeting the bare minimum. This protein amount is the standard daily recommended dietary allowance, which is 0.8g per kilogram of body weight per day. If a woman is trying to lose weight, is physically active, or is on a high-protein diet, then she can aim for more than 54g of protein per day. Many experts recommend a range of 1.6-2.2 g of protein per kilogram of body weight for weight loss and/or muscle building.Frequently Asked Questions
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Whether it is a high-protein meal plan for weight loss females or males, the diet can work for all genders and walks of life.
Practice this meal plan to boost your metabolism, preserve muscle mass, improve energy levels, and promote overall health and well-being. This guide offers you insights and meal plan examples that you can adapt or adjust to suit your individual needs.
The purpose of this diet is to help you lose weight and reap other benefits we have mentioned, while maintaining a healthy approach and avoiding ultra-processed protein sources. So, with this guide, you have everything you need to achieve your fitness goals.
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